By weaving personal accounts of actual survivors together with the carefully researched history of Chicago and the disaster, [the author] constructs a ... narrative that recreates the events ... And finally, he reveals how, even in a time of deepest despair, the human spirit triumphed, as the people of Chicago found the courage and strength to build their city once again.-Dust jacket.

Includes diary entries, personal letters, and archival photographs to describe the experiences of boys, sixteen years old or younger, who fought in the Civil War.