Carlisle Barracks and Gettysburg are separated by just 30 miles of beautiful Pennsylvania farm country and share many elements of historical connectivity. 

  During my five years on the faculty at the Army War College at Carlisle Barracks, I went on numerous staff rides to Gettysburg with my seminar students and their families.  Over time, I gained a deep appreciation for the connectivity between Carlisle Barracks and the Gettysburg battlefield and the the seed was planted for a novel that would link the two in interesting and intriguing ways. 

  The fun part in developing the novel's plot was building around actual experiences that I and my family had while living there on Carlisle Barracks.  Although all of the characters in the novel are fictional, many of them represent composites of the great people we met and worked with while we were assigned there. 

  Several of the incidents described in the narrative of the book were suggested by our own personal experiences living there.  During our final years on the Barracks, we lived in the house on the end of Garrison Lane across the street from the Hession Powder Magazine.  I frequently walked past the bronze Frederick the Great statue each moring on my way to work.  Although I spent most of my time teaching seminar classes on national security and strategy and the regional strategic appraisal of the Americas in Root Hall, I also had occasion to participate in very sophisticated  strategy simulation exercises in Collins Hall where I developed a deep respect an d appreciation for the Director of the Center for Strategic Leadership, Professor Doug Campbell.  Most intriguing, there really is a secret passage way in the Commandant's quarters that they graciously opened up for trick-or-treaters every Halloween.