John Crawford Vaughn was one of the most famous men in Tennessee in the nineteenth century. He was the first man to raise a regiment in the state ( the Third Tennessee)...and one of the very last Confederate generals to surrender, taking the reader from the battles of new Creek Bridge, the first battle of Parnassus, Vickers burg- where Vaughn repelled Sherman's advance - to the final council of war with then-President Davis.The first biography of this poorly understood figure, this book reveals new information about Vaughn's location on the field of crucial battles; his multiple wounds; his role as Jefferson Davis' friend and escort; the fact that his wife and family were captured by Union soldiers; and, the effect of this knowledge on his performance as a military commander. It also serves as an admirable unit histories of one of the premiere cavalry forces of the war, and an outstanding biography of a tenacious fighter who ended his days as State Senator for the People of Tennessee who he had fought for so nobly.