Private Sam Woods was just an ordinary soldier in the 40th Illinois Volunteer Infantry. Sam woke up one peaceful April morning in Tennessee camped near a log church building whose name meant "peace." The day would be anything but peaceful for Sam and the rest of General Grant's army. The next two days would mean the loss of life and health for many and the revelation that Sam's real name was Samantha, a fact that she had successfully hidden for months. Sam and her friends, including the young man she was falling in love with, would wade through the bloodiest battle fought on American soil up to that point. They would never be the same after bloody Shiloh.