It is November of 1864, Major General William T. Sherman is about to lead his army of sixty thousand veterans into the heart of the Confederacy. It is the final, excruciating year of a war turned increasingly brutal and desperate.

The men of the maligned and ill-fated Confederate regiment known as the Fiftieth North Carolina look alike. Their faces are dark with smoke, their ribs protrude like barn rafters, and their uniforms are an assortment of filthy rags indiscriminately liberated from Union and Confederate dead.

Among these soldiers are George Hawkins and his brother,...

It is November of 1864, Major General William T. Sherman is about to lead his army of sixty thousand veterans into the heart of the Confederacy. It is the final, excruciating year of a war turned increasingly brutal and desperate.

The men of the maligned and ill-fated Confederate regiment known as the Fiftieth North Carolina look alike. Their faces are dark with smoke, their ribs protrude like barn rafters, and their uniforms are an assortment of filthy rags indiscriminately liberated from Union and Confederate dead.

Among these soldiers are George Hawkins and his brother,...