The magic tree house came back. As Jack and Annie climbed into it, there was a piece of paper and a book lying on the floor instead of Morgan. Now, they must find four special kinds of writing for Morgan's library to help save Camelot. They are about to set off to find the first of these: "Something to follow" with a research book titled "The Civil War" which was fought between the Southern and Northern, namely Confederate soldiers and Union soldiers, states of the United States from 1861 to 1865. That was a cruel and bloody war in which one out of every five young men in the nation died or was wounded.
The tree house had landed in a tree at the edge of a field.
At the field hospital near battlefields, they wanted to volunteer as nurses. The wounded more and more kept coming there from a battle, and it never seemed to end.
A young woman nurse said them just to try to give patiences comfort, and gave a list of things what could help. The list said that be cheerful, lessen sorrow and give hope, be brave, put aside your own feeling, and don't give up. "Something to follow" was handed right to them and they could be able to go home, but they had to help as nurses first. They would take care of patients giving their noon meal.
At first into the tent, Jack didn't like to do it, and did without smile and speech clumsily but Annie did well. He followed Annie into the next tent which was filled with wounded like the last tent and the soldiers were all African Americans. Annie passed out potatoes and bread, and talked and made jokes.
As Jack poured water into the last tin cups and handed over to an elderly, silver-haired black man, the patient spoke to him a thank. He remembered Annie's cheerful words, so he did that to the man. All of them in the tent were once slaves, and they ran away from their owners in the South to fight to end slavery, to fight for freedom for their people. Following the list of nurse that "lessen sorrow and give hope", he did so. He hoped the brave man would live to enjoy freedom.
When Jack and Annie got ready to go home after they had finished passing out the food, a horse-drawn wagon of Clara Barton who was a famous Civil War nurse, was barreling into the camp. In the back of her wagon were more wounded soldiers in torn, bloody uniforms. All the soldiers had been taken out of the wagon.
Jack and Annie went close to her, and asked if they could be volunteer nurses with her. Three of them rode back toward the battlefield. There were trenches dug each side for a battle. Day after day, the soldiers set in there, firing their muskets at one another.
As Jack and Annie got some water at a narrow creek, they crouched down in the driver's seat because of cannon fire. Another canon shell whizzed overhead, then another. The firing came to an end. After filling canteens, they looked for the wounded as they came off the battlefield.
A young man, who was in torn and bloody and in gray uniform not blue, was limping toward them. Clara said that when someone was hurt, you gave them a helping hand, no matter who they were. She had seen courage and kindness on both sides of that war. Sometimes things were not as simple as they seemed. Jack helped him into the back of the wagon, then the soldier lay down on a pile of blankets.
Again, they saw if any of those men needed a ride to the hospital, despite different uniforms. Sometimes men were simply too sick and tired to be enemies any more, and sometimes they even knew each other. Many families and friendships had been torn apart by this war.
They helped a drummer boy John in blue suffering from heat stroke into the back of the wagon. The boy, who looked a lot like Jack and just a few years older, lay down next to the sleeping Confederate soldier. As Clara got them to the hospital at once, Jack and Annie patted the soldiers's faces with the damp cloths in the wagon's back. Jack looked at the young men lying side by side, and thought that in another time and place, they might have been friends.
Finally, the wagon arrived at the field hospital. Jack and Annie stayed with John awhile in a tent, trying to bring down his fever with some ice in a rag. Two gave him a relief putting aside their own feelings, then he was sleeping peacefully and his fever's gone down. When they reached the entrance of the tent, Jack turned and looked back. He hardly knew the drummer but he felt they could be brothers.
Every time they saw a flash, a shell might have taken a life or many lives. All wars are cruel. People feel they must fight for causes they believe in. But they soon discover that war is not about glory and fame. It's about misery and terrible pain and sadness.
It made Annie really miss their mom and dad. But Jack wanted not to give up following the list which one of Clara's nurses had written down the things she often said. She added one thing more, "Do not forget the ones who love you." Also she said that her words would work in all of life no matter where they went.
They were back in the Frog Creek woods. They thought they couldn't just have taken the list home when they first got it. They had to live it first.
As they left the tree house, they saw another note. On it was written "come back on Wednesday"
When they dashed into their cozy house, they asked their parents if anyone in their family fought in the Civil War. Dad answered that one of their great-great-great-grandfathers was a drummer boy, John, who grew up to be a schoolteacher and had five children. Jack and Annie whooped with joy.
As Jack hurried up to his room, some words from the Civil War song ran through his mind.
