The author gives many examples of southern groups and individuals that were against the Confederacy. There is a profile of George H. Thomas as one of these crossover soldiers. Along with David Farragut, and Robert Anderson. Another example was James and William Terrell, both were Virginians, James sided with the Confederacy while William went with the Union. Both would become Brigadier Generals and killed in the war. West Virginia and East Tennessee are both examples of areas that remained staunch Unionist. The author also tells of one fo the most notorious spy which is very rarely told. Elizabeth Van Lew was a resident of Richmond, VA and help the Union prisoners at Libby Prison and assisted in the more famous breakout of over 109 Union officers to escape. The book is a quick read and drives you to search more stories on this subject. ( )

Now this is an excellent history book. Engaging, understandable, readable, interesting, and novel, while at the same time offering plenty of footnotes to document the claims and a neat bibliography. Highly recommended - it’s a shame more history books are not written like this. ( )