The song has elements of "Shoot the Buffalo," a dance song (see thread 26594, for a version from Randolph) but the first verse, "Nathan..." has no antecedents that I can find. Made up by Phyllis Marks?
The verse about maggots and skippers is a floater. The song may be related to "We'll Hunt the Buffalo," but they have little in common except killing a buffalo.

I would speculate that this dance tune originated near the beginning of the 20th century, and does not go back as far as the Civil War. Apparently no precurser from the 19th century is known.

Thread 26594: Shoot the Buffalo