CONFEDERATE DAWN

The American Civil War continues in this explosive fifth installment of the series.

The Confederacy is on the rise.

In the aftermath of the disastrous Battle of Gordonsville, General George McClellan's army reels from defeat. What should have been a decisive Union campaign has instead become one of the greatest Southern victories of the war, thanks to General Robert E. Lee and the dramatic arrival of Stonewall Jackson at the height of the fighting.

Yet the battlefield is not where the Union has suffered its greatest setback.

Across the Atlantic, Emperor Napoleon III has reached a momentous decision. Convinced that the Confederacy can survive as an independent nation, France has formally recognized the South, shattering Northern hopes of diplomatic isolation and opening the door to foreign intervention.

Now, as a massive French convoy prepares to sail for Confederate ports carrying weapons, supplies, and military support, President Abraham Lincoln faces the darkest hour of his presidency. With tensions rising on the high seas and the possibility of war with France (and perhaps even the British Empire) America stands on the brink of an even greater conflict.

The fate of the Union has never hung by a thinner thread.

This is the American Civil War as it might have been.