This song is traditional and thought to have been composed by an Irish immigrant shortly after the American civil war. Irish immigrants landed on the east coast of the United States in considerable numbers during the 1840s and 1850s. Many headed West working on the railroads and as farmhands. Over 200,000 Irish fought in the American Civil War and it is hardly surprising that songs with Irish influence from this period are common. "The lakes of Ponchartrain" traveled the English speaking world, and was soon adopted back home in Ireland.

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