Thanks Joe for putting this up.

Thank you also "Q", but you could not psychically know what I was asking since I haven't done so here yet.


I really thought that there would be more on this song here on Mudcat. I assumed I just wasn't finding it.

About the quote's above:
I found the Natchez version in Botkin as well, but the information had little to do with him, it was "lifted" to say nicely.

As a Professor from Minnesota reminded me, B.A. Botkin was an anthologist. He assembled his stories and songs from other print collections. I hadn't realized until recently how liberally he quoted. When I first read the above in his book, I too wondered about his out of context musings. It seems that even in a pre-computer age cutting and pasting without obvious footnotes can be unclear.
That whole section is made of bits and pieces he found interesting (musings too) from other sources. The First two stanzas are from a completely unrelated chant - other than the subject of "rollin' Cotton" in "Mobile Bay", and not part of "Stowin Sugar in the hull below."

I think it likely they came from the observations of Lafcadio Hearn (1850 - 1903). It is possible that Hearn was quoting some other printed source, I just don't know. I haven't the moxie for research that I once did. Please look for yourself here:

Google Books Lafcadio Hearn - Levee Life

I'll post my question (or object d' research) separately to keep it neat.