By 1864, Clay, now a field artillery major in the Confederate States Army, is renowned for accepting and surviving suicide missions.

He is given another task: in order to delay General Sherman's March to the Sea, he is ordered to lead a party of men and their disassembled cannon inside caves that lead to the top of Devil's Mountain, where a battery of guns can destroy a railroad (running through nearby Snake Gap) and the Union troop and supply trains that travel it, buying time for the Confederacy.

Kathy agrees to monitor the activities of the Northern invaders and to signal Clay's men from her window through a mirror by day and a lantern by night.

Will, now a major himself, arrives on the field, but the Union artillery cannot achieve the elevation or range with their cannon to clear the Confederate guns at the top of the mountain.

As the railroad line has been blocked by two destroyed trains, Union headquarters send a Dahlgren gun manned by sailors and mounted on a flat car to wipe out the Confederates.

Drums in the Deep South was the first from a new production set up by the King Brothers which involved them raising finance by selling shares.