The Bushwhacker: A Civil War Adventure

by Garrity, Jennifer Johnson

• ISBN13: 9781561452019
• ISBN10: 1561452017
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1999-09-01
• Publisher: Peachtree Pub Ltd

Summary

During the Civil War, fourteen-year-old Jacob Knight returns from the cornfield one day to find bushwhackers--Confederate sympathizers in the Union state of Missouri--terrorizing his family. At the insistence of his mother, Jacob and his seven-year-old sister, Eliza, flee the house for safety. When the two young people dare to return home the following morning, their family is nowhere to be found and their home is burnt to the ground. Hoping that the rest of their family survived, Jacob and Eliza take the family's one remaining horse and journey north, toward their aunt's home in Iowa in hopes of finding their family along the way.After traveling for several days, the children are befriended and given shelter by a kind young mother, Maggie, who was left by her husband, a bushwhacker. The children stay with Maggie throughout the winter, helping her with the farm chores, and with her infant son. The new family is growing comfortable with each other until a ragged stranger enters their lives. Who is this man? What will he do to Jacob and Eliza? Will the children ever find out if their family survived?

Author Biography

Jennifer Johnson Garrity has published several books for middle readers. Her interest in Missouri's difficult position during the Civil War began as a result of conducting extensive research into her family history. This research inspired The Bushwhacker. She lives in Germany.

After a long career as a freelance illustrator, producing work for books and magazines, Paul Bachem now devotes his time to painting landscapes and seascapes from nature. His paintings are in numerous private collections as well as the permanent collection of the Forbes Gallery in New York City. He lives in New Jersey.