This was an interesting little book, containing many not so well known parts of the Civil war. I wouldn't consider it to be quite correctly titled however. The stories were not so much about secret missions as they were, little piece of the struggle that makes up war. This book mostly covers naval history, and in this being an underreported part of the war make for good and different reading. You should be warned however, as most of the information included in this book is from first hand accounts, the accuracy is sometimes sketchy. I know for instance that the store about the raid on St Albans,VT contain many errors, including town names. Still I would strongly recommend this book to anyone interested in the Civil War, and it's lesser known battles. ( )