A very good book and well researched. Somewhat a little too biased considering that the author's family was involved and given that his family was actively engaged in open rebellion against the government of the United States. However, atrocities occurred frequently on both sides, as it usually does in war. Hugh McGee's unit could and probably was responsible for the massacre of black Union Troops at Ft. Pillow, especially in retaliation for the atrocities committed against his family. The author does shed some light on the Official Records of the War of the Rebellion that make them suspect, but one can only speculate, and speculation is not fact. One can only surmise. He does point out, with better clarity than most, that the Confederacy only wanted the inclusion of the State of Missouri in the Confederacy for the use of it's troops in other theaters, while it's defense was left up to the people who lived there. A very sad tale of a doomed family in the nation's most turbulent time.