Soldiers Heart: Being the Story of the Enlistment and Due Service of the Boy Charley Goddard in the First Minnesota Volunteers

On the battlefield for the first time, Charley watches men all around him drop as they are shot by bullets and canons. Charley is so overcome by confusion and panic that he forgets to fire his gun at the enemy. He sees a man start to walk away from the battle calmly, and begins to follow him, but the man is shot multiple times in the back. Charley lays on the ground, still hearing the bullets flying around him and hitting his fellow soldiers. An officer, Lieutenant Olafson, tells Charley the man are to retreat to the tree line “in good order” (25). Charley wants to run for the trees but forces himself to walk. As he walks, he prays, asking how God could allow such a thing to happen. Once he is closer to the trees, Charley breaks into a run and vomits when he reaches the protection they offer.

The officers lie to the men and say they did well, but Charley knows they were “whipped” (27) by the Rebels. They plan to fight again in the morning, but Charley feels that nothing can make him return to the battlefield. Night falls, and Charley sees what he thinks at first are fireflies flitting across the field.