Claimed by the author to be the battle that saved Lincoln's re-election plans and thus the Union, this action that took place on October 19, 1864. Some of the most famous personalities of the war took part. Jubal Early, Philip Cook, Thomas Rosser, Thomas Lomax for the Confederacy; Philip Sheridan, George Custer, Charles Lowell, George Crook for the Union.
The Confederacy surprised the Union Army sleeping in their camps and routed them but then stopped the advance giving Sheridan time to arrive back from Washington to rally the troops and defeat the much smaller Confederate forces.
Lewis spends much of the book giving background on what led to the battle and even more to the biographies of the key participants. Very interesting stuff especially when he pints out the many friends who were now trying to kill one another. At the conclusion of the book he tells us what happened to these individuals. ( )