A footnote to the question about "hoop-pole boys" and their big fight with the riverboatmen in 1832, and the verse in "Shawneetown" that may document this fracas. This fight took place in 1832, in Mt. Vernon, Indiana, which is on the Ohio river just about 20 or 25 miles north of old Shawneetown, Illinois. It looks like Mt. Vernon, in Posey County, Indiana, was the last stop on the Ohio River before Shawneetown, "floating down river". It looks like there is certainly a connection between "hoop pole boys" and Shawneetown. So the question remains, where did this verse come from? T.O.M./John Minear