Union Warriors at Sunset

Book excerpt: Ulysses S. Grant was appointed general-in-chief of the U.S. Army after the Civil War and served two terms as president. His former subordinates, Philip Henry Sheridan and William Tecumseh Sherman, also served as generals-in-chief--Sherman indulging his passion for young women until his death. Two other former generals ran for president, one against his old commander, Grant. Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, the hero of Gettysburg, became president of Bowdoin College and served as governor of Maine. George Armstrong Custer found the immortality that had eluded him during the War, at Little Big Horn. Chronicling the sunset years of 20 Union generals, this book details their attempts to resume productive lives in the aftermath of America's defining cataclysm.