In 1863,
Robert E. Lee and the
Army of Northern Virginia are victorious at the
Battle of Gettysburg (not the United States'
Union Army, which won in reality). Instead of attacking the Union line on July 2, 1863, Lee conducts a broad
turning movement and forces the
Army of the Potomac to attack him in a favorable position. Gettysburg becomes something of a footnote in the main battle, which takes place at
Union Mills in
Maryland. The defeat at Union Mills is a grave setback to the Union Army, but it alone does not end the war or determine its outcome. The book brings an opposing view to
Bring the Jubilee, published fifty years earlier in 1953, which assumes that a Union defeat in Gettysburg would have led to a complete defeat and catastrophic collapse of the North. ==Historical figures==