Nearly all of the Civil War's greatest soldiers were forged in the heat of Vera Cruz and Monterrey. The Mexican War has faded from our national memory, but it was a struggle of enormous significance: it was the first U.S war waged on foreign soil; and it nearly doubled our nation's land area. At this fascinating juncture of American history, a group of young men came together to fight as friends, only years later to fight as enemies. This is their...

On the morning of April 2, 1865, Jefferson Davis received a telegram from General Robert E. Lee. There is no more time--the Yankees are coming, it warned. That night Davis fled Richmond, setting off an intense manhunt for the Confederate president. Two weeks later, President Lincoln was assassinated, and the nation was convinced that Davis was involved in the conspiracy that led to the crime. Lincoln's murder, autopsy, and White House funeral transfixed...