American Civil War Children's Books: Charlie Skedaddle


Figure 1.--

Quite a number of Civil War books for children have been written about drummer boys. Children are often quite interested in what it was like for people their age in a given historical era. The authors involved varied as to the degree they researched the topic and attempted to weave historical fact into their narative. One excellent book which might interest the younger reader is Patricia Beatty's Charlie Skedaddle.

Awards

Patricia Beatty won the Scott O'Dell Prize for historical fiction for Charlie Skedaddlein 1987. It was the best work of historial fiction for young readers in that year.

Author

I know nothing about the author at this time.

Setting

The story begins in New York City in 1864 where twelve-years old Charley Quinn lives with his older sister, a hatmaker.

The Family

Charley delivers the hats for her and earns a bit of spending money for his labor. Their parents, bot Irish immigrants, are no longer with them. Their mother is now dead and their father left home, never to return. Charley is a member of the Bowery Boys gang, and wears a "plug hat", black coat and red flannel shirt, the gang's uniform. His sister Noreen, plans to marry a bank clerk, whom Charley despises. Charley's older brother, Johnny, joined the Union Army, but was killed the year before at Gettysburg.

Plot

When Charley hears that his sister Noreen plans to marry the bank clerk, Charley decides to run away. Making his way through the city, he came upon an army parade. A friend of his brother's, Sullivan, got his attention, and Charley asked rather impulsively if he could come along with the soldiers. Sullivan had had a little too much to drink, and he told Charley yes, to join them. Charley sneaked on board the ship transporting the soldiers south to Virginia. Most of the soldiers were indifferent to Charley; Sullivan turned out to be rather unsavory. Fortunately, one soldier, Miller, gave Charley some of his food and a warm coat. Miller told Charley how to go about becoming a drummer boy. When the ship landed, Charley made his way to an officer, who apprenticed him to a drummer boy, Silas, who was now 16 and ready to trade his drum for a rifle, to become a soldier. Charley learned quickly the drum signals, and that was good because the soldiers all knew that a decisive battle would soon be fought between North and South.

Charley learned the drum signals very quickly. His first battle experience, however, was terrifying. His drum is ruined by a Confederate cavalryman, and his friend, Miller, was killed. Charley picked up Miller's rifle and shot and killed a rebel soldier. Realizing he'd killed a soldier, Charley became frightened and deserted. He was captured briefly by the Confederates, but a sympathetic Southern officer allowed him to escape. Charley headed to the mountains in western Virginia. Hungry and tired, he found a farm with a henhouse. He meant to take some eggs and leave money for payment, but he was caught by the farmer. The farmer was a woman who called herself a witch, actually someone who assisted with birthing and sold herbal medicines. Recognizing that Charley was a Yankee, she kept him at her farm. As it turned out, the witch, "Jerusha," and her late husband operated an underground railroad station for escaped slaves. Charley made that discovery by chance when Jerusha welcomed a former, now a Union soldier, who was paying a visit. Charley, so impressed by the soldier's bravery, decided he must return to his unit as its drummer boy.

Charley wanted to redeem himself for deserting the army; he named himself "Charley Skedaddle" because he had fled the battle scene. A chance to prove that he was no coward soon came to him. Jerusha, the witch woman, was called away to assist at a birthing. While she was gone, a fierce panther killed most of her chickens. Charley armed himself with Jerusha's rifle for protection. One morning, the panther surprised Charley, but he shot the big cat just in time. Charley set out to find Jerusha, who was very late returning. He found her in a deep ravine; she and the mule she used for transportation had fallen down a hillside. Charley used some of his army training and his wiles to effect a rescue. Although Charley never rejoined the army, he gained self respect - and the respect of the mountain people who knew Jerusha - for his bravery. As the book ends, Charley is ready to move on, but promised to return and visit Jerusha one day.

Factual Basis

"Charley", according to the afterword, is based on fact. Some of the duties Charley was expected to perform were the very ones we read from Wiley's book, Billy Yank. Ms Beatty's book describes the sounds and sights of the city and the army camp perfectly. Good storyline and characterizations, too.






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Created: 7:19 PM 9/25/2005
Last updated: 7:19 PM 9/25/2005