With this book, Nathaniel Hughes and Thomas Ware offer the first complete biography of O'Hara and also analyze how "The Bivouac of the Dead" - originally written in honor of Kentuckians who had died in the War with Mexico - became so famous even as its author fell into obscurity. Hughes and Ware have meticulously researched O'Hara's life to present as complete a picture as possible of this forgotten figure.