As Ann McMillan's Civil Blood opens, some Richmonders pour into the streets in celebration, while others - slaves, free blacks, Union sympathizers - mourn in secret. Unknown to all of them, another disaster threatens, quieter but more effective than the Union warships: smallpox, the most contagious plague the world has ever known. Narcissa Powers, a white widow turned Confederate nurse, and Judah Daniel, a free black herbalist, joining forces against the outbreak, encounter a frightening possibility: the victims are being infected by tainted money flowing through Richmond's network of speculators and profiteers. Then the disease reaches a Union encampment, leading to accusations of germ warfare. But for Narcissa and Judah Daniel, smallpox strikes its cruelest blow against the city's most vulnerable population: its children.