Kit, the Arkansas Traveler or Kit, the Arkansas Traveller (or, in its initial version, Down the Mississippi) is a stage play written in 1868 (and later reworked) for the American actor Francis S. Chanfrau.
Chanfrau conceived a drama to star himself, and in 1868, he paid $300 to Edward Spencer, generally understood to have been for fulfilling (under the title Down the Mississippi) Chanfrau's commissioning of such a work.
(By that time it had the title that names the lead character, offering the publicity benefit of evoking the decades-old fiddle tune "The Arkansas Traveler" and a dialogue of the same sort that had generally been associated with the tune; both of those are indeed features of the version that would be taken to New York City.)
It was poorly received, however, and Chanfrau prevailed on his friend, theatrical entrepreneur Clifton W. Trayleure, to make further revisions.
His wife and daughter are kidnapped by the villain, a frontier outlaw, in a prologue, or First Act.