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During the winter of 1864, more than 3,000 Federal prisoners of warescaped from Confederate prison camps into South Carolina and NorthCarolina, often with the aid of local slaves. Their flight created, in the wordsof contemporary observers, a "Yankee plague," heralding a grim end to theConfederate cause. In this fascinating look at Union soldiers' flight for freedomin the last months of the Civil War, Lorien Foote reveals new connectionsbetween the collapse of the Confederate prison system, the large-scaleescape of Union soldiers, and the full unraveling of the Confederate States ofAmerica. By this point in the war, the Confederacy was reeling from prisonoverpopulation, a crumbling military, violence from internal enemies, andslavery's breakdown. The fugitive Federals moving across the countryside inmass numbers, Foote argues, accelerated the collapse as slaves and desertersdecided the presence of these men presented an opportune moment forescalated resistance.

Blending rich analysis with an engaging narrative, Foote uses these raggedUnion escapees as a lens with which to assess the dying ConfederateStates, providing a new window into the South's ultimate defeat.