Documents the July 1863 ship-burning rampage led by Confederate Navy Lieutenant Charles W. Read in the weeks before the Battle of Gettysburg, tracing the efforts of Gideon Welles, U.S. Navy secretary, to end the attacks and capture Read. 20,000 first printing.
This is more than a book on Charles W. Read and his piracy raid into New England waters in the summer of 1863, but a brief history of Confederate raiders through the course of the war.