Wishing to show off his strength, bravery, and Yankee loyalty, Henry Flemming eagerly signs up to fight for the Union. Once in the heat of battle, though, he has a change of heart and quickly recedes from the line of duty. Later, feeling enormously guilty about his cowardice, Henry commits an act of true courageousness

As a Confederate family prepares for Passover the day after the Civil War has ended, a Yankee arrives on their Virginia doorstep and is invited to share their meal, to the dismay of ten-year-old Jacob. Includes historical notes about Corporal Myer Levy, on whom the story is based, and his prominent Philadelphia family.

"Legend says that the haunting lights over the rapids on the James River at night are the ghosts of long-dead soldiers still fighting the Civil War. Just past the water lies historic Belle Isle, the former Union soldier prisoner-of-war camp, now a city park filled with crumbling ruins and dark wooded trails. When brothers Sam and Derek explore the island and local monuments to Richmond's past on the 150th anniversary of the Civil War with their friend...

Considered "slow" by his father, Lonzo tries his best to help his family in Culpeper, Virginia, during the Civil War and, in the process, comes to some decisions about how to live his life.