The invaluable Traditional Tune Index contains no less than five tunes that have been called "Hell on the Wabash."

Various memoirists around 1900 say it (i.e., one or more of them) was one of the most popular fiddle tunes in California, Missouri, and Virginia in the 1850s, so as a title it must go back to the '40s at least.

The most familiar tune of this title seems to have been composed by minstrel man Daniel Emmett, composer of "Dixie."