Twelve-year-old Caleb Johnson is left behind when his father and older brother march off to war. He wants to go with them but must stay at home and care for his mother and the farm. Then his best friend, Johnny, the company’s drummer boy, comes home injured. He teaches Caleb all about drumming, and before long, Caleb leaves home to take Johnny’s place.

Caleb becomes part of Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia just after its great victory at the Battle of Chancellorsville. After a few weeks in camp Caleb marches north with the army, his fears about war, battle, and the enemy growing with each step. At a place called Gettysburg he experiences the loss of his sergeant, is captured by the Union cavalry, and confronts the possibility of spending the rest of the war in a prison camp.

Forced to work in the hospitals at Gettysburg, Caleb slowly comes to trust his captors only to face what he believes to be betrayal at the hands of the man he has come to trust most.

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About: Robert J. Trout

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