Sacred Ties - by Tom Carhart (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

The gripping story of six West Point graduates who fought each other in the Civil War.

With Civil War clouds darkening the horizon, they were strangers from different states thrown together as West Point cadets: George Armstrong Custer, Stephen Dodson Ramseur, Henry Algernon DuPont, John Pelham, Thomas Lafayette Rosser, and Wesley Merritt.

Right after their graduations, war erupted in 1861. They stayed blue or went gray, and even faced each other in battle. Acclaimed military historian Tom Carhart vividly brings to life these young men of valor and honor, and the valiant victories and crushing defeats of the war. They made their marks on the history of a new nation split apart, then reunited and reborn--but only at the cost of the blood of brothers.

Review Quotes

Praise for Tom Carhart's Lost Triumph: Lee's Real Plan at Gettysburg and Why It Failed

"Sheds new light on the grandest battle of the Civil War, a remarkable achievement by any military historian"
-John Keegan, author of The Face of Battle

"Bold and provocative...sure to stimulate debate among even the most seasoned Civil War buffs."
-Jay Winik, author of April 1865

"Thanks to Tom Carhart's painstaking and absorbing reconstruction of events, we now have a clear comprehension of what Lee planned for July 3-and why it went wrong... Given the vast number of writings on Gettysburg, it seems impossible to come up with new information and insights about the battle. But Tom Carhart has done it."
-James M. McPherson, author of Pulitzer Prize winner Battle Cry of Freedom

"Tom Carhart's Lost Triumph is, amazingly, a new, original and important contribution to our understanding of the Battle of Gettysburg."
-David Hackett Fischer, author of Pulitzer Prize winner Washington's Crossing

"Not only a fine work of scholarship but a fine story."
-Rick Atkinson, author of Pulitzer Prize winner An Army at Dawn

"Provocative and exciting. A very good read."
-Gabor Boritt, author of The Gettysburg Gospel, Director, Civil War Institute, Gettysburg College

"An exciting, wonderful book rivaling anything yet written about the battle of Gettysburg. It is mandatory reading for Civil War buffs"
-Bruce Lee, author of Marching Orders: The Untold Story of World War II

"A mark of true genius is a writer's ability to show us the familiar in a new light. Carhart does just that in Lost Triumph ... truly a ground-breaking contribution to American military history."
-Dan Cragg, author of Generals in Muddy Boots

"With Lost Triumph, Carhart swats a stupendous, historical, out-of-the- park four-bagger. History is seldom page-turning; here, the true events of Gettysburg compose a thriller."
-Gus Lee, author of Courage: The Backbone of Leadership

About the Author

Tom Carhart has been a lawyer and a historian for the Department of the Army in Washington, D.C. He is a graduate of West Point, a decorated Vietnam veteran, and has earned a Ph.D. in American and military history from Princeton University. He is the author of four books of military history and teaches at Mary Washington College near his home in the Washington, D.C. area.