Cast of Characters

In order of appearance:

Whelp, a seven-year-old homeless vagabond, finds himself in Gettysburg in the middle of a battle.

The stone man, a Maryland farmer, first appears at Devil’s Den and searches the battlefield for the Union cavalryman who killed his wife.

Devil’s Den:

Jerem James, 8th Illinois Cavalry, fights in the cavalry holding action and the last stand at Seminary Ridge on the first day of the battle; he joins the two-day fight over possession of the Bliss farm buildings.

Seminary Ridge and the Lutheran Seminary College:

The site of the Bliss Farm:

A typical bank barn and a plaque commemorating the 12th New Jersey's fight at the Bliss Farm:

Billy Brot, 6th Wisconsin, joins the war to escape farm life and his domineering German father, but after killing a Confederate at the railroad cut fight, he deserts and resolves never to kill again.

The site of the unfinished railroad cut:

Henry Flemwick, 20th North Carolina, is mortally wounded in Iverson’s Charge on the first day. As he lies dying, he is tormented by memories of his involvement in a fugitive slave incident at an Underground Railroad station in a stone house.

Edward Flemwick, a plantation owner, Henry's father, exemplifies the Southerner devoted to the cause of white supremacy.

Ham, a fugitive slave, seeks freedom in the North.

Tillie, a fugitive slave, seeks freedom from sexual abuse.

Noah Brown, a freeman and Underground Railroad conductor, tries to protect Ham and Tillie.

Joe Tobb, 61st New York, a Pennsylvania constable before the war, finds himself forced to uphold the Fugitive Slave Law in the apprehension of Ham and Tillie; during the battle, he acts as an aide to Grayson Langton (below).

Zeke Gorsuch, 26th North Carolina, a one-time slave catcher, feels he will soon find death and damnation on the battlefield. In the way of redemption, he watches over Davy Boy (below), an inexperienced soldier boy.

Neb Gorsuch, 26th North Carolina, watches over his reckless brother, Zeke.

Davy Boy, 26th North Carolina, a fledgling soldier, just wants to go home to his Sally.

The colonel’s boy, 26th North Carolina, acts as a colonel's servant, but "he" may just be the colonel’s wife dressed as a man.

As Confederate brigades advance across the open ground from Seminary Ridge to Cemetery Ridge in the grand charge on July 3, Zeke watches out for Davy Boy and the colonel's boy:

Amos Hanford, 5th Louisiana, a traveling hardware salesman before the war, makes friends with Jerem James after they observe the incident at the stone house. Amos fights as a skirmisher in the streets of Gettysburg, and he joins the futile charge on East Cemetery Hill on the evening of July 2:

Dorothea Broadwell, a lady of Gettysburg, comforts a young Union officer as he dies in her arms. During the battle, she shelters Whelp and Varmint (below).

The town of Gettysburg from Culp’s Hill:

Varmint, a ten-year-old Confederate camp follower and forager, throws rocks at windows during the Union retreat through the town. During the street fighting, he enlists the assistance of Whelp to loot the dead.

Tommy Colefield, 1st Minnesota, Billy Brot’s cousin, struggles with the definition of courage and wonders if he will come out of the battle alive.

Grayson Langton, Special Correspondent for Harper’s Weekly attached to the 61st New York, decides to go into battle at the Wheatfield. Before the war, he is assigned by Harper's Weekly to write an article about an inventor, Cyrus Smith (below), whose nephew, Parker Waite, becomes his friend.

Parker Waite, 1st Texas, participates in the fighting at the triangular pen near Devil’s Den (below). Friends before the war, he and Grayson fall in love with Rhea Orx and plan to save her from her abusive husband, Abel.

Cyrus Smith, Parker Waite's uncle, inventor before the war, artillery observer attached to the 9th Massachusetts Light Artillery, is wounded at Captain Bigelow's last stand at the Trostle farm and is left abandoned for days.

Moll, a degraded Five Points woman, saves Cyrus from street thugs before the war.

Abel Orx, 48th Virginia, a farmer and religious zealot, purchases Rhea Orx from a pig farmer.

Rhea Orx, Abel’s purchased wife, seeks passion and possible rescue from Grayson Langton.

Andrew Pease , 2nd Massachusetts, Grayson’s Harvard colleague, fails to win the love of the beautiful May Pennyroyal.

May Pennyroyal, a young beauty living on Cape Cod in Barnstable, Massachusetts, prefers the rakish Caleb Crowell (below) to the bookish Andrew Pease.

Cape Cod Bay:

Caleb Crowell, 2nd Massachusetts, wins the heart of May Pennyroyal but incurs the vengeful enmity of his boyhood friend, Andrew.

The site of the costly charge of the 2nd Massachusetts on the morning of July 3:

Sally, a poor farm woman who shelters Billy Brot, faithfully awaits the return of her young husband.

Ma, Sally’s crotchety old mother, does not judge Billy for his act of desertion.