Wonderful tribute to his Shiloh ancestor

I enjoyed meeting cowboy poet Dick Hart of Cheyenne, Wyo., today at Shiloh National Military Park in Tennessee. I recorded the verse you can hear by clicking this image.

Hart's great-grandfather, Pvt. James Hart, served with the 46th Illinois Infantry during the Civil War. The monument is at the site where the unit fought 150 years ago that same day, April 6, 1862. Hart's poem pays tribute to the regiment's bravery.

The 46th, veteran of many campaigns, was in a line of units that caught the full brunt of a Confederate assault on the morning the Battle of Shiloh began. The 46th eventually was forced back to Jones Field, where it rallied to re-engage Confederate forces that same day. On April 7, the unit helped force the Rebels back toward Shiloh Church.

Hart was accompanied on the trip by his son, James.