Edward Motz, an eighteen-year-old employee of the New York Central Railroad in the late 1890s, finds himself enlisting in the Seventy-First Regiment of the New York National Guard, just prior to the outbreak of war with Spain. With the explosion of the battleship Maine on February 15, 1898, in Santiago Harbor, war is declared, and the Seventy-First Regiment soon fi nds itself volunteering for regular service and on its way to the island of Cuba. This book tells the story of Edward's military experiences in the Spanish American war before, during, and after the Santiago campaign. While this story is fi ctional, many of the events, personalities, and situations Edward encounters are not, and provides a comprehensible synopsis of that campaign. I hope you appreciate the blending of fact and fiction and enjoy this book.