Charley Skedaddle
Charley SkedaddleCharley Skedaddle
Charley Skeddaddle is a story that takes place during
the Civil War (1861-1865) in the North. The main character
is Charley Stephen Quinn. He was a young boy growing up in
New York City without parents. Charley�s older brother
Johnny died at the Battle of Gettysburg. We learned about
Johnny through Charley�s memories. He lives with his older
sister Noreen, who recently became engaged to be married.
Charley was involved in a street gang called the Bowery
Boys.
Charley has had a rough life and has difficulty
learning to accept his brother�s death. He wants to get
revenge against the Confederate soldiers and this motivates
him to join the Union army. He is inspired when he sees a
military parade and a friend of his brother, or so he
believes. That would be a perfect solution to his problems
at home and a way to punish those responsible for his
brother�s death. He had admired Johnny greatly and felt the
only answer was to sneak into the army. Charley could not
enlist because he was only 12 years old. He was determined
to be a hero like his brother.
Since Charley was too young to be a soldier he became a
drummer-boy for the army. He trained and worked hard to be a
good one. He may have been physically ready for his first
battle, but emotionally he was not. I don�t think he really
knew what killing a person involved. All of his life he
watched the people he cared about be taken away from him.
First, it was his parents, then Johnny, then Noreen and now
it was about to happen again. This time it was about Gem,
the only person who took an interest in him during battle.
Gem was killed and this caused Charley�s anger to peak. He
shot the Confederate who killed his friend.
After realizing what he had done he panics and runs. He
keeps running and that us when he earns the name Charley
Skedaddle. It is a name that sticks with him for a long
time. He was seen by others as being a coward for running.
Charley manages...
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