Civil War on Sunday

This is the twenty-first book in the Magic Tree House series, a children's chapter book series in which eight-year-old Jack and his seven-year-old sister, Annie, travel through time using a magic tree house filled with books. The tree house belongs to Morgan le Fay, a magical librarian from Camelot, the legendary kingdom of King Arthur.

On a dreary Sunday afternoon in Frog Creek, Pennsylvania, Annie rushes into Jack's room claiming she saw a magical swirl of light in the woods. Jack dismisses it as lightning, but they investigate and discover the tree house has returned. Inside, they find a note from Morgan explaining that Camelot is in trouble. She asks them to locate four special writings for her library: something to follow, something to send, something to learn, and something to lend. Beside the note lies a book titled The Civil War. Jack thinks war sounds exciting, almost like a game, but Annie disagrees. She points at the book's cover and wishes to go there. The tree house spins, and they are transported back in time.

They land in a tree at the edge of a sunlit field, their clothes magically changed to period-appropriate attire. The field looks peaceful until Annie spots soldiers in torn, bloody blue uniforms emerging from the woods. Jack reads that blue uniforms indicate Union (Northern) soldiers while gray uniforms indicate Confederate (Southern) soldiers, and that one in five young men was killed or wounded in the war. Annie rushes to help a fallen soldier despite Jack's protests. Together they walk with the soldiers to the crest of a hill overlooking a field hospital of white tents.

Inside the camp, long lines of hurt soldiers wait while women in dark dresses hand out food and water. Jack reads that more than 3,000 women served as nurses during the Civil War, a role previously held only by men. Annie volunteers them both to a young, exhausted nurse, who directs them to bring food and water to soldiers in the first two tents and to offer comfort. She gives Annie a handwritten list of rules: be cheerful; lessen sorrow and give hope; be brave; put aside your own feelings; don't give up. Jack recognizes this list as the first special writing Morgan needs, something to follow. He tucks it into his knapsack and urges Annie to leave, but she insists they help first.

Inside the first tent, injured soldiers lie on cots in stifling heat, moaning and calling out. Annie cheerfully distributes food while Jack silently pours water, too shy to speak. The second tent is filled with wounded African American soldiers. As Jack hands a cup to the last patient, an elderly, silver-haired Black man, the soldier thanks him. Jack tells the man he will see his family again, but the man quietly reveals that his wife and children were sold long ago. He and all the men in this tent were formerly enslaved. They ran away from their owners to fight for freedom, and he ran barefoot over 30 miles to warn Union soldiers of a Confederate attack. Jack reads that slavery was the war's root cause: The North wanted to end it, while the South depended on over four million enslaved people to work its plantation fields. Consulting the nurse's list, Jack leans close and tells the man that one day his descendants will be doctors, lawyers, senators, generals, and teachers. The man asks if Jack can see the future. Jack nods and says he can, in a way, and the man smiles gratefully.

As they step outside, someone shouts that Clara Barton has returned. Jack reads that Clara Barton was a famous Civil War nurse who spent her own money on supplies and drove a horse-drawn ambulance onto battlefields to rescue the wounded, earning the title Angel of the Battlefield. Annie offers their help, and Clara invites them to ride back toward the battlefield to pick up more wounded. Jack is afraid but agrees.

The wagon jolts along in scorching heat as cannon fire grows louder. Clara points out trenches and farmland ruined by shells. At a creek, explosions erupt around them. Jack pulls out the list with shaking hands and reads the instruction to be brave, repeating it until the firing stops. They ride on and spot a young Confederate soldier limping toward them. Jack points out that he is Confederate, but Clara explains that when someone is hurt, you help regardless of which side they fight for, adding that she has seen courage and kindness on both sides. They then encounter Union soldiers who ask them to take their drummer boy, John, who has heat stroke. John looks just like Jack, only a few years older.

Clara drives back to the hospital and asks Jack and Annie to stay with John and bring down his fever. Jack reads that the Civil War was the last war to use drummer boys; the drumbeat gave soldiers orders and helped them find each other on smoky battlefields. John wakes from a nightmare, frantic to return because his fellow soldiers need his drum. Annie wants to convince him to stay safe, but Jack remembers the list's instruction to put aside one's own feelings and tells Annie they must respect John's wishes. John relaxes, telling Jack he looks like his little brother. Jack replies that John looks like the big brother he never had. They laugh together, and John falls into a peaceful sleep, his fever breaking. Jack pauses at the tent entrance, looks back at the sleeping boy, and whispers good luck.

Outside, Jack finds Annie with Clara in the twilight, watching cannon flashes on the horizon. Clara observes that each flash may extinguish a young man's entire world of joys, sorrows, and memories. Annie says the war is cruel, and Clara responds that all wars are cruel: People fight for causes they believe in but discover that war brings only misery, pain, and sadness. Annie admits she misses her parents, sounding tired and homesick for the first time. Clara says it is time for them to go home, but Jack resists, citing the list's final rule: don't give up. Clara recognizes that one of her nurses wrote down her frequent sayings and adds one more piece of wisdom: Do not forget the ones who love you. She tells them her words apply to all of life, not just hospital work.

Jack and Annie walk out of camp past soldiers singing "Tenting Tonight on the Old Camp Ground," a wistful song about longing for home. Jack says softly that war is not a game. They reach the tree house and pause to listen as the song fades and the cannon fire falls silent, leaving only the croaking of frogs. Annie wishes them home. The tree house spins back to Frog Creek, where thunder booms. Jack realizes with relief that the sound is only thunder, not cannon fire. He leaves the nurse's list in the tree house as the first special writing for Morgan. Annie observes that they could not simply have taken the list when they first received it; they had to live its words first. They find a note telling them to return on Wednesday for the next mission.

They run home through the rain and greet their parents with unusual warmth. Jack asks if anyone in their family fought in the Civil War. Their father reveals that one of their great-great-great-grandfathers was a drummer boy named John. Their mother adds that John survived the war, became a schoolteacher, and had five children. Jack and Annie gasp and whoop with joy, relieved and delighted to learn the brave drummer boy they cared for lived a full life.