The 2nd book in the Father's Day trilogy, following A BLAZE OF GLORY. After sustaining heavy casualties in two failed assaults against the Confederates, Union morale was low and soldiers were losing confidence. Grant reluctantly decided to siege the city, trapping Confederate soldiers and citizens alike inside a ring of Federal entrenchments. Ten days later, the starving and destitute Confederates finally surrendered, yielding command of the Mississippi River to the Union forces on July 4th - Independence Day - and marking a crucial turning point in the Civil War.