"During the winter of 1864, more than 3,000 Federal prisoners of war escaped from Confederate prison camps into upstate South Carolina and North Carolina, often with the aid of the local enslaved population, creating, in the words of contemporary observers, a "Yankee plague." In this fascinating look at Union soliders' flight for freedom in the last months of the Civil War, Lorien Foote reveals new connections between the collapse of the Confederate prison system, the large-scale escape of Union soldiers, and the full unraveling of the Confederate States of America"-- Provided by publisher.