Bull Run

Bull Run is a middle-grade historical fiction novel published in 1993. Written by Paul Fleischman, winner of the Newbery Medal and nominee for the Hans Christian Andersen Award Book, the novel uses 16 alternating Union and Confederate narrators to describe the Battle of Bull Run in the Civil War. Bull Run won the Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction, was named a Best Book by the School Library Journal, and received several other awards. The novel depicts the lead-up to Bull Run with the attack on Fort Sumter and the gathering of troops, the battle itself, and the aftermath. The novel explores the following themes: War is always destructive, war affects everyone, and basic human desires are universal. This guide uses the 1993 hardcover edition from A Laura Geringer Book: An Imprint of HarperCollins Publishers. 

Content Warning: This novel mentions suicidal ideation. The novel uses the word “Negro” to reflect the language of the time, and it may appear when the guide directly quotes the text.

Plot Summary

Bull Run can be split into three parts: before the battle, during the battle, and after the battle. When the novel begins, the Confederates attack Fort Sumter in South Carolina, wresting it out of Union control. Characters on both sides of the conflict narrate their reactions to the pending war. On the Confederate side, veteran Colonel Oliver Brattle is apprehensive about the bloodshed to come, while 11-year-old Toby Boyce is so enthusiastic about joining the army that he takes the only role he can get: fife player. Shem Suggs, eager to have his own horse, and Judah Jenkins, angrily wanting to repay Union violence, join as cavalry and courier, respectively. Virgil Peavey dislikes Northerners and is excited about fighting them, while Dr. William Rye wants to save sick soldiers in the camps but also wishes he could prevent the inevitable killing. Flora Wheelworth, a grandmother, remains at home and helps her daughters prepare their husbands for fighting, and Carlotta King, a young slave girl, accompanies the man who enslaves her to the camp.

Meanwhile, Lily Malloy, a young Northern girl, is heartbroken when her brother enlists and leaves her behind. Artist James Dacy and photographer Nathaniel Epp embed themselves with troops to document the battle. Gideon Adams, a free Black man, covers his hair and pretends to be white to enlist. Dietrich Herz, a German immigrant, becomes attached to a photo of a young woman who sewed his shirt, A. B. Tilbury is thrilled to wage war, and General Irvin McDowell, the only narrator who was a real historical figure, worries about the responsibility and planning that are expected of him. Edmund Upwing, a chauffeur for rich Northerners, describes the picnics rich passengers set up to watch the battle.

During the battle itself, chaos and bloodshed overtake the more optimistic tone of the first part of the novel. What first appears to be a Union victory suddenly becomes a Confederate one. While all the narrators survive, A. B. and Gideon are wounded physically, while other characters, including James, Shem, Lily, and Toby, are wounded emotionally. The battle, which wreaks more carnage than either side expected, is only the start of the long Civil War. Through its 16 characters, Bull Run lets the reader experience the first battle of the war from many different perspectives and gives them a glimpse into a decisive moment in American history.