Major General Winfield Scott, veteran of the War of 1812, and Captain Robert E. Lee, an engineer with no combat experience, lead the U.S. Army against Santa Anna in this historical novel about the Mexican-American War.
In 1945 twelve-year-old Patrick and his younger brother Teddy stowaway on the U.S.S. Indianapolis in a desparate attempt to get back to the Philippines where they last saw their parents, just before the Japanese invasion--but when the ship is sunk they find themselves clinging to a piece of debris without food or water, and with hungry sharks circling below.