Theodore O'Hara

thumb| Theodore O'Hara (February 11, 1820 – June 6, 1867) was a poet and an officer for the United States Army in the Mexican–American War, and a Confederate colonel in the American Civil War. He is best known for the poems Bivouac of the Dead, which is quoted in many cemeteries, and "The Old Pioneer". Quotes thumb|The bivouac of the dead. thumb|Sons of the Dark and Bloody Ground. The muffled drum's sad roll has beat    The soldier's last tattoo; No more on life's parade shall meet    That brave and fallen few. On fame's eternal camping ground    Their silent tents are spread, And glory guards, with solemn round,    The bivouac of the dead. "The Bivouac of the Dead" (1847), st. 1 Sons of the Dark and Bloody Ground,    Ye must not slumber there, Where stranger steps and tongues resound    Along the heedless air; Your own proud land's heroic soil    Shall be your fitter grave; She claims from war his richest spoil—    The ashes of her brave. "The Bivouac of the Dead" (1847), st. 9 Written for the Kentuckians who fell at Buena Vista (February 22–23, 1847). The "Dark and Bloody Ground" was a name used to describe the region that became Kentucky, West Virginia, and Ohio Yon marble minstrel's voiceless stone,    In deathless song shall tell, When many a vanished age hath flown    The story how ye fell; Nor wreck, nor change, nor winter's blight,    Nor Time's remorseless doom, Shall dim one ray of glory's light    That gilds your deathless tomb. "The Bivouac of the Dead" (1847), st. 12 A dirge for the brave old pioneer!    Knight-errant of the wood! Calmly beneath the green sod here    He rests from field and flood The war-whoop and the panther's screams    No more his soul shall rouse, For well the aged hunter dreams    Beside his good old spouse. "The Old Pioneer" (December, 1850), st. 1 "The Old Pioneer", Register of Kentucky State Historical Society, vol. 1, no. 3 (1903), p. 58 External links Category:1820 births Category:1867 deaths Category:Poets from the United States Category:Military leaders from the United States Category:Confederate military leaders Category:People from Kentucky