Short Synopsis
After four years in England, fifteen-year-old Vincent Wingfield, who supports slavery but not brutality toward slaves, returns to Virginia and serves courageously under Generals Robert E. Lee and "Stonewall" Jackson through many of the famous battles of the Civil War.

Full Synopsis
In G. A. Henty's heroic clash of opposing conviction, Vincent Wingfield, a young spirited teenager and heir to a southern slave plantation, bravely proves his sympathy for brutally treated slaves and becomes a staunch supporter of slaves' rights. But, with the onset of the Civil War, Wingfield's fidelity to the state of Virginia leads him to serve under Robert E. Lee's cavalry and fight for the Confederacy.

Through his courage and readiness, he survives hairbreadth escapes, attempts on his life, and two imprisonments. Henty provides an intriguing insight into the war's famous battles, the characters of Robert E. Lee and his lieutenants, and the vast complexities of the saddest conflict in the history of the United States.