Meade's Reprise

June 27, 1863: Two years into the Civil War, Robert E. Lee's army strides north through Virginia to threaten Washington. Desperate, President Lincoln names a new commander to lead his army, giving Maj. Gen. George Meade a simple order: Defend Washington from the strike that can doom the Republic.

July 1: The bloody battle joined, two armies fight for three days, then Pickett's famous charge fails as the Union line holds. Meade wins the War's key battle, beating Lee who withdraws to fight another day. But what if Meade counterattacks? The Rebel army would perish and the Civil War ends early...

Thus "Meade's Reprise" retells Gettysburg's historic battle and alters it - with twists like a spy ring of slaves, and new heroic characters in blue, in gray, in mufti, in negligees. More than a novel of the Civil War, it is an epic of the coming peace: The longed-for armistice comes sooner; the statesman Abraham Lincoln governs, rebuilding the South and repairing the Union. Meade, a hero and military governor, is beset by enemies like the conniving politician/soldier Dan Sickles. Colonel Fitzpatrick helps former slaves work their new lands while doing battle with himself to win his soul's passion, "The Angel of Gettysburg," beautiful Maeve, once a camp follower who was drafted into service as an army nurse.

April 14, 1865: Two years later, the President invites the nation's most popular hero to an evening out; thus, General Meade and Mrs. Meade join the Lincolns at Ford's Theatre... The rest, as they say, is history. Or is it?