With the outbreak of war between the Union and the Confederacy in 1861, the Union army recruited soldiers throughout most of America, including Charley Goddard's area near Winona in Minnesota.

"Minnesota was mostly wild then, with Sioux and Chippewa Indians to the north and west, and there were some frontier forts on the edge of the wilderness to deal with any difficulties." During his drilling, Charley hears that the regular soldiers at some of the forts were being replaced by local recruits such as he, and there is hope that he and his regiment will become guardians of the frontier. Although some local units were used to replace regulars in frontier forts, Charley's unit, the First Minnesota Volunteers, are sent across rivers and through towns to Washington, D.C. With only red shirts as uniforms, they are sent into battle at Bull Run and are blown apart by Confederate...