Many of his songs had Southern themes .
Foster never lived in the Southern and visited it only once in 1852 , by riverboat voyage on his honeymoon on his brother Dunning 's steamboat the Millinger , which took him down the Mississippi River to New Orleans .
Many of his songs had Southern themes , yet Foster never lived in the South and visited it only once in 1852 , by riverboat voyage on his honeymoon on his brother Dunning 's steamboat the Millinger , which took him down the Mississippi River to New Orleans .