Explore the Civil War Beyond the Pages!🏡📚
Bring Civil War History to Life for Young Readers
Welcome to the Social Studies companion for the Teen Warrior series, where engaging historical fiction connects middle school readers with the people, events, and experiences of the American Civil War.
The Teen Warrior books explore the war through the experiences of young people who served, survived, sacrificed, and witnessed history unfold around them. Their stories open the door to important subjects including major battles, military life, medicine, prisons, naval warfare, slavery and emancipation, women in wartime, and the experiences of Black soldiers.
Use the History & Social Studies Topics listed with each book to discover the real people, places, battles, and events students will encounter. Teachers and homeschool families can use these connections for classroom lessons, Civil War unit studies, independent research, discussion, and further reading.
Explore the history behind the stories—one book at a time.
Teen Warrior: Civil War History & Social Studies
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Rhythms Of War
View BookHistory & Social Studies Topics Covered
○ Children and teenagers in the Revolutionary and Civil Wars
○ The role of drummer boys in the American military
○ Revolutionary War and Civil War drummer boys compared
○ Battlefield communication and military drum signals
○ Union and Confederate drummer boys and military uniforms
○ Why underage boys enlisted and age restrictions
○ Daily military camp life, drills, guard duty, and chores
○ Young soldiers and noncombatant battlefield roles
○ Battlefield dangers, disease, hunger, weather, and poor sanitation
○ Prisoners of war and the dangers of capture
○ Military discipline, morale, formations, and regimental life
○ Military music, snare drums, fifes, and traditional drum calls -
Against All Odds
View BookHistory & Social Studies Topics Covered
○ Causes of the Civil War, slavery, states’ rights, secession, and the Union and Confederacy
○ Fort Sumter, the Union blockade, and major turning points including Antietam, Gettysburg, and Vicksburg
○ The Emancipation Proclamation, 13th Amendment, Appomattox, and the end of slavery
○ Civil War soldier and civilian life, including food, uniforms, medicine, disease, shortages, and the home front
○ Immigrant and diverse soldiers, including Irish, German, Asian American, and Native American service
○ Native Americans in the Civil War, the Trail of Tears, Stand Watie, and Ely Parker
○ Child soldiers and the experiences of underage boys who served during the war
○ Women soldiers, disguises, and the challenges women faced while secretly serving in the military
○ Formerly enslaved soldiers, African American military service, and the United States Colored Troops
○ Union and Confederate spies, secret codes, couriers, intelligence networks, and reconnaissance
○ Animals and their military roles during the Civil War
○ Civil War weapons and changing technology, including muskets, rifles, balloons, ironclads, submarines, and railroads
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They Shot My Drum
View BookHistory & Social Studies Topics Covered
○ Slavery, abolition, and the fight for freedom
○ John Brown and the raid on Harpers Ferry
○ Abraham Lincoln, secession, and the outbreak of the Civil War
○ Fort Sumter and the beginning of the Civil War
○ The Emancipation Proclamation and Black military enlistment
○ The 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment
○ African American soldiers and the struggle for equal treatment
○ Colonel Robert Gould Shaw and the assault on Fort Wagner
○ William H. Carney, the American flag, and Black military heroism
○ The Battle of Olustee and the 54th Massachusetts in combat
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Gunpowder Warrior
View BookHistory & Social Studies Topics Covered
○ Powder monkeys and teenage service in the Civil War Navy
○ Daily life aboard a Union warship
○ The duties of sailors and naval gun crews
○ Gunpowder magazines, cannons, and naval warfare
○ The USS Brooklyn and the Union Navy
○ Fort Sumter and the beginning of the Civil War
○ Union and Confederate naval forces
○ Charleston Harbor and wartime supply missions
○ The Mississippi River and its strategic importance
○ The Union campaign toward Vicksburg
○ Confederate prisoners and the human cost of war
○ Naval leadership, discipline, rank, and duty
○ The Battle of Mobile Bay and Fort Morgan
○ The USS Tecumseh and dangers of Civil War naval combat
○ Courage, loss, sacrifice, and survival in battle
○ Union victory, preservation of the Union, and the end of slavery
○ Military bravery and the Medal of Honor -
Drum Call To Honor
View BookHistory & Social Studies Topics Covered
○ Willie Johnston and child soldiers in the Civil War
○ Drummer boys and the role of military musicians
○ Civil War drum calls and battlefield communication
○ Union Army camp life, training, uniforms, and rations
○ Military ranks, regiments, brigades, and corps
○ The 3rd Vermont Infantry and Vermont Brigade
○ The Army of the Potomac
○ General George B. McClellan and Union leadership
○ The Peninsula Campaign and the advance toward Richmond
○ The Warwick Line and the fighting at Lee’s Mill
○ Civil War battlefield strategy, reconnaissance, and military maps
○ Thaddeus Lowe and the Union Army Balloon Corps
○ The Seven Days Battles
○ Savage’s Station, White Oak Swamp, and Glendale
○ The Battle of Malvern Hill
○ Retreat to Harrison’s Landing
○ Battlefield casualties, field hospitals, disease, and infection
○ The experiences of wounded soldiers and battlefield survival
○ Abraham Lincoln and the Presidential Review of the Army
○ Courage, duty, honor, morale, and sacrifice
○ Willie Johnston and the Medal of Honor -
Clear The Way
View BookHistory & Social Studies Topics Covered
○ Irish immigration to America and the legacy of the Great Famine
○ Immigrant youth, poverty, work, and social class in Philadelphia
○ Abraham Lincoln, secession, slavery, and the causes of the Civil War
○ Fort Sumter and the outbreak of the Civil War
○ Union enlistment, military pay, medical examinations, and army contracts
○ The 13th Pennsylvania Cavalry and the Irish Dragoons
○ “Faugh A Ballagh” and Irish military heritage
○ Cavalry horses, mounted warfare, sabers, rifles, and battlefield training
○ Civil War camp life, uniforms, rations, drills, and military discipline
○ The Battle of Antietam and care of wounded soldiers
○ The Battle of Winchester, Opequon Creek, and General Jubal Early
○ General Philip Sheridan and Union cavalry strategy
○ The Shenandoah Valley Campaign and destruction of Confederate supplies
○ Scouting, reconnaissance, flanking maneuvers, and cavalry tactics
○ Battlefield wounds, field hospitals, medical care, and recovery
○ Capture by Confederate cavalry and the treatment of prisoners of war
○ Andersonville Prison and the beginning of Michael’s captivity
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Clear The Way Book 2
View BookHistory & Social Studies Topics Covered
○ Andersonville Prison and the treatment of Union prisoners of war
○ Commandant Henry Wirz and prison authority during the Civil War
○ The “Dead Line,” stockade defenses, guards, and prison discipline
○ Overcrowding, forced labor, burial trenches, and life inside the stockade
○ Starvation, contaminated water, poor sanitation, and disease
○ Scurvy, malnutrition, exposure, and the health effects of imprisonment
○ Prisoner cooperation, bartering, scavenging, and survival strategies
○ Young soldiers and drummer boys held as prisoners of war
○ Prisoner exchanges, parole rumors, and the uncertainty of captivity
○ Escape attempts, tunnels, guards, dogs, and the dangers of recapture
○ Civil War engineering, fortifications, levers, pulleys, and tunnel construction
○ Fort Donelson and the use of military engineering during the war
○ The psychological effects of captivity, grief, fear, and loss
○ Journals and eyewitness-style records as a way of preserving wartime experiences
○ Human dignity, friendship, loyalty, and moral choices under extreme conditions
○ The United States Christian Commission and aid to Union soldiers -
Clear The Way Book 3
View BookHistory & Social Studies Topics Covered
○ The final months of the Civil War and the collapse of the Confederacy
○ Union prisoners released from Andersonville and other Confederate prisons
○ Vicksburg, Mississippi, as a transportation and military center
○ Returning soldiers, parole, and the journey home after captivity
○ The Mississippi River and Civil War-era steamboat transportation
○ The SS Sultana and its role carrying Union soldiers home
○ Side-wheel steamboats, boilers, engines, decks, and riverboat technology
○ Dangerous overcrowding, profit, negligence, and poor decision-making
○ Boiler repairs, mechanical failure, and the causes of the Sultana disaster
○ The April 27, 1865 explosion and fire aboard the Sultana
○ Survival in the Mississippi River after the explosion
○ Rescue efforts by the Bostona No. 2, local civilians, and former Confederate soldiers
○ Memphis hospitals and medical care for burned and injured survivors
○ The psychological and physical effects of war, captivity, and disaster
○ Abraham Lincoln’s assassination and why the Sultana tragedy received little public attention
○ Postwar recovery, military discharge, and the difficult return to civilian life
○ The historical legacy of one of America’s deadliest maritime disasters -
View BookHistory & Social Studies Topics Covered
○ Women and girls disguising themselves as male Civil War soldiers
○ Gender roles and the dangers faced by women during wartime
○ Civilian farms, confiscation of supplies, destruction, and the home front
○ Child soldiers, drummer boys, and military drum communication
○ Union Army camp life, uniforms, food, marches, and military discipline
○ The Battle of Shiloh and the realities of a soldier’s first combat
○ Corinth, railroads, military supply lines, typhoid, and dysentery
○ The Battle of Perryville and the Kentucky Campaign
○ Stones River, winter campaigning, and General Braxton Bragg
○ Battlefield medicine, amputations, hospitals, and care of wounded soldiers
○ The Battle of Chickamauga and General George H. Thomas, the “Rock of Chickamauga”
○ Chattanooga, Ulysses S. Grant, the Cracker Line, Lookout Mountain, and Missionary Ridge
○ The Battle of the Wilderness and close-quarters fighting
○ The effects of war on children, families, identity, grief, and survival
○ Real women soldiers including Sarah Rosetta Wakeman, Jennie Hodgers, and Frances Clayton
○ Historical records, letters, diaries, and the rediscovery of women’s military service
BRING HISTORY TO LIFE
