The narrative covers from Grant's birth, his days at West Point; his courtship and marriage, his experiences during the Mexican war, and his subsequent time as a civilian before his comeback as a soldier during the Civil War.

    On 10/16/1859 John Brown & 17 of his followers seized the armory & arsenal at Harper's Ferry. They'd counted on an uprising of the slaves. There was no uprising. On 12/2, Brown was hanged after a fair trail. To certain Northern zealots he was a martyr; to Allan Nevins he was a victim of his own reasoning insanity.The Union had not long to live. In the following summer Southern hotheads bolted the Democratic convention at Charleston that nominated Stephen A. Douglas for President. When America went to the polls, Douglas faced not only Abraham Lincoln, but also the hotheads' favorite John H. Breckenridge, & John Bell, the candidate of the Constitutional Unionists. South Carolina's response to Lincoln's election was immediate. On 12/20/1860 the Palmetto state was the first to secede from the Union. With illustrations.

    Craven, Saturday Review"A documented, scholarly investigation of the growth of war fever in the North prior to the Civil War. The author discusses the disunionists both Northern and Southern, the party men who played politics, the businessmen who foresaw the loss of Southern markets, and those men who sincerely believed the Union must be preserved."--Booklist"It is well organized and well written, but most of all it presents an accurate picture of the welter of northern sentiments from which emerged the will to war in 1861."--Journal of Southern History"The author displays unusually keen analytical abilities. He writes with clarity and verve."--Bell I. Wiley, Mississippi Valley Historical Review

    Moving accounts cover every campaign and battle on land and sea and tell a sequential story, of the war Includes letters, journals, diaries, memoirs, official records, state papers, and more. and-white illustrations throughout.