Across Five Aprils
This story takes place in rural Illinois and chronicles the life of Jethro Creighton, a young farm boy, as he grows from a protected and provided for nine year old, to an educated and responsible young adult during the chaos of the Civil War. Jethro's parents, Matthew and Ellen Creighton were married in the 1830's. Jethro was the youngest of twelve children and during the year of his birth, 1862, three of his siblings had died from the disease known as "Child Paralysis". He was favored by his mother because his life was spared that year. Jethro's idol, of sorts, was the schoolmaster, Shadrach Yale, who came from Pennsylvania, three years earlier. He began teaching in order to be able to further his education. Ellen Creighton counted Shad as one of her own family because during his first year there, he came down with Typhoid fever and she cared for him until he was better. Jenny, Jethro's older sister, was fourteen at the time and she cared for Shad just as strongly but in a different way. Her father felt that she was too young to be married but she continued to hope that she would spend the rest of her life with the schoolmaster. The talk that year was of Abraham Lincoln, and talks of going to war. Jethro was excited about th
Jethro had gone in to Newton with a friend of the family and had passed a man on the street. The man did not look familiar at all to Jethro, but when he spoke, he knew exactly who it was. Shad had returned home and Jethro was so happy. Things were beginning to come together for young Jethro and his family and he knew that before long everything would be okay. Shad had said that they would go and get Jenny and bring her home. Jethro was overjoyed that his teacher and friend had returned home and was well over his sickness from his injuries. The only thing to make their lives complete would be for the rest of them to come home and begin their lives over again. Jethro grew into a responsible young man over the last four years. The fighting was over with that April morning and the shadows seemed to have been lifted. Shad returned that evening with news about a battle in Tennessee. The confederates had fired on Fort Sumter and after a thirty hour stand-off the north gave up the fort to a Southern General named Beauregard. Shad said that the men were hungry and tired and could no longer fight, but Shad had said that the papers claimed that no one had died during the battle. Tom, another of Jethro's brothers, and Eb, Jethro's cousin, had already gone to war and were fighting for the North. Bill, another brother, was also going off to fight in the war, but he was going to fight for the south( the Rebels). Jenny asked Shad if this battle meant that they were going to go to war for sure, and Shad told her that only Congress could declare war and that Congress was not in session, but he added that President Lincoln had asked for 75,000 volunteers from the militia of the states. The Creightons knew that it was war, whether Congress was in session or not. Jethro began to see things in a different light and started having nightmares. He was glad that his brother Bill was there to help him through these troubled times, but he knew that Bill would soon be leaving to go and fight for the south and this made Jethro very sad. e thought of war. He really had no idea what war was all about, he thought that war was loud brass music and men in uniform riding on shining horses like kings. He knew that men had died during war, of course, but never for a moment did he think that anyone he knew or that any of his family would ever die during a battle. Through newspapers and letters, Jethro began to see that being a soldier was not all it was cracked up to be. From a map that Shad had drawn for him, Jethro was beginning to learn where the different Forts were and learned of the rivers that separated them. In early 1862 Matthew entrusted Jethro to go into Newton, a town just fifteen miles away, by himself, to get the needed supplies and to do some trading. Jethro was overjoyed and assured his father that he could handle the responsibility, and that is exactly what he did. He returned home that evening unscathed, but tired and weary. He was beginning to feel more like a man. A few days later, Matthew suffered a heart attack. It was now left up to Jethro to tend to the farming on both his father's l
Some common words found in the essay are:
Jethro Newton, Abraham Lincoln, President United, Shad John, Shadrach Yale, United Army, Shad Jenny, President Lincoln, Pittsburgh Landing, North John, returned home, shad john, sent letter, fight south, tom killed battle, familiar jethro, gone newton, jethro's brothers, war shad, pittsburgh landing, war fight south, war congress session, tom killed,
Approximate Word count = 2092
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)
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