Abstract:
In the closing months of the Civil War, Maj. Gen. James Wilson, in an effort to destroy Confederate war materials, factories, foundries, and cotton leads the largest cavalry raid executed on the American continent. Silas Mechum, a young Union cavalryman from Indiana meets Lorena McNeill, a Southern beauty, and immediately the two fall in love. He departs with the 13,480 heavily-armed horsemen on the raid, which rides through Southern cities, defeats the formidable Rebel general, Nathan Bedford Forrest twice, and captures many prominent Confederate leaders. At war’s end, Silas returns to Alabama where he has a long and happy life.