Soldier's Heart: Being the Story of the Enlistment and Due Service of the Boy Charley Goddard in the First Minnesota Volunteers - Gary Paulsen

At the start of the Civil War in 1861, 15-year-old Charlie leaves his farm and enlists in the First Minnesota Volunteers. After experiencing the horrors of war, Charlie comes back a man changed forever. This stark, utterly persuasive novel of combat life (New York Times), by a three-time Newbery Honor winner, explores the condition of battle fatigue. \nIn June 1861, when the Civil War began, Charley Goddard enlisted in the First Minnesota Volunteers. He was 15. He didn't know what a shooting war meant or what he was fighting for. But he didn't want to miss out on a great adventure. \nThe shooting war turned out to be the horror of combat and the wild luck of survival; how it feels to cross a field toward the enemy, waiting for fire. When he entered the service he was a boy. When he came back he was different; he was only 19, but he was a man with soldier's heart, later known as battle fatigue.\n