Includes bibliographical references (p. 585-587).

The privileged bride of a Virginia military man, Robin Heatherton is a spy for the Confederacy. Disguised as a young boy, she infiltrates Yankee forces during the Battle of the Wilderness, but when her cover is compromised, she is forced to crawl through mud and gore, past the dead, to reach her own lines with vital information. Her husband dead at the hands of the Yankees, Robin flees into the untamed reaches of the Colorado Territory. Helped only by a handsome Union veteran with no respect for women, she tries to work a gold mine claim. She's going to teach him some...Unless Major Thomas Corley finds her and suceeds in having her tried for espoinage.