Charleston, South Carolina,1863. The Confederate "cradle of rebellion" is under siege. Union forces boasting a fleet of ironclad Monitors and monstrous coast artillery shake the lowcountry to its core. Repeated attacks fail to take the citadels protecting the city, a ring of defenses that includes the legendary Fort Sumter. The culmination of the siege is an assault on a sand fort called Battery Wagner spearheaded by the 54th Massachusetts Infantry, the first African American unit to fight in the war. The gallant attack on Battery Wagner fails like all the others with catastrophic Union...