It was General Sheridan who introduced scorched-earth warfare to the South, and it was his Cavalry Corps that compelled Robert E. Lee's surrender at Appomattox Courthouse. Sheridan's innovative cavalry tactics and "total war" strategy became staples of twentieth-century warfare. After the war, Sheridan ruthlessly suppressed the raiding Plains Indians much as he had the Confederates, by killing warriors and burning villages, but he also defended reservation Indians from corrupt agents and contractors.

Prologue -- Rise from obscurity -- Stones River -- Defeat and victory at Chattanooga -- Sheridan's Cavalry Corps -- Killing Jeb Stuart -- The Shenandoah Valley -- Triumph at Winchester -- Burning the valley -- Miracle at Cedar Creek -- The end of Jubal Early's army -- Waterloo for the Confederacy -- The race to Appomattox -- Ruler of the southwest -- Winter war on the southern plains -- Lieutenant General Sheridan -- Final conquest of the Plains Indians -- The conservationist general -- Epilogue.