Rifles For Watie by Harold Keith, is about a boy named, Jeff who ran off with his friends to join the United States Army during the Civil War. The Civil War was fought between states, both North and South. The South wanted to keep the African Americans as slaves but the North knew it was very wrong so then they fought each other to the death and the North won. This story is based off of that, but it's about a specific person as we know, Jeff who was in the Civil War in the Union army (North) and fought in different areas around the United States. Jeff always wanted to be a soldier, as soon as he saw the sharp blue looking uniforms he knew that he wanted to fight. His grandfather fought in the Mexican War. Jeff’s mom was very worried about Jeff not understanding the war.  Jeff and his friends, David and Ford, were always looking for a way out, without being caught and court-martialled. Jeff was always hungry in the story. When he was marching to Van Buren (Battle) he approached this woman with an apple tree on her farm. Jeff was just going to take some and run but instead, he was polite and went up and asked the lady then got treated to a nice snack. Jeff also had a crush on a rebel girl but the bad thing was is the North was fighting them as well.
   

I thought that this historical novel was very good. It was my first Civil War book that I have ever read. I liked the characters the author created for the story. They really stood out with their thoughts on the war and their feelings about each other. I really recommend this novel for history lovers. I think that you will really like it. The author, Harold Keith was awarded the Newbery medal award for the best book for young readers. The author always made it so that something was going on. There were always events happening between characters. I hope you enjoyed my review! If your history lover highly recommend.