Rifles for Watie was written by Harold Keith. The book is set during the Civil War against slavery. The story starts in 1861 and ends in 1865.
The main character is Jeff who is a farmer boy, He lives in Kansas. Jeff joins the army and becomes a Union spy since he is at about the age of seventeen. Clardy is the mean and evil officer in the army. Clardy hates Jeff and gets him in trouble and humiliates him. Lucy is a Confederate Indian who is dedicated strongly to her Confederate beliefs. Lucy is also Jef's girlfriend Because she is so beautiful.
Jeff's family is surprisingly attacked by bushwhackers. When The bushwackers try to kill Jeff's father Jeff comes to the rescue and plunders up the bushwackers. After this he decides to join the Union army. Slowly he progressed from Infantry to Calvary to a Spy. As a spy he was to spy on the confederates and find out their plan to win the battle. He stays in the Confederate army spying and figures out about the plan and tries to escape but catches Malaria. While back at the confederates he finds out about a gun trade dealing with the confederates and Clardy who is actually Union. Then Jeff plans his next escape back to the fort to report the confederate's scheme. Then Jeff runs into Clardy who sets out search for Jeff because he is a union spy. Jeff finally escaped back to the Union fort and reports the confederate's scheme. Finally he heads home. When Jeff arrives his family comes out and welcomes him and has a great time together. That night Jeff, so used to sleeping outside sleeps outside on the ground with his dog and thinks of all the wonderful adventures he had.
My favorite scene in the book was when Jeff who is Union becomes a spy. When he goes to the confederates to spy on them he is concerned and careful not to get immediately caught. While the confederates however are clueless that Jeff is a Union spy. Jeff soon becomes comfortable and less scared.
A big lesson I think Jeff learned was when he was arguing with Lucy about the war. Lucy wondered why there should be no slavery when Jeff said that all man are equal. He than learned from this that all man should be treated the perfectly same. He also learned that he should have know hatred for anyone.
From this lesson I think when he was spying on the confederates he didn't have a lot of hatred against them. He found out that they where just the same but just had believed differently. From this lesson it also brought him back to the thought that all man is equal and to stay on the Union side.
From this book you can learn a lot about the Civil war and what it was like. Not only do you learn about the war but about humanity. Because it is somewhat long I think it is an okay book. I would recommend this to someone else to read. The book is full of mystery, action and wonderful history. The book Rifles for Watie is a great book for all ages.
