People

Knowing something of the historical figures who are mentioned in the novel helps to develop a better appreciation of the story.

The American Civil War is very much on the minds and in the conversations of everyone around the Creighton family. The Creightons avidly await any news of the war.

They read, with disappointment, of the Union’s defeats at the first Battle of Bull Run, and they hear of the fiasco called Ball’s Bluff. Jethro notices that people around him are no longer speaking of the war as if it will be ended anytime soon.

The Battle of Wilson’s Creek was particularly difficult for the Creighton family and others in their Illinois community, in part because there were soldiers from Illinois in that battle.

His brother, Tom, and his cousin, Eb, volunteered to serve in the Union army. His brother, John, and teacher, Shadrach, make plans to enlist by mid-winter.

Another brother, Bill, speaks to him for the first time about his sympathies for the South, opening a new arena of thought.

Jethro listened with fascination to new names of men and places. It was at Wilson’s Creek that the Union commander, Nathaniel Lyon, was killed; and it was at Wilson’s Creek, people said, that hundreds of soldiers died because General Fremont refused to send reinforcements to Lyon. Jethro heard both sides of that argument.

Some of the names that Jethro learned in Chapter 3 include the following: