In April of 1861, nine-year-old Jethro Creighton helps his mother, Ellen, plant potatoes on their farm in southern Illinois. His father, Matt, cousin Eb, and brothers John, Bill, and Tom also work in the fields while his sister, Jenny, prepares the family’s lunch and family friend and local schoolteacher Shadrach Yale heads to the nearest town (still 12 miles away) for news. The country rests on the precipice of war. By the end of the day, Shad returns with news that Confederate forces have fired on Fort Sumter, beginning the American Civil War.
Before the end of summer, Tom and Eb join the Union Army. In the fall, after much soul-searching, Bill sides with the South and leaves to enlist with the Confederate Army. Finally, after completing the fall harvest and first school semester, John and Shad leave the farm to join the Union Army.
In the absence of the other men, Jethro’s responsibilities on the farm increase. When the family needs supplies in town, including precious coffee, Jethro travels to town alone even though he’s just 10. In town, Guy Wortman and other locals confront him about Bill’s defection to the South, and Jethro defends his brother. Bill’s defection instigates others to retaliate against Jethro and his family. Eventually, the stress of the situation leads Matt to suffer a heart attack. Jethro and Jenny assume even more responsibilities, with the help of kind neighbors like Ed Turner.
In the fall of 1862, the Creighton family finally learns that Tom died at the Battle of Shiloh nearly six months earlier. Following their defeat at the Battle of Shiloh, the Union Army suffers a series of losses and costly victories into early 1863. Soldiers begin to desert the ranks, including Jethro’s cousin Eb. In February, federal agents come to the farm looking for him; he faces serious penalties for the crime of desertion. Then, in March, Jethro finds Eb hiding in the woods. Torn between a sense of justice and mercy, Jethro supplies Eb with food and warm blankets while he decides whether he should turn his cousin in to the government. Ultimately, Jethro writes a letter to President Abraham Lincoln asking him to pardon contrite deserters Within the month, he receives a letter from the president himself announcing just such an amnesty for men like Eb, who quickly returns to his unit.
Throughout the spring and summer of 1863, farm life goes on while John, Eb, and Shad suffer through vicious battles. Shad’s luck runs out at Gettysburg, where he receives a likely fatal wound. Matt and Ellen allow Jenny to go to him in Washington, D.C.. Miraculously, Shad survives, and he and Jenny marry in August. As the war drags into 1864, and Jethro follows the contentious presidential primaries and election through the newspapers. A string of Union victories in the late summer and fall clinch the election for Abraham Lincoln, and the early months of 1865 see Union forces gaining traction in the South, where they rampage through Georgia and North Carolina.
When General Robert E. Lee finally surrenders to General Ulysses S. Grant in April of 1865, Jethro feels pride, elation, and relief. But President Lincoln’s assassination just a few days later overshadows the Union Army’s victory. At the end of April 1865, Jethro sits mourning this loss on a hill near the family farm when Shad and Jenny return from Washington. John and Eb will be back soon, too, and although Bill’s future is unclear, the Creightons’ lives will settle into their new normal.
