"West Point's first six decades were a time of great landscape change, and that is the focus of this book. Early histories of West Point often focus on the details of getting the Academy running and honing the curriculum to the needs of a young national Army. Historians rarely go into detail about the physical world of the Academy that future Civil War generals trod every day ... What follows is a very detailed trip through more than a half-century...

Through diaries, photographs and re-enactments, these four episodes take the viewer into the personal lives of these Civil War generals.