Allan Montague arrives in New York eager for a new life, only to find a city where ambition, money, and social influence matter as much as talent. Drawn into a veterans' gathering, he meets the old comrades of his father, including the comic yet memorable Major Thorne, the revered Colonel Anderson, and Judge Ellis, whose polished ease and political connections hint at the power of the right circle. As the Loyal Legion meeting unfolds, stories of the Wilderness, Spottsylvania, captivity, suffering, songs, and laughter reveal the cost of the Civil War and the fierce brotherhood that endured it. Montague is deeply moved by these men, whom he comes to see as an "army of deliverance," and he feels called to prove himself worthy of their sacrifice. Yet New York quickly complicates his ideals: his family's move after his father's death and a disastrous fire, Oliver's shocking confidence in extravagant living, and the city's polished but hollow social rituals expose a world ruled by appearance. From St. Cecilia's to Fifth Avenue clubs, Montague discovers a society that treats religion, respectability, and opportunity as forms of display, even as a socialist street speaker reminds him that unrest and conflict still simmer beneath the surface. This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design.
