This page (click) makes it sound like the song was quite popular in the 1830's. It's also mentioned in connection with Poe, and Dickens uses the phrase "four and twenty fiddlers, all of a row." Now, can we find a tune? Not in Levy or the American Memory Collection, and not in the ABC Tune Finder. Seems like we ought to be able to find more information on this.
-Joe Offer-