This story of Charley King, a 12-year-old drummer boy from Pennsylvania, who is caught up in the excitement and patriotism during the early stages of the Civil War, is based on an actual person. Mustered into Company F of the Pennsylvania 49th Volunteers in September 1861, his journey begins with the defense of Washington as part of Major General George McClellan's Army of the Potomac. Charley is involved in the transport of that huge army down the Potomac River and Chesapeake Bay to Norfolk, and then, by land, the grueling progression of the Peninsula Campaign and its disappointing retreat, eventually arriving at the Battle of Antietam.