One would not expect such a religious man as Moore to claim he had written a poem that he had not. It is not clear how he obtained a copy of the poem, but after he read it at a gathering of family and friends, a friend, without his knowledge submitted it to a newspaper, and that's when the fame of the poem started. The poem appeared a number of times in newspapers between 1823 and 1844, when Moore finally put his name to it in a book of his poems. It is thought that he had copied out the poem and made changes in it so many times over the course of those two decades, that he came to think of the poem as his own creation. But there is evidence that he called one of the newspaper's editors to find out if anyone had claimed authorship, before he included it in his book. That act seems to confirm that he did, in fact, know someone else was the true author.
Attributions are starting to change as a result of Foster and Van Deusen's efforts; University of Toronto online library attributes the poem to Livingston, along with an explanation about Foster's findings.
For a detailed history of this controversy, please visit Major Henry Livingston.
For a counter argument by Stephen Nissenbaum, please visit There Arose Such a Clatter: Who Really Wrote "The Night before Christmas"? (And Why Does It Matter?)
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