On December 20, 1860, a momentous occasion takes place in the beautiful,
graceful old city of Charleston, South Carolina. A secession ordinance
withdrawing South Carolina from the Union is signed in Institute Hall, and a
festive celebration erupts throughout the city. At least in the minds of most of
its citizens, South Carolina is now a sovereign nation.
Taking part
in this celebration are cadets from the Citadel, a military institute for young
men. Two of these cadets are Robert Gilmore and Allard Tyler, who are good
friends despite differences in their backgrounds. Allard is from a wealthy
Charleston ship-building family, while Robert is from a much less well-to-do
farm family. Stirred by the patriotic fever that grips Charleston, both young
men vow that if secession leads to war with the North, they will withdraw from
the Citadel and join the battle against the Yankees.
Robert remains
in Charleston over the Christmas holidays, partly because he does not have the
money to make the trip home and partly because of his interest in Jacqueline
Lockhart, daughter of a wealthy plantation family. Allard is interested in Diana
Pinckston, the daughter of one of his instructors at the
Citadel.
The stories of these young people and their friends and
families play out against a backdrop of secession fever and the drumbeat of
impending war. Robert and Allard are among the cadets manning the guns when the
Star of the West attempts to bring supplies and reinforcements to Fort Sumter.
Both immediately withdraw from the Citadel, Robert enlisting in the Hampton
Legion and Allard intending to join the Confederate navy. Robert sees his first
action at the battle of Manassas in Virginia, and Allard, who has joined a
privateer attacking Northern merchant vessels, barely escapes with his life when
his ship is sunk during a battle with a Union cruiser. For both young men, many
of their romantic notions, about the glory of war are shattered.