Volume II of The Alternative History Trilogy, a prequel which features the battles of Second Manassas, South Mountain, and Sharpsburg (Antietam). This may be the only novel in American literature to spotlight the role of black Confederate soldiers. It follows the adventures of two young Virginians, one white, one black as they go off to war with Stonewall Jackson. The book closes by blending into the what-if scenario featured in A Southern Yarn.