WARNING: This is a blackface minstrel song, a genre that features demeaning caricatures rooted in racism and white supremacy.

“Uncle Ned” was submitted for copyright deposit by W. C. Peters & Co. in Louisville on December 30, 1848. 

According to Evelyn Foster Mornweck’s The Chronicles of Stephen Foster’s Family:

By this time, minstrel shows all over the country were singing “Uncle Ned” and “Susanna.” In 1848, the famous Southern Sable Harmonists’ songs were published in a special edition by Millet’s Music Saloon, 329 Broadway, New York, with pictures of all the minstrel troupe on the cover page. William Roark, who seems to have been Stephen’s special acquaintance, is pictured with long curls, like little Lord Fauntleroy. The caption of “Old Uncle Ned” claims this song was “Written & Composed for Wm. Roark of the Sable Harmonists by S. C. Foster of Cincinnati.” We know this is not strictly accurate—“Uncle Ned” was written and composed for the Knights of the Square Table, but the Sable Harmonists were possibly the first to sing “Uncle Ned” professionally in public. This Millet edition was copyrighted May 16, 1848; also published in the Sable Harmonists’ special edition in 1848 were Stephen’s “Lou’siana Belle” and “Oh! Susanna” which were advertised for sale at Mellor’s Music Store in Pittsburgh.