March 5, 1864 was the day the Civil War changed to become what the Richmond Examiner called "a war of extermination, of indiscriminate slaughter and plunder." It changed because of a few sheets of paper found on a muddy trail outside of Richmond. Their legacy was a new and terrible style of warfare. The story begins with a daring cavalry raid to free thousands of Union prisoners held under desperate conditions in Richmond, Virginia, capital of the Confederacy. The raid fails, and the Union commander -- 21-year-old Ulric Dahlgren, a one-legged colonel, hero, and friend of Abraham Lincoln's -- is killed. On Dahlgren's body are found orders purportedly instructing his men to find and execute Jefferson Davis and the rest of the Confederate cabinet. - Jacket flap.
Book Details
Format
paperback
ISBN-10
0393319865
ISBN-13
9780393319866
Publication Date
Nov 1999
Item Weight
0.75 pounds
Length
8.31 inch
Width
5.51 inch
Height
0.79 inch
First Sentence
January 1864: The country divided began its third cruel year of civil war.