Spring, 1864 . . . the Civil War's two greatest generals face each other in the field of battle. Ulysses S. Grant spurs his Army of the Potomac across the Rapidan River as part of a grand offensive plan designed to crush the Confederacy in a single blow. Awaiting Grant and his Federals is the Army of Northern Virginia under the command of Robert E. Lee who, for two years, has repelled every Union attempt to penetrate south of the Rapidan. Again, Lee foils Federal intentions, swiftly striking Grant's army as it struggles through the tangled darkness of Virginia's most impenetrable forest, known as the Wilderness. With dogged determination uncommon to Federal armies fighting in the East, Grant turns to face off with Lee. For two days the great armies wrestle amid the nightmare landscape that would give this bloody battle its name. An absorbing and detailed account of one of the greatest battles between Grant and Lee, vividly depicted by a distinguished historian.