"Wait for the Wagon" was first published as a parlor song in New Orleans, Louisiana, with an 1850 copyright and music attributed to Wiesenthal and the lyrics to "a lady". All subsequent versions seem to derive from this song. Along the Mississippi River, most were nearly identical to the 1850 publication. Peters, Webb and Co. in Louisville, Kentucky, published it as "Wait For The Wagon: A Song For The South West" with no attribution to music or lyrics. On the east coast several versions were published as minstrel songs with slightly different lyrics and differently arranged music. One was published in May 1851 ("Wait For The Wagon: Ethiopian Song") in Baltimore, Maryland and it was attributed to George P. Knauff. R. Bishop Buckley (1810–1867) probably first performed the song and Knauff arranged it as a composition. Knauff was a music teacher in Virginia, who compiled popular and folk fiddle tunes into a large compendium, Virginia Reels (1839). Buckley was born in England and came to America as a young man and, with his father and two brothers, formed the Buckley Serenaders. This minstrel show toured America and Europe. J.E. Boswell also published a minstrel version ("Wait For The Wagon: A New Ethiopian Song & Melody") in 1851, as arranged by W. Loftin Hargrave. It was also published in London circa 1847 - 1869. The song became a hit in the Eastern United States, and other minstrel troupes added it to their own performances. Through them, it spread to the South and West. It remained particularly popular in the Ozarks and Mississippi through the Civil War. As Wait for the Waggon", it was adopted in England as a morris dance and was also the Regimental March of The Royal Corps of Transport, a part of the British Army formed in 1965 from The Royal Army Service Corps and elements of The Royal Engineers. The corps was amalgamated with several others to form The Royal Logistic Corps in 1993 and this tune was superseded by the march 'On Parade'. The tune however is still used as the march for Royal Australian Corps of Transport. A version of the song, entitled "The Southern Wagon" was written during the American Civil War by soldiers in the Confederacy. The lyrics glorify and justify their secession, and mentions both the Battle of First Manassas and General P. G. T. Beauregard. It was printed by Joseph Benedict as "Wait For The Wagon: A Song For The South West". W. Loftin Hargrave "Wait For The wagon A New Ethiopian Song & Melody" (1851), George P. Knauff "Wait For The Wagon: Ethiopian Song" (1851) and George Morris (words) and W. Wallace (music) "Answer To Wait For The Wagon" (1852) and in Fuld's The Book of World Famous Music, Classical, Popular and Folk (1966), Raph's The American Song Treasury: 100 Favorites (1964), Waltz & Engle's The Traditional Ballad Index: An Annotated Bibliography of the Folk Songs of the English-Speaking World (2007). It was recorded by the Skirtlifters on Wait for the Wagon.