This is the unforgettable story of a soldier who had to choose between two loyalties—his country and his family. After thirty years of distinguished service in the U.S. Army, Colonel Robert E. Lee refused the field command of the U.S. Forces because he could not fight against the friends, cousins and his own two sons who had volunteered to defend their native state in the Army of Virginia. "Duty, Honor, Country" had special meaning to the son of Henry (Light Horse Harry) Lee, spectacular officer of the Revolutionary Army and three times Governor of Virginia. When Robert was appointed to West Point at eighteen, he determined to be as good a soldier as his father and carry on the tradition of the Lees who had been men of station, ability and integrity in Virginia for two hundred years.

When the first shot was fired at Fort Sumter, Lee was called to Washington to accept President Lincoln's appointment as Commander of the U.S. Army. It was hard to turn down the highest honor his country could give, and Lee's reply was sorrowfully given: "I am, and always have been, an opponent of secession. I can think of nothing worse for the country than that this should lead to war. Yet I could not, I cannot, take part in an invasion of the South." He returned home to take command of the Army of Virginia; it was not until June 1862, when the South was blockaded by sea, beaten in the west, and the northern troops within miles of Richmond, that Jefferson Davis gave him full command of the Confederate defense. For two years he led his beloved South against unbelievable odds and hardships of supply and communication with such bold genius that he earned the admiration of the North as well as the complete devotion of his soldiers.

Here is the inspirational biography of a great man and outstanding General written by an author who is both a Virginian and a West Pointer. Here is also the story of our nation in crisis—a believable picture of the war years which assured the "more perfect union" that is our undivided strength today. 

From the dust jacket