A COAT FOR PRIVATE PATRICK

4.5 stars rounded up

A civil war era story about a young orphan boy that covers about two years. He learns to telegraph and it features some interesting info about telegraphy on both sides of the war and how that was used for intelligence purposes.

In reading the story, the two brothers have various adventures, as his older brother Cary has been in Morgan's scouts from the very beginning, and yet Dan himself can't join yet. The weaving in of subplots as Dan makes friends of other telegraph boys and men, both north and south, kept the story moving along with interest.

In the end it is sad, of course, as the south loses and the characters lose all their hopes and most of their friends. However, it's showing Dan becoming a man even in the middle of grief.