Chapter 3, Toward Manassas Summary

Charley feels that he is being treated like royalty on the train ride. There are comfortable beds and good food, and everyone in the towns they pass through cheers and waves to them. Girls give them sweets and hankies. These are all new experiences for Charley and most of the men he is with. They all travel in high spirits.

Charley sees his first coloreds as the soldiers go through Maryland. He notices how poor they are, and for the first time, he really thinks about slavery and what it would be like. He assumes that the North will win the war quickly and wonders if the slaves will be freed or not. At this early point in the preparation for war, the war isn't about slavery to Charley, but about a general idea of right and wrong. At...