Didn't know where to put this. Move it if there is a better thread.

William Elsey Connelley, 1907, "War with Mexico: Doniphan's Expedition and the Conquest of New Mexico and California. (reprints).

Quite a bit about "Joe Bowers" including versions. He wrote that Merideth T. Moore said he had heard the song as early as 1854, and that it had been sung by soldiers.
A man named Joe Bowers accompanied Doniphan to Mexico.

Connelley says the song was carried to California by Missourians who went to California with General Kearney. He says the song possibly was written by John Woodward, Johnson's Minstrels, about 1849.

See Connelley's book on line.