Wiley Smart is as sly and cunning as his fake name. Hannah Holt is like an unexpected tonic on a hot, dusty prairie. Linc Larrimer is 12, orphaned, and has a chip on his shoulder the size of a two-by-four. These three unlikely bunkmates are thrown together in a hilarious journey through Indian territory, under the vigilant eye of the most feared Indian of all-Red Cloud.

General William Tecumseh Sherman is known as the man who said “War is hell” and who waged it so fiercely that it left a permanent scar on the Southern psyche. But Civil War historian Richard Wheeler offers a new view of Sherman, as a man of compassion as well as conviction, a military leader who was ahead of his time in understanding that the destruction of supplies and property—the means to wage war—was as important as meeting and destroying enemy armies.

Wheeler has created a seamless, highly readable yet historically accurate narrative with extracts from letters, diaries, memoirs, and first-person reports from the period. The result is a dramatic and detailed account of this important campaign as one which, though highly destructive, doubtlessly shortened the Civil War appreciably, saving thousands of lives, Rebel as well as Yank.

Jebediah Owen stepped off the steamboat that brought him to the headwaters of the Missouri and onto the vast, unknown plains of the prairies. He was not heard of again. His betrothed-Susannah St. George-has gotten tired of waiting and takes matters into her own hands. Eliciting the aid of a French fur scout and incorrigible bigamist by the name of Jean Gallant, the two of them set out for the place where Jed told Susannah he could be found . where the river runs.

Noted Civil War historian Richard Wheeler brings this narrative to life with haunting images of the final days of the Civil War: President Lincoln walking through the streets of Richmond, drawing an admiring crowd of blacks; Confederate and Union troops gathering in the fields around Appomattox Court House, mingling with former foes, experiencing disbelief, bitterness, relief.

Drawing from numerous eyewitness descriptions, Wheeler effectively recreates a moment of the Civil War that is perhaps unequalled in sheer emotion. This account is as much a tribute to Confederate courage as it is a record of the final triumph of the Union cause.

Witness to Gettysburg brings the bloodiest, most crucial battle of the Civil War to life through on-the-spot eyewitness accounts. From the courageous fighting men and officers to the civilians watching as the conflict raged through their towns, from the reporters riding with the regiments to the children excited or terrified by the titanic drama unfolding before them, each account stems from personal experience and blends with the whole to create a startlingly vivid tapestry of war.

In their own words, and through the eyes of their closest aides, such commanders as Robert E. Lee, Jeb Stuart, George Meade, and Abner Doubleday emerge as memorable, living men. So does the seventy-year-old Gettysburg resident John Burns, who joined a Union regiment when the rebels angered him by driving away his milk cows, was three times wounded, and emerged from the battle a national hero.

This is eyewitness history at its best.