Allegiance

the long version

"So vividly does Allegiance re-create the events leading to the firing of the first shot of the Civil War on April 12, 1861, that we can feel the fabric of the Union tearing apart. It is a tense and surprising story, filled with indecisive bureaucrats, uninformed leaders, and hotheaded local politicians who surrounded some dedicated and honorable soldiers on both sides.". "David Detzer's decade-long research on these people in this place at this time illuminates the passions that led to the fighting, the sober reflections of the man who restrained its outbreak, and the individuals on both sides who changed American history."--BOOK JACKET.