Hi, Steve. My initial post may not have made it quite clear that the *poem* first appeared in England, though the only "traditional" versions of the song were collected in the U.S.

You can hear Attie Dillingham sing the song here:

http://digitalcollections.uark.edu/cdm/ref/collection/OzarkFolkSong/id/1159

Mrs. Dillingham told Mary C. Parler, "My father, G.L. Hart, back in Kentucky, used to sing this song when I was a small child. It made such an impression on me; and I always remember that when I was about four or five, there was an eagle—which was unusual—flew over our area, I ran and hid, on ac­count of what he sang about the eagle carrying the child away...
This was about 75 miles southeast of Louisville, in Grayson County."

Parler adds, surprisingly : "The Library of Congress sent Mrs. Dillingham the words to this song 'as performed at the concerts of the Hutchinson Family' and at the bottom of the page it says, 'Words arranged from the First Class Reader, Music by J.J. Hutchinson, published by Firth and Hall, Number 1 Franklin Square, 1873."

Dillingham's tune is pretty standard Southern U.S. folk stuff, though I can't identify it. It's nothing at all like Hutchinson's super-sophisticated melody, and it may have been added independently to a printed version of the anonymous poem by somebody like Kentuckian G. L. Hart.

What appears to be Hicks's tune is sung here (though at second hand). It too is different, and closely resembles "The Battle of Shiloh's Hill":

http://melodysoup.org/2018/06/roots-of-american-music-mars-hill-university-day-8/