Various disputed claims have been made by Bishop and others that he authored, or at least contributed to the authorship of, a number of popular 19th-century songs, including John Brown's Body, When Johnny Comes Marching Home, and Shoo Fly, Don't Bother Me.

Bishop was born in Wayne, Maine in 1835,[1] and began studying music in Providence, Rhode Island when he was 16.

[2][3] While Bishop did publish a number of songs beginning in the 1850s,[4] disputes have arisen over his authorship claims as to some of the most famous of those compositions.

[5] Bishop has often been attributed with authorship of the popular Civil War marching song "John Brown's Body", though that claim is widely disputed.

[5] According to Bishop's account, he wrote "Shoo Fly, Don't Bother Me" during the Civil War while assigned to command a company of black soldiers.

[14] Bishop did publish a sheet music version of the song in 1869, which includes the caption, "Original Copy and Only Authorized Edition.

Perhaps the most amazing of the claims in the book is that Bishop had a small part in the writing of one of the Stephen Foster's best known songs, Old Folks at Home ("Swanee River").

Bishop reportedly became the "leader" of the shady (and eventually illegal) trade in New York City, and also specialized in female customers.

[18] Bishop was arrested in mid-1890 for charges arising out of legal proceedings brought against him for taking $2,000 from a Julie E. Hetsch in 1885,[19][20] but was able to skip town once bond was posted.

He was again arrested in Jersey City, New Jersey in November 1891 and placed in Ludlow Street Jail, where the New York Times critique of Bishop's financial career was withering: "Bishop has had a long career as a confidence man, bunko steerer, and general crook.