America"s bloodiest war was fought not against a foreign enemy, but family against family, brother against brother, north versus south. After five long years of battlefield carnage, the institution of slavery was finally abolished and the Union preserved. In the process, many of America"s now legendary figures rose to prominence - President Abraham Lincoln and Generals Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee among them. Here, all the human conflicts of that war, both political and military, on land and at sea, are described in vivid and sometimes harrowing detail. New box features give detailed coverage of such topics as the Union"s difficulty enlisting and retaining experienced soldiers; the role railroads played in the war; and the rise of professional nursing.