Sixteen-year-old Rufus Rowe runs away from home, to escape his cruel stepfather. He finds work and shelter in Fredericksburg, Virginia, just as the Rebel troops begin to amass in preparation for the confrontation with the Union Army. Rufus befriends several Confederate officers, who do not believe the Confederate army can be beaten, and sensitively observes and records the gripping battle that takes place there.

		December 15, 1862 No one knows how many Union solders are dead, for they are still counting, but Captain Nelson estimated the Yanks lost upwards of six thousand men opposite the stone wall alone. That's an amazingly high number. The Rebel dead behind the stone wall comes to eight hundred. When you think no one wants to die and so many did, it's hard to understand the meaning of what happened here. The confederates won the battle on Saturday, but what did they win? If you were close to one of the men who died, you would not feel as if you had won much. Maybe that's what war is. You lose when you lose and lose when you win.