Our story starts in 1840, in Benny Havens tavern, just outside post limits of the United States Military Academy. With William Tecumseh Sherman, Rumble, Cord, and Benny Havens' daughter coming together in a crucible of honor and loyalty. And on post, in the West Point stables, where Ulysses S. Grant and a classmate are preparing to saddle the Hell-Beast, a horse with which Grant would eventually set an academy record, and both make fateful decisions that will change the course of their lives and history.
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We start with the battle at Palo Alto at the beginning of the Mexican War, percentage-wise, the bloodiest in U.S. History. While Grant and Rumble battle across Mexico, Cord is with Fremont and Kit Carson in the far west, fighting to bring California into the Union. We end on the eve of the Civil War, with each man taking his place on one side or the other, as West Point classmates prepare to face each other in battle.
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We start with Mark Twain in Confederate grey, waiting for a Colonel of the Illinois militia, U.S. Grant in Florida, Missouri. From West Point, to Washington DC, through First Bull Run, the Monitor battling the Merrimac, to Grant's initial successes at Forts Henry and Donelson. We end on the precipice of failure as Grant's army is routed on the first day of the battle of Shiloh and sit in the rain, under an oak treat, contemplating retreat.