The story is about a boy named Charley Goddard who is 15 at the start of the Civil War. He lies about his age and signs up with the First Minnesota Volunteers, thinking he's going on a great adventure.
The first part of his experience involves lots of drilling and little work with their guns, due to lack of ammunition. Then the group gets shipped to Maryland where they find some people supporting the Rebels.
He first battle is the battle of Bull Run (First Manassas), and it's there that he finds out just how horrible war really is. After some time in camp around Washington, D.C, he ends up in another battle and they others, ending up at Gettysburg where he's hurt badly and is mustered out of the service.
The introduction to the book is very good, talking about the mental stress that war puts on the soldiers, noting that it's called Post Tramautic Stress Disorder now; in World War II it was called battle fatigue, and in World War I it was called shell shock. There was no term for it during the Civil War, though, since that type of mental suffering was not actually recognized back them.
An interesting book and a very good wakeup for anyone who thinks war is great and glorious.
Back to main home page index
Yadult Index
