Rifles for Watie

Winner of the Newbery Medal * An ALA Notable Children’s Book * Winner of the Lewis Carroll Shelf Award

A captivating and richly detailed novel about one young soldier who saw the Civil War from both sides and lived to tell the tale.

Earnest, plain-spoken sixteen-year-old Jeff Bussey has finally gotten his father’s consent to join the Union volunteers. It’s 1861 in Linn County, Kansas, and Jeff is eager to fight for the North before the war is over, which he’s sure will be soon.

But weeks turn to months, the marches through fields and woods prove endless, hunger and exhaustion seem to take up permanent residence in Jeff’s bones, and he learns what it really means to fight in battle—and to lose friends. When he finds himself among enemy troops, he’ll have to put his life on the line to advance the Union cause.

Thoroughly researched and based on firsthand accounts, Rifles for Watie “should hold a place with the best Civil War fiction for young people” (The Horn Book).

A strong choice for independent reading and for sharing in a classroom and for homeschooling. As a homeschool cooperative teacher commented: "The book has launched many discussions in our class. When a person is on one side of a conflict, it is important to remember that people on the other side are also people. Jeff is a perfect model for how treating people with respect can happen even in war." 

What happens when the only way to serve the Union is to wear the Confederate gray?

• The War’s Western Front: Experience the American Civil War not on the fields of Gettysburg, but in the lesser-known, brutal battlegrounds of Kansas, Missouri, and the Cherokee Nation.
• A Union Spy in a Rebel Army: When sixteen-year-old Jeff Bussey finds himself behind enemy lines, he must risk everything by posing as a Confederate soldier to gather intelligence for the North.
• Richly Researched Historical Fiction: Based on diaries, letters, and firsthand accounts from Civil War veterans, this Newbery Medal-winning novel brings a forgotten chapter of American history to vivid life.
• Humanity on Both Sides: Forced to live and fight alongside the enemy, Jeff discovers that courage, loyalty, and conviction are not exclusive to one side of the conflict.