This evening I finished reading Swords of Steel: The Story of a Gettysburg Boy by Elsie Singmaster.

Swords of Steel was a Newbery runner-up in 1934. After finishing this book I have only twelve books left in my challenge to read all the Newbery award winners.

I really enjoyed this story about a young boy who lived near Gettysburg. The story starts when John Deane is only twelve years old and ends six years later at the end of the Civil War.

In the first part of the book John goes with his father to Harper’s Ferry and witnesses the raid by John Brown. His father is a salesman for a wagon company and also a conductor on the underground railway.

The picture above shows a rifle that was produced at Harper’s Ferry. I took the picture during a Museum Day at our local museum.

Gettysburg is right on the border of Pennsylvania and Virginia and was a strategic location during the war. Of course, we all know of the great battle that took place there. In this story John helps a doctor treat enemy soldiers in his house which had been taken over by Confederate troops.

John also gets to hear both The Gettysburg Oration and The Gettysburg Address and also meets President Lincoln.

When John is finally old enough he enlists in the army and participates in some of the final battles of the war.

I didn’t mention above, but John’s father enlisted in the army. John stayed in Gettysburg with his two sisters and grandfather. One of the sisters gets married during the war and the other sister marries just after, so we get a varied look at life during the war.

There is much more to the story, including a love interest for John, but I will let you read the book and find out more on your own.

I also found that Elsie Singmaster wrote quite a few works of Historical Fiction. I will probably be tracking down some of them that look interesting.

Now on to the last dozen books in my challenge. I am hoping to finish by the end of the year, but there are four titles that are proving hard to find.

Steven