Thirteen years before ihe outbreak of the conflict that in many ways still defines and divides our nation, many of the leaders on opposite sides of that war, Robert E. Lee, Ulysses S. Grant, Longstreet, Jackson, Hancock, et. al., traveled to Mexico to battle the wily and enigmatic Mexican General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna. Told primarily through the eyes of two very different men, Robert E. Lee and General Winfield Scott, GONE FOR SOLDIERS is not merely the story of the two-year struggle on unfamiliar soil. It is also the story of an untested engineer first experiencing the horrors of war and assuming a position as a leader of men. Fortunately for Captain Lee, he can observe and benefit from the wisdom and guidance of a veteran commander. From the time the American troops landed at Vera Cruz, General Winfield Scott, known somewhat affectionately as Old Fuss and Feathers for his considerable temper, sees something special in the quiet, dignified Virginian. Whether General Scott is assigning Lee duty as a scout, as the engineer in charge of gun placements, or as a trusted confidante to whom he can't vent his frustrations over Washington's interference and the political backbiting taking place on his own command staff, the two men develop a deep, if unspoken, regard for one another. Combining stirring battle scenes with the kind of penetrating psychological and strategic insight that made all ofJeffShaara's novels bestsellers, GONE FOR SOLDIERS is sure to make its own place in history.