THE CIVIL WAR was only a few weeks old when seven hundred and fifty Confederate recruits gathered in the fields around Philippi, Virginia. It was early June 1861, and as yet there had been no real battles. The men had eagerly volunteered, but most had no training as soldiers. Their only weapons were the ones they brought from home— old-fashioned flintlock muskets, cap and ball pistols, and a few shotguns.
Among them was an eighteen-year-old college student named James Edward Hanger. When two of his older brothers signed up to fight for the South, James was determined to follow their example. His mother said she’d only allow her youngest boy to go to war if he joined the same company as his brothers. So James headed to the Confederate camp at Philippi to enlist.
The day after James arrived, word came that 4,500 Union troops were heading their way. There was a railroad near Philippi, and the Northern forces wanted it. James and the other recruits were excited by the news, but the Confederate colonel knew that his poorly equipped soldiers couldn’t stand against thousands. He ordered the recruits to be ready to abandon the camp at a moment’s notice.
As James and the other men prepared to move out, the afternoon grew dark. Lightning split the sky, and rain poured down. The colonel decided to delay their departure and move camp in the morning. He was convinced that there was no way Union soldiers would march all night through such a blinding downpour.
But the colonel was wrong. The enemy was coming!
James and a few others wanted a dry roof over their heads, so they took shelter in a barn for the night. James climbed into the hayloft and settled down to sleep. As he dozed, three columns of Northern forces slogged closer and closer.
At 4:20 a.m., Union cannons thundered, firing from the top of a hill west of Philippi into the Confederate camp below. James jerked awake and swung his legs over the side of the loft. Before he could jump down and dash for his horse, a cannonball crashed through the barn wall. Six pounds of cast iron the size of a grapefruit tore into James’s left leg above the knee. The other men ran, but James’s shattered leg wouldn’t hold his weight. Unable to escape, he dragged himself into the hay and waited to die.
This story is from the July/August 2017 edition of Cricket Magazine for Kids.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the July/August 2017 edition of Cricket Magazine for Kids.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
The Tale Of Paddy Ahern
THERE ONCE WAS a lad named Paddy Ahern who trod the green hills of Limerick, Ireland, offering to help farmers with their chores in return for food and lodging.
The Pedestrians
EACH TIME HELGA Estby looked over her shoulder, the big cat was there. Crossing Wyoming’s Red Desert on foot, in the dust and heat of August 1896, was tough.
The Magic Gifts
A Basque Folk Tale
The Dragon's Scales
“THREE YEARS I'VE been waiting, when Torquil promised he’d return them in three days. I’m not waiting three more days to get back what’s mine!” The dragon punctuated his remarks with a smoky snort and a lashing tail.
The Water Bucketre
A Chinese Folk Tale.
Between The Pages
One rainy night, while alone in the castle library with her talking gargoyle, Marcus, Princess Audrey finds a book with the odd title Finding Angel. Meanwhile, in modern times, a girl named Angel is celebrating her thirteenth birthday.
Swim Buddies
I LEAN OVER the side of the catamaran and peer into the crystal blue water. This is my last chance, I think.
The Bushwhackers
I CAN’T ABIDE living one more day in this pigpen!” I groaned and rolled out of bed to pull on my dress.
As American as Appleless Pie!
NOTHING IS MORE American than the humble apple pie. There’s even an old saying to prove it: “as American as apple pie.” So it may come as a surprise that many early settlers who forged the trails of our expanding nation were often without apples to make this most American of desserts. As pioneers headed west in pursuit of territory and gold, they had to leave many things behind, including apples. Not only did life on the trail make fresh fruit like apples hard to carry and keep, apple trees were native only to the east coast, which made finding apples in the West nearly impossible.
The Man Who Built A Better Leg
THE CIVIL WAR was only a few weeks old when seven hundred and fifty Confederate recruits gathered in the fields around Philippi, Virginia. It was early June 1861, and as yet there had been no real battles. The men had eagerly volunteered, but most had no training as soldiers. Their only weapons were the ones they brought from home— old-fashioned flintlock muskets, cap and ball pistols, and a few shotguns.
