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.
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.
I know nothing about the author at this time.
The story begins in New York City in 1864 where
twelve-years old Charley Quinn lives with his older
sister, a hatmaker.
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.
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.
"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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