The Final Mission

the long version

It is 1870, and the nation is still badly splintered by civil war. Ulysses S. Grant, two years into a presidency tainted by scandal, struggles to unite the country. He believes only one man can help him convince the factions to bury the gauntlet - a man admired more in the South and North than the general who won the war - Robert E. Lee. Grant assigns his young security chief, Colonel John Spencer, to persuade a reluctant Lee to invite the President to the first reunion of the senior officers of the Army of Northern Virginia. Grant believes the symbolism of his standing with Lee in front of the elite of the Confederate military will help diminish the bitterness. Colonel Spencer, with the help of General William T. Sherman, the President's trusted friend, learns that KKK assassins will attempt to prevent the meeting by killing Spencer - and the President.