For those following the Jennison Shanghai Chicken/Rooster speech discussion between Keith and myself elsewhere on this page, I thought I'd toss out a little trivia, and a question. References to Shanghai roosters apparently were a bit of a thing during the era. The critter sounds familiar to our ears not only because we may have read up on the Redlegs (which concerned the war in Missouri), or seen "The Outlaw Josey Wales" (which concerned a Missourian), but also because it makes an appearance in the ca. 1858 song "Sweet Betsy From Pike." The Pike that Betsy and her lover Ike were from was Pike County, Missouri. And on their way to California they took along two yoke of cattle, a large yeller dog, a tall Shanghai rooster, and a one-spotted hog.

Now if somebody could tell me what the heck was going on regarding Shanghai roosters in Missouri around 1860 to make them a cultural phenomena, then I can go to bed a happy man tonight.