An average government clerk presented a poem to President Ulysses S. Grant and a crowd of 10,000 people. Then J.P. Irvine and his words faded into history. Dustin Renwick sifted through more than 20,000 pages of microfilm to uncover this forgotten Civil War poet’s work that illuminates a changing country. From the construction of the transcontinental railroad to the streets of the nation’s capital, Irvine offers an eye-witness view of America in the late 1800s told through rhyme and sharp commentary. Pens, Plows, & Gunpowder gathers Irvine’s entire body of writing in one place for the first time ever.