The Crisis

In the muddy, fever-ridden camps and shattered earthworks of the Vicksburg campaign, General Sherman emerges as a blunt, fearless commander whose humor, impatience, and instinct for talent animate every scene. As Union forces labor through swamps, trenches, mines, and shellfire to seize the Mississippi and split the Confederacy, Stephen Brice finds himself drawn into the war's harsh machinery and its unexpected human bonds. Sherman's eye for courage leads him to the young lieutenant, while his daring rescue of Admiral Porter's trapped fleet underscores the improvisation and endurance that define the campaign. Against the backdrop of Vicksburg's fall, victory is inseparable from ruin. Stephen encounters Confederate Colonel Catesby Jennison and the sick, embittered Clarence Colfax, revealing how honor and suffering cross enemy lines. His plea to help Colfax becomes an act of compassion recognized even by Sherman. The aftermath widens to Louisiana, where Virginia Colfax waits amid family bitterness, tending the wounded and wrestling with grief, admiration, and divided loyalties as the war's private costs come sharply into view. This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design.