The song was advertised as new in the Richmond Whig and Public Advertiser (January 1, 1867).

The Richmond Times of Jan. 8 added the name of the lyricist:

“NEW MUSIC Just published by Johnson & Chamberlayne, Music Dealers and Publishers … O, I’m A Good Old Rebel – Randolph (vocal). Price, 50 cents.”

So that settles that.

Two weeks later Randolph's song was advertised in the Raleigh (N.C.) Field and Fireside, with this editorial observation:

"Its words are such as we should be compelled to condemn were they seriously spoken." But presumably they weren't.

On the Jan. 30, the Valley Virginian (Clifton Forge) published the first slightly variant text (as "The Lay of the Last Rebel"), which managed to insert the "N-word."

By March 7, the song was known in faraway Indiana, where it really was condemned by the Evansville Daily Journal, which called its author a homicidal "wretch" who proudly boasted of killing Yankees.

On March 21, the Litchfield [Conn.] Enquirer reprinted the entire song ironically as an "indication of southern patriotism [to the United States]."

By the end of the year, the lyrics had been printed in papers from
Maine to California and Louisiana to Oregon, only sometimes with the "Joe Bowers" tune recommended. One assumes that the alternative tunes ("Son of a Gamboleer" and "Yellow Rose of Texas") were applied by readers unaware of the proper one.

Had there been a hit parade in 1867, it looks like "I'm a Good Old Rebel" would have been on it.