Lee Murdock, in his Folk Songs of the Great Lakes Region study guide says "This song is thought to have come from boatmen on the Ohio, Mississippi and Missouri Rivers during the mid 1800s. It was also sung by Great Lakes sailors and, eventually found its way onto the salt seas in an adapted form." Then he claims the song was used as a "capstan shanty."

His first statement makes sense to me, but this ain't no capstain chantey. Sailing ships on the lakes must have had capstans, which are big winches used primarily to raise heavy anchors. Riverboats had no need for them. In any case, the rhythym of "Shenandoah" is nothing at all like the rhythm of a capstant chantey.

In 1969, I spent some time in the crew of a full-rigged ship and I know from experience that capstan chanteys have a rather fast almost staccato rhythm. Six crew nenbers would insert six heavy spokes into the capstan and use these to turn the capstan as we marched around it in a circle, with short, powerful steps, our feet pushing against wooden slats attached to the deck as treads.

Our bosun was folksinger Jody Gibson, of Newport, R.I, and when we had to man the capstan, he used chanteys with a fast, regular beat, like Santy Ano, or Clear the Track Let the Bullgine Run. The graceful, slow and flowing lines of Shenandoah would have been useless.