I read most of the other thread and this one, after doing so I was struck by the idea that this might be a slave song. Lyrics to the song were first published in 1882, and it was around the mid-1850s that many slaves (and their masters) began a serious emigration to Missouri. For one thing, importation of new slaves had been made illegal. "Bound Away" sounds very suggestive, and has been used in this sense at the time, as in Shallow Brown-
Oh I'm bound to leave yer Shallow Oh Shallow Brown Oh I'm bound to leave yer Shallow Oh Shallow Brown
Bound on board a whaler Bound on board a whaler
Massa gonna sell me Massa gonna sell me
Sell me for a dollar A great big Spanish dollar
I'll cross them Chile Mountains I'll pump them silver fountains
So put me clothes in order The packet sails termorrer
Oh the packet sails termorrer I leaves yer with great sorrer
So fare thee well my Juliana Fare thee well my Juliana
***
The possible tie to the Dred Scott case (which is credited for beginning the Civil War) intrigues me. Harriet Robinson and her to be husband were both born as slaves in Virginia and later sent to St. Louis via steamboat. On the steamboat Harriet gave birth to her first child, a daughter. In addition, Harriet's owner was Major Lawrence Taliaferro who was an Indian Agent for the government, who later had a daughter with an Indian woman (his wife and he had no issue). This could be an explanation for the verses about an Indian, which are written in the third, not first person. http://aauw.columbia.missouri.org/HarrietSCOTT.pdf