In this gripping telling of the first "great and terrible" battle of the Civil War, Groom describes the dramatic events of April 6 and 7, 1862, when a bold surprise attack on Ulysses S. Grant's encamped troops and the bloody battle that ensued would alter the timbre of the war.

In a story written from Sneaky Pie's perspective, the intrepid feline sleuth temporarily halts her busy writing career to run for President, a campaign marked by a revolutionary animal-rights agenda and a frisky flock of prospective cabinet members.

"Here Earl J. Hess offers an in-depth military history of a critical phase of the long federal campaign to capture Vicksburg, Mississippi during the Civil War. Hess focuses on the period from May 18-23, 1863, comprising the end of Ulysses S. Grant's overland march to the rear of the city and the beginning of his siege. These five days were a watershed in the development of Grant's eight months-long campaign to capture the Gibraltar of the Confederacy....