In the Louisiana Lowlands- (MA) 1859 Oliver Ditson
[From: In the Louisiana Lowlands, Song and Chorus. Oliver Ditson Publisher, Boston: 1859. Words and Music Anonymous. A 1959 advertizement in Dwight's Journal of Music says, "A minstrel song, which at present is one of the most attractive pieces on Morris Brothers' programme."
Evidently "In the Louisiana Lowlands" was a big hit for Oliver Ditson and it spawned a number of similar songs with identical or slightly different choruses. Seven days fight from June 26th, to July 4th, 1862 by James Smith, uses the tune to Louisana Lowlands and the same chorus changed to Virginia:
In the old Virginia lowlands, lowlands, lowlands,
In the old Virginia lowlands, low.
The 1868 Carmina Collegensia: a complete collection of the songs of the American Colleges edited by Henry Randall Waite and also published by Ditson included a verse about the auger and in the chorus:
As we sailed along the lowlands, lowlands, lowlands,
As we sailed along the lowlands low.
"In the Louisiana Lowlands" important parts of the ballad plot have been removed and it's hard to see the relationship with Child Ballad 286 except for the variant chorus.
R. Matteson 2014]
"In the Louisiana Lowlands" (1859) Words and Music --- anon. Boston: Oliver Ditson [Source: pages 72-73 or "Minstrel Song, Old and New" (1882)]
1. Way down in Louisiana,
Not many years ago,
There liv'd a color'd gemblum,
His name was Pompy Snow,
He play'd upon de banjo
And on de tambourine,
And for rattling of the bones he was
The greatest ever seen
In the Louisiana lowlands lowlands low,
In the Louisiana lowlands low.
CHORUS
In the Louisiana lowlands, lowlands low,
In the Louisiana lowlands low.
2. One night old Pompy started off,
To play for Ceasar Clum,
But afore he went he fortified,
With a good stout glass of rum;
When on the road he thought he saw
A darkey, tall and grim,
So Pompy laid the banjo down
Tto break the darkey's shin;
In the Louisiana lowlands lowlands low,
In the Louisiana lowlands low.
(CHORUS)
3. Says he, old chap, just move along
Or else I'll spoil your face,
But dis darkey didn't seem to move
From out his hiding place,
So drawing back, he crooked his head,
And down at him cachunk,
But Pompy made a sad mistake, for
'Twas nothing but a stump,
In the Louisiana lowlands lowlands low,
In the Louisiana lowlands low.
(CHORUS)
4. The stump it proved a little hard,
Too hard for Pompy's wool,
For when he struck, the hickory knot,
Went thru' the darkey's skull;
They found his banjo by his side,
And Pompy lying dead,
[SPOKEN]---And Ladies and Gentlemen, this is the first time up a record that it was ever known of a darkey's ever coming to his death]
By de breaking of his head.
And dey buried him in the lowlands, lowlands low,
In the Louisiana lowlands low.
(CHORUS)