Your Civil War story begins here......

The rebels had made a dash on our hospital, which was in about as good fighting condition as the general run of hospitals, took fifty of our boys out of their beds...

No one really knew what happened to them until that day!

John Azzumaro round-house kicked a soldier, the soldier tripped backwards and the bayonet on his gun dug into his heart. He stole the dead soldiers gun and shot the Confederate soldier holding his girfriend. Smoke filled the air... the Confederates lit the hospital on fire! The ceiling started to collapse and a pipe fell on John's head.

John woke up with a bag on his face tied up on a horse. John was being taken to Richmond. John heard a yell. It was time to feed the prisoners. John found out 23 of the boys and his girlfriend were killed. Luckily, his best friend Tom Barns was still alive. John heard another yell. It was time to get back on the horses. The soldier riding John's horse was named General Oskoaja. He was a mean cold-hearted person who grandfather was an immigrant from Japan. He was also shy. John tried to talk, but he told him to shut up. John yawned twenty seconds later and he smacked him right in the face with a horse crop. John got a gash on his face and John went unconscience. When John woke up John was in Richmond. John was sentenced to be hung for killing 2 soldiers. John had 12 days to come up with a plan and escape or else it was hangman for him...

John walked into a room and looking at his surroundings, he figured he was in the one of the jail cells that they kept their prisoners in. He knew that he didn't have much time to devise a plan to get out. John tried to find an item in the cell that may help him during his struggle. Just then a man about the age of 34 came out from under one of the metal cots. The man's name was Gary Connely and he had a pistol. John seized the chance and kneed the man in the gut. Just before he knocked him out, the man said " I'm not going to try to hurt you". This surprised John, so he didn't snap his neck. John asked how he had gotten the pistol. Gary showed John a hole under the cots that was full of pistols and knives. John asked where he had gotten them and Gary told him he had killed many soldiers and kept their weapons. John remembered that the rebels had not looked in his cap for weapons. He took off his cap and showed his ruffled brownhair which concealed a pearl-handled pistol which had been passed down in his family for generations. He then decided it was time to escape. He took out a Bowie knife from the pile and started cutting the metal bars, at first it didn't seem to be working but 4 hours later the bars fell apart. Then he saw the dusty ground with horse scat. But when he crawled out there was a tall muscalur man standing over him. The man had a tan face and scratches all over. He looked worn out but still looked very serious. The man swung down.He was one of the guards, and John knew it. John ran under the mans long legs hoping to escape. He did but just barely, the man was big, but very fast. All John could do was hide. He ran out the jail, trying to be very quiet so he wouldn't attract too much attention. Hiding under a small bridge, he could see the man running in the other direction. His hat had fell off during the run. Catching his breath, John saw that his chances of being found were very high.

John saw another guard who was old, tired, and blind. John knew it because of his lazy eye. So John said in a deep voice, "Where's the nearest exit?" The blind man told John. John heard a yell behind him John took out his knife and swung it backwards stabbing the muscular guy. It hit the muscular guy in the arm. He knew that wouldn't hold him for long so he ran to the exit, jumped on a horse, and vamooshed off into the night sky.

The next day he arrived in a small town with not much going on. The first thing he wanted to do was to find where he was and then where he could stay without someone finding him. John found out where he was. He was in a little town called Ozgood. He never had know about the town until now!! John went looking around Ozgood and found out that it was a Slave town in a Slave state, but it didn't look like anyone around here owned a slave. And since he was an abolitionist he knew he had to get out fast from there, but how? It was getting late and he didn't have the strength to leave and stay up one more night! He found a little barn with 3 horses and 2 pigs. He laid on a block of hay and soon fell alseep.

When John woke up the next day there where three farmers standing around him. He didn't know what to do!! "Well hi there", said one of the farmers."I'm Earle and this here is Billy and this here is Joseph." "Wait,wait,wait, a second" said John."Where am I" he said softly."Why this here is what I like to call the Cotton Palace." John looked up and saw a whole lot of slaves and a whole dang lot of cotton. It looked like it had been snowing for about a month without stopping.There were slaves everywhere scattered throughout the whole cotton field."Oh, well that's nice, I should get going now."said John."No, why don't you stay with us, come meet my wife, and we will have some cornbread and milk." said Earle."I really must get going.I,I,I" John stuttered and tried to make up something to say to try to get out of this Cotton Palace or what ever."I,I,I have to go see my grandmother." It was the only thing he could think of.But before he could start running away as fast as he could, Earle and Billy grabbed him by his weak arms and dragged him into their house.

As soon as they got into the house Earle's wife, Edna, immediatly dashed toward them."Well Hi" she said in a very high,country voice. John said hi right back. She had short,brown,messy hair which was all up in the air with light blue eyes and her lips were huge.She had bright red lipstick with her eyebrows all high in the air. She looked very funny. John snickered a few times when she walked because everytime she would walk her arms would swing very high and she would walk fast. She looked like a soldier. Haha. John thought to himself. John needed that laugh a lot."Would you like some venison?"she said. Deer? John thought.What kind of people are these anyhow? Oh well."No mam" John said kindly.She offered John some water and he accepted. John poured that water right down his throat."WOW" them said together."You must have been thirsty" said Joseph. "Yes sir." "May I have some more please mam." "Yes sir Mr..........." John told her his last name.John tried to not give to much information away."Harvest" John lied. " Harvest." she said. "Yes Harvest." John lied again. "Hmmmmmmm.... that's sounds like a name from the north.Are you from the north. "No mam." John said as quickly as he could."O well good because I hate northerners." she said. " Me to" John said all three of the farmers."OOO enough talk" she said. " Mr. Harvest, would like a place to sleep?' she asked. "If that is alright with you I would." "Of course you may stay." "Thank you." "Now Earle show him up to his room." He showed John to his room and told me good night.I think tommorow I will want to go talk to some of the slaves that live here. The room was small and dark and the only furniture was a drab wooden chair and a moldy looking bed. As John sat down, he flicked a cockroach off the pillow. "Well I better get some shut-eye" John said to himself. The next morning, John woke up and decided to run from the house. He crept downstairs and he stole some bread,crackers, a flask of water, and a shotgun. As he was walking away from the farm, he saw a horse. John decided to steal it. John named the horse "Black Wind'. Just when he was putting distance between him and the farm, he saw a band of Rebel troops. he took out his shotgun and fired on them."Hey! A runaway!" they yelled. They swung themselves onto their horses and started to fire on him. As his horse was galloping away from him, hails of bullets shot right past his head. One of them hit him in the leg. He screamed out in pain. Another whizzed by and hit Blackwind in the butt. Immediately the horse collapsed. John got off and limped off to a nearby creek. He washed his wound thoroughly, and bandedged it with cloth. Then he walked to a nearbly town Creekindow. There was a huge wall guarding the town wall so John camped out on the ground that night....

When John woke up he knew he had to get back to Dover his home town. And he knew from Richmond to Dover was about 112 miles. He also had to find Tom Barns his friend that's missing. Somehow he had to get to Richond without being noticed. The only way he knew was to enlist in the Confederate Army!!! Are 14 year olds old enough to fight? John asked himself. But still John has to find a sign up sheet, he bet there was one behind the wall..

John was about halfway to the city gates when he heard the rebel horses galloping towards the city. he jumped into the shadows and stayed absolutely still to make sure they did not see him. As the soldiers left a young man about John's age came lagging behind them with 2 packs of supplies so he guessed he was a low rank soldier who was charged with supplies. John stayed completely quiet but when the boy passed a rock fell right next to john. the boy spun with amazing speed and stabbed out with a bayonet. John dodged and roundhouse kicked the boy. As the kid was going down John remembered seeing the boys face before. John asked him what his name was and the boy said " David Fields". Then John remembered that this was one of his friends who had been taken out of his bed by rebels. John realized that he must not recognize him so he said " I'm John Azzumaro from Canton hospital remember"? David suddenly realized this was the same boy that used to be nice to him when nobody else was.The walked off into the dusty field and tried to heal Black Wind. But a few moments later she went to a better place because of blood loss. John blurted out " Why have you joined the rebels"? David said that he was forced to or else they would have shot him on the spot. John then realized that David may have be able to get him into the army. John asked him and David said he would try. They walked off into the horizon after the rebels, and all the while John was wondering if he had made the right choice.

A few hours later they arrived in the rebel camp.First thing they did was find John somewhere to sleep. After a good nights sleep they went of to see Major General Scott. One look at John and the weary man had made up his mind. Scott said" With a strong built, tall, athletic kid like you we may actually be building up an army". He asked John what kind of weapon he would prefer and John answered a shotgun. The general said we're all out of those, how bout a plain old rifle. John said that was good and walked off to meet his regiment. Most of them were old men around the age of twenty to thirty-five, but there were a few from 36-40. None of them looked to be in fighting condition. They were ready to defend their freedom for sure. John looked around for David and found him with a girl that seemed vaguely familiar. He walked up and saw that it was his girlfriend Emma Kathaway. He asked her what had happened to her and how she ended up with rebels. She said that when they had stormed the hospital that she had managed to get away. She also took a ride on a rebel horse to get to safety. They embraced for a while and then decided that they would have to fight or the general might hunt them down. They went back to John's tent but to their surprise somebody was already there...

The man in the tent was tall and had a beer gut. He also had a short beard of red hair. He was sitting on a barrel playing a card game. When he looked up and saw John standing there with his girlfriend he looked completely surprised and didn't understand what was happining. He said, "what are you doing with this triator of a rebel!!" The man was in an utter fury, "How could you!" I thought you said you loved me!!!"John slowly began to understand.

John talked to Emma about the man who said that she loved him. Emma said," After the hospital was raided, as you know I escaped, and then went to tell Major General Scott about what happened. The man you saw was his assistant. His name is Jeremy Frells. I talked with him a long while and it turned out that we had a lot in common, and well I, I, I figured you were killed in the hospital. I'm sorry John, but Jeremy is my husband." John stood there not knowing what to do until the dinner bell rang. John didn't feel like eating so he went to his tent for the night.

John coudln't sleep that night. All he could think about was all the good times Emma and him had had together. Like that time when they went down to the fountain and stayed all night until the sheriff caught them. How could she betray him by getting married? They had known each other almost all their life. He didnt know what to do. He felt helpless and lost like a fly in a spider web.

When John woke up the next morning all of the camp was in an uproar. He asked his regiment leader what had happened and he said that the Union was coming. John took in so much air that he almost choked. He hadnt planned on having to fight an actual battle. John had never seen action like a war. He had only dreamed about it. The general slapped John on the back. Then he said " I thought you had a heart attack, it's not like you didn't plan for this to happen, right"? John stared right through the general and saw something peculiar. Off in the distance there was a thin cloud of smoke. John automatically knew what it was. Just as he was going to tell the leader a deafining crack echoed throughout and a part of the camp blew up. General Scott yelled " We're under attack, BATTLE STATIONS"!

John ran to his tent and grabbed his shotgun and a couple of extra shells. He didn't kow what he was doing but he had to fit in. He ran out to the battlefield and tried to find David. As soon as he found him, one of the scouts was shot through the head. As John watched the blood come down the gaping hole in the mans head he vomited. But right after he realized that if he didn't move that would be him. Anger boiled up inside of him and he and the rest of the army charged into the enemy lines. John ran up and was fired on. He rolled and shot. He hit a soldier's neck. He watched him fall and get stabbed by another soldier with a bayonet which buried under the man's ribs. He heard him scream of agony and pain. john felt sorry for him but could not let that stop him. He dashed and dodged, stabbed, fired and jumped. At last the battle was over. The rebels had won. John walked into the battlefield and looked at the destroction. He thought " Why have we done this, brother vs. brother, friend vs. friend, this must all end as soon as possible". He walked to Jeremy Frells and glared at him angrily. He had forgotten about Emma until then. He ran back to the tent to see if she and David were alright. When he opened the flap David was laying there with two holes in his legs.

He realized that he must have been shot when the man had missed him. John rushed over to see how deep the wound was. It was pretty deep but not as bad as his shot was. He took off his bandage and wrapped it on David's leg. When David saw that John was injured too he refused to keep the bandage on. John knew he was going to keep refusing treatment so he knocked him out. " I'm sorry David, but it was all i could do to help". Then John began to medicate the wounds and try to take the bullets out.

When David woke up Emma was gone. John was in a massive panic, images of the sick yankees taking Emma and torturing her for the fun of it all because they thought women were pointless trash. Then John remembered Jeremy and decided to go to the tent to see him. When John walked in he saw Jeremy.. or what was left of Jeremy. Jeremy was sitting in his cot with two knubs as legs rised on two splings. He went to Jeremy and he asked him to tell him every thing he knew about the whole story between Emma and the battle so Jeremy started...

He said after Emmma had kissed David and Jeremy good luck before the battle he went off to find his platoon. He found them and then took the battle stations about five minutes into the battle Jeremy was shot in both legs with a winchester rifle. Jeremy slowly crawled away in agony when he noticed David at his battle station looking over at Jeremy in utter horror. Jeremy said he motioned David over to help him. When David came Jeremy said he felt a mind blowing rage, he said he felt that David had to feel the exact pain Jeremy was in so he grabbed his bowie knife from his belt and stabbed David mulitple times in both legs! As David slwoly went down he said he punched him in the face, breaking his jaw on contact. He said when he got back to his tent he saw the too cooks harrassing Emma in the tent. He said they called her names and shoved her around. He said they called her names like "filthy no good street rat" and "worthless trash". Jeremy tried to get his gun but it was too late. The cook stole the gun from Jermey then struck him in the head with astouding force. He instanly crumpled to the ground,knocked out cold. He said when he woke up,He saw Emma knoose around neck, swaying cold and lifeless in on the tree in front of his tent. As he was saying this tears became falling from his eyes like soft rain. John immedialty felt a massive blow to his heart emoitonelly. He was shaking with grief and sadness but then agian still feeling the need to do what Emma would want him to do in this situation. Then a wave of anger and insane amounts of rage filled his body passing through like ripples in streams. He felt a need for vengeance and revenge,shaking faster then a humming bird's wings he flew out of the tent, shotgun in hand.

He went straight to the mess hall looking for the cooks. He asked the sergant major were they were and he said they went to the town looking for food in the market. So he traveled to town on a stolen horse and in about half of an hour found the people he was looking for. The cooks he found were looking at a raw peace of meat in the market. John pretended he had a top secret message for the cooks and had to tell it to them in the privacy of the town barn. So he lead them their to get the "secret message" that john was giving them. They soon found it wasn't a pleasent suprise.

John punched one cook in the nose and it started to bleed like a rain storm in it's worst point! The other he kneed in the gut. He fell to the ground!!!! He showed them who was the boss!!! John looked around in the barn for somewhere to hide, just in case one of the cooks woke up. While he was searching, a cook very quietly found a shovel on the ground and tip-toed up to John. John heard a dirt claud break so he turned around. The cook jabbed the front part of the shovel into Johns leg. John yelped out in pain. He managed to get up of the ground and strike an elbow into the cook's throat. The cook fell over and with seconds left to live, squeeled out, "We will kill you, your friend David and Emma by tommorow. We will, we will!" "No you won't," John whispered. Then picked up the shovel and stabbed it into the cook's shoulders. All of the cooks were laying on the ground either passed out or dead. John jumped up on his horse and road off back to the battlefield.

When he got back to the camp David was up in his bed looking around. When he saw John covered in blood he asked where he had gone. John told him that he had to take care of some private matters. John sat with David for a while until he heard General Scott calling all soldiers. He had the results of the battle. Scott said that about 24,000 Union deaths, and that they had won the fight. All the soldiers were celebrating except John. He was thinking about how those Union soldiers would never see their families again. But the worst thing about it was that he had helped kill them. John suddenly felt sick and ran towards an nearby tree and vomited. But what he saw there was even worse. He saw his fathers face covered in blood. He let out a deep bellow. Many soldiers came to him to ask what was wrong. But before they had gotten there John had passed out in agony.

He woke with soldiers standing around him. He could hear them whispering. John was breathing hard and slowly opened his eyes. He sat up and suddenly a horrible feeling came to his stomach. The soldiers ceased there talking immeadiatley. He thought he was going to get sick again. One of the soldiers leaned down and touched his forehead, nodded and started whispering with another soldier. The other soldier finally broke the silence. " You have no fever and are going to be ok. We wrapped something around your leg." Then John remembered his fathers face, covered in blood and dead.

"Hurry up" said the general, " the bluebelly yankees are coming get ready to fight" said the general. But all John could do was think about his father. Finally, John got dressed grabbed his musket and got ready to fight. They marched to the battle field a gunshot went off and the battle began. A soldier dove at John so John stabbed his eye. The blood gushed out but the soldier limped to his knees as blood went all over his musket. He started to load John saw it and he round-housed kicked the guy in the ribs, a snap sounded almost imeadiately and his ribs broke. Then john grabbed his arm and twisted it backwards dislocated it. (by now the guy was a bloody pulp, stabbed eye, broken rib, dislocated arm.) John grabbed a tree limb on the ground as the guy got up then he smacked the guy write in the chest with the tree, and swung again hitting his fist the guy had a concussion and seizer at the same and he spontaneously died. A bullet whipped by John's face and John fell over in shock. When he got up he saw a fire in the trees. He didn't care were he was he needed to get out of this place and fast. John sprinted away, knocking out Confederate and Union soldiers alike in his haste to get off the battleground. On his way out, he saw David and screamed, let's get out of here! They stripped two feinted Union soldiers of their uniforms, and grabbed two horses that were unmanned, and rearng in fright. Then they headed back to the Union camp, dodging shrapnel, bullets, and shells. Yet, John's horse was shot and fell to the ground. John now had to run quickly back to camp. He was about ten feet away from the barracks of the camp when a bullet went zooming past his shoulder. Then a cannon exploded and sent John flying into the air and over the barracks. He could feel blood coming out of his left thigh, he must have been hit by peices of glass. He was finally back safe at camp. John found David wounded from a bullet in his shin. He could still live if the bullet was taken out in time. John quickly pondered about what he could do to help David. He realizes he had 10 minutes and desperate times count for desperate measures. The only way was to amputate his leg. He quickly ran and found a nurse to help John took her to David. She said to leave so John left and went to bed. When John woke David was in crutches outside his bed, he said they needed to desert the army and get back to Dover. They quickly got up stole 2 horses and left. After a few hours he was in Psappersville. About 2 and a half hours out of Dover. He was near the Choncheya River they found a big tree and they went to sleep, and for the first time, in a long time, they were safe.