Never Call Retreat: Lee and Grant: The Final Victory, A Novel of the Civil War (The Gettysburg Trilogy Book 3)

This alternative history novel concludes the Gettysburg Trilogy, following the Civil War after General Robert E. Lee's victories at Gettysburg and Union Mills. Lee's subsequent attack on Washington, D.C. fails to secure final victory. Though Union General Dan Sickles defends Washington, his Army of the Potomac is trapped and destroyed. President Lincoln's remaining hope rests with General Ulysses S. Grant. Set in August 1863, Lee seeks to conserve strength and maneuver for a decisive strike against Grant's forces. As Lee pursues the defeated Army of the Potomac northward to the Susquehanna River, he learns that Grant—commanding over seventy thousand men—has crossed the river at Harrisburg, a hundred miles to the northwest. Grant's Army of the Susquehanna enters Maryland as Lee's Army of Northern Virginia positions itself for engagement. Grant dispatches General George Armstrong Custer to block Lee's path toward Frederick and control of the B&O railroad. The two armies meet in Central Maryland, where a week-long battle erupts along Monocacy Creek. This confrontation becomes the decisive engagement for both sides.