Cyrus Townsend Brady 
Secret Service 
Being the Happenings of a Night in Richmond in the Spring of 1865

In the late 1800s, playwright and actor William Gillette captivated American theater audiences with his dramatic portrayal of a daring Civil War plot to gain access to a Confederate telegraph office, which is considered to be one of the most suspenseful wartime plays ever staged in the United States. Drawing on his own extensive experience as a chronicler of wartime exploits, novelist Cyrus Townsend Brady expands the play into novel form.