After almost forty years in the U.S. Army, Winder spent the last four years of his life as a Confederate brigadier general. His command of Richmond earned him the contempt of the Confederate civilians; and, as commandant of all Union prisoners, he became known to northerners as the "beast" of Andersonville. This is a study in military ethics, an examination of one man's attempt to do his duty without tarnishing his honor, and an account of his failures and their enduring consequences.