Night found them cut off from the remnants of their regiment, as Taggert peered through the fog at Federal patrols. The news he obtained from stragglers was heartbreaking. There was no Confederate army; there were only scattered individuals and groups to be rounded up by the blue-clad patrols. There, the survivors would be given the choice of surrender and signing on oath of allegiance to the United States, or facing a firing squad. Judd Taggert knew that he and his major would never surrender. Somehow, he had to get Garth to safety, where he could recover from his wounds, and then they would start the long trail to Texas.