By Simon, 2nd Feb 2012
The Bloodiest War In American History In a typical day in the 1800’s, there was an old boy named Maxwell Gamwell who hated slavery. He just turned 18 and lived in Washington D.C. , 66 Broadway. He always heard Generals shouting orders while he was walking on the sidewalks, and the crowds admiring the soldiers’ bravery. The street was damp and wet all around. His home was the opposite; a clean and tidy home.
One day he went to 62 Broadway and entered a typical bar. The unions were now at Fort Sumter trying to defend it that very day from confederates. “I bet $5000 that our troops are so fine that they will hold the fort!” Maxwell yelled at the owner.
“I’ll take that bet, I’ll also add a $1000 to it.” Replied the owner. The next day when Maxwell woke up, he was terrified of the headlines of newspaper outside. Fort Sumter burned all the way down to the ground. There was a knock on the door. He wondered who it is. When he opened it, the owner rushed in. “The money, give it to me now.” Asks the owner. “Come with me to the bank, and then you’re get your money.”Maxwell replied angrily. They walked to the bank together then the owner happily receives the precise amount of cash. On the way home, he was walking on the streets when he ran into a general. “You, I recognize you, you were in the army of the Potomac, but you escaped, get back in there or I’ll execute you!” shouted the general. “I wasn’t in it!” Maxwell replied. “You’re lying, you were in my unit!” exclaimed a Captain.
Maxwell had no choice to either join the army or be executed, so he decided to join the army. At home, when he was packing his bag, he realized that joining the army could repay his debts because he heard once from a soldier that he got a lot from joining the Union army.
After he packed his bags, he went to a bar where his cousin worked. His cousin told Maxwell a rumor that his brother escaped the army and joined the enemy. After that sentence, Maxwell realized that he did look like his cousin who escaped the army. After his drink in the bar, he went to the nearest base and decided by the generals that he’ll join the army of the Potomac. When he entered the camp, he bumped into Delaware, his childhood friend “Hi Maxwell, nice to see you again!” Exclaimed Delaware. “Hi Delaware, are you my partner?”Asked Maxwell. “Yes I am!!!”Replied Delaware. The friends embraced. Maxwell quickly
unpacked his bags. They started socializing about battles. After they ate dinner, they went to sleep. On the next day, tough training was ahead of them. One week later, the army of the Potomac was ready in battle. Maxwell and his friend went to the front lines. “Maxwell, look at their numbers, we’re going to lose soon!” “Don’t be afraid, I bet we got more training than them.” The battle started. In the battle, somebody told Maxwell to tell the general to retreat because reinforcements were coming. Maxwell was so focused in the battle that he totally forgot about it. It was an even battle till the Confederates had reinforcements. The Unions were forced to retreat. They had nowhere to run so when they were about to give up, a union supply train came along. The unions quickly climbed into them. Inside the supply train. “It was my fault that we lost!!!” moaned Maxwell. “No, it wasn’t, it was just that their weapons had more powerful bullets and can reload more rapidly,” said Delaware, trying to cheer Maxwell up.
“If I told the general, then we may had won that bloody battle.” replied Maxwell “Just stop blaming yourself, I can’t stand it!” shouted Delaware. Through the whole next week, they marched to Gettysburg since the Confederates were there. On the last day of the week, they saw the Confederates around 5 miles away. They set a camp there. On the next day, the Union fired their cannons to the Confederates when more then 9/10 of the troops were still asleep. Most of the cannon shots hit the enemy and burned the first camp. The Confederates replied by sending cannon shots back but, a lot of Unions were awake so they dodged them. The Unions heard that the Confederates were going to march to their positions, so general Meade ordered the men to collect loose bullets. “Men, collect the bullets and load them!” ordered General Meade. “Yes, Sir!!!”Replied Delaware and Maxwell. For a while the unions saw nothing until, we saw loads of confederates marching us. We quickly loaded our bullets and fired them to the enemy. The enemy charged. “Yaaaaa!!!” the enemy yelled.
We fired more bullets and killed a lot of enemy front line troops. They were only 50 yards away now. Our cannons were firing constant bullets over and over again, decreasing their numbers. General Meade told us to hide in our trenches and fire most of our bullets. They’re only 20 yards now, so we got out and fired in a straight line. After all of our bullets we used, we charged to them and hand to hand combat began. “Kill them guys, no mercy!!!”Maxwell yelled. “For the sake of my country, kill them all!!!” Confederates troopers shouted. Maxwell then saw his cousin. “Cousin, tell me why did you join the confederates!”Asked Maxwell. “Cousin, I like slavery and I want to be in the winning side!” Replied Maxwell’s cousin. “What if the Union wins?”Asks Maxwell “They’ll never win!”Yelled Maxwell’s cousin.
Confederates were then firing their cannons. Surprisingly, they killed Maxwell’s cousin (friendly fire) even though they wanted to kill Maxwell. “How dare you kill your own teammate!” yelled Maxwell. Maxwell was so angry and frustrated that he charged forward to the cannon that killed his cousin, and killed the gunner with full confidence. He then saw that the cannons were directed to him, so he quickly retreated back to his lines. General Pickett soon saw that his Confederate troops were decreasing rapidly. He quickly called his troops to retreat. Our cannons started roaring again. After the battle, Maxwell overheard that the Union’s casualties were less than the Confederates’ and most of all the Union won with Abraham Lincoln happy. After nearly a year of battle, the Confederates were defeated. In the Appomattox court house, Maxwell was in the yard with his friend. “The bloody war is finally over. “Said Maxwell happily. “Yes and thank god,” replied Delaware. “Look at those commanders, they’re so happy.’ Exclaimed Delaware. A week later, news spread as Abraham Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth. Posters were stuck on every wall that whoever capture John
Wilkes Booth will have a $50000 reward. Maxwell was so tired that he went back home with $75000 for serving in the army. He paid back his debts. He tried to find another job but he couldn’t, so he again served in the army and won a lot of battles. He eventually turned into captain. When he retired, he turned into a famous writer and wrote a very famous book, and that’s the book in your hands right now.