The Boys' War : Confederate and Union Soldiers Talk About the Civil War

New York, NY: Scholastic Book Services, 1991. Paperback. Near Fine. First Edition. 4to - over 9¾" - 12" tall. Reading level: Ages 9 - 12. First-hand accounts that include diary entries and personal letters describe the experiences of boys, sixteen years old or younger, who fought in the Civil War. Making extensive use of the actual words--culled from diaries, journals, memoirs, and letters--of boys who served in the Union and Confederate armies as fighting soldiers as well as drummers, buglers, and telegraphers, Murphy describes the beginnings of the Civil War and goes on to delineate the military role of the underage soldiers and their life in the camps and field bivouacs. Also included is a description of the boys' return home and the effects upon them of their wartime experiences. Boys 16 years and younger, Murphy states, made up perhaps as much as 10-20 percent of the total number of soldiers who served in the Civil War. Little did these boys realize that they would become like young Pvt. Henry Graves, who was able to `` `look on the carcass of a man with pretty much such feeling as I would do were it a horse or hog.' '' Private Henry and his contemporaries were direct and simple in their observations and possessed, says Murphy, ``an eye for everyday details.'' Their accounts bring to life, as no other versions can, the Civil War and all of its glories and horrors. An excellent selection of more than 45 sepia-toned contemporary photographs augment the text of this informative, moving work. - School Library Journal. 110 pages. Bottom of spine bumped and rubbed heavy with 1/16" of coating torn..