Kill-Cavalry

"This is a biography of an antihero," Samuel Martin writes in his prologue. Hugh Judson Kilpatrick was one of the most notorious scoundrels in the Union Army. He lied, thieved, and whored his way through the Civil War, yet managed to attain the stars of a major general. But despite his faults -- or perhaps because of them -- he is a fascinating character. A promising graduate of West Point's class of 1861, Kilpatrick saw the start of the Civil War as an opportunity to launch an ambitious career that included aspirations of military heroism, the governorship of New Jersey, and eventually the…