Gettysburg -the crucial battle of the Civil War. Somehow, Lee and his Army of North Virginia had traveled behind Union lines, and was threatening Washington D.C.from the north and west. Union troops were rushed to intercept Lee in the tiny Pennsylvania village. The first troops to arrive were the famed “Iron Brigade”, volunteer soldiers from the cities, villages and farms of Wisconsin, Indiana and Michigan, who had fought in every battle since Bull Run, and were now recognized as the finest troops in the Army of the Potomac. These famed warriors had left their homes more than 2 years ago, in answer to Abraham Lincoln’s call to ‘preserve the Union’, and were now being asked to fight the battle of all battles, the battle that had to be won or the War could be lost. This story isn’t about the Brigade, however, but about the kinds of men who made the Brigade what it was. Men like Sam Russell and his brother Josh, who came from a Wisconsin farm, leaving family and loved ones behind. Sam was determined to return home to his beautiful wife and a son that he’d never seen, but first he had to survive and win the battles still to be fought.These ‘Heroes in Black Hats’ did their job, but the price they paid was horrific. This is their story!