Chigger O’Malley, of Williamsport, Maryland, is happy when rains and floodwater trap Robert E. Lee’s army after its dismal retreat from the battlefield at Gettysburg. His father and three older brothers, all members of the Union army’s famed Irish Brigade, have been killed in battle. Chigger hopes the Union army will attack the withdrawing Confederates and end the war. But when events force Chigger and his mother to care for a wounded Confederate officer, the issues of right and wrong, of friend and enemy-become more difficult to answer. The tense week after the Battle of Gettysburg provides the backdrop for this suspenseful tale of selfdiscovery as Chigger decides whether or not to leave his family to fight for the Union.

“An excellent example of how to teach history through fiction.”

School Library Journal

"Teachers will find the book extremely useful for further study about the events, as well as a heart-warming intense look at how youngsters and widows might have dealt with losing their fathers and husbands in the Civil War."

Civil War Book Review