By the spring of 1864, Confederate battlefield hopes had withered. The South's last and best hope rested on its ability to put into motion operations behind the Union lines that would drive Northern voters to replace the then-current administration with one that would be willing to negotiate a settlement with the South. High-ranking Confederate officials, armed with $1 million in funding (worth $25 million today), were sent to neutral Canada where the missions would be designed and where a large Confederate expatriate community to carry out the plans was located.
The most daring and dangerous plan was for a commando expedition to simultaneously take over the U.S.S. Michigan, the only Union warship on the Great Lakes, and liberate thousands of Confederate officers, including half a dozen generals, from the Johnson's Island prison camp just offshore from Sandusky, Ohio. A rebel crew would take over the Michigan and cruise between Buffalo and Detroit, shelling these key Northern cities and others along the way. The freed prisoners, aided by local Confederate sympathizers, would make their way South where they would eventually rejoin the rebel fighting forces.
Two men -- John Yates Beall and Charles H. Cole -- were selected to lead this Confederate expedition. They were both devoted to the rebel cause. Or were they? The lines between black and white fade together into shades of gray in this thrilling historical novel based on actual events and real people. Faded Lines of Gray is a story not only of one of the most daring escapades of the Civil War but also of the characters themselves and the factors that influenced them, for better or worse.
