A powerful, deeply absorbing story in which the reader sees through the eyes of a sensitive boy, John Deane, events preceding the Civil War in the Gettysburg country, the pursuit of escaped negroes, the attack at Harper's Ferry, then war at close range when John's home is taken over by the enemy and he watches the family papers and treasures go to pile up the breastwork. The love affairs of John's sisters are in gay relief, and his own shy romance and his return from the War are touchingly described. Battle pictures of great vigor help to make a volume which will rank among the finest achievements of the year in books of interest for old and young.
—from the dust jacket
Set before and during the American Civil War, Swords of Steel tells of the childhood and coming of age of a boy from the North and his involvement with the war. The novel, illustrated by David Hendrickson, was first published in 1933 and was a Newbery Honor recipient in 1934.
In 1859 a 12-year-old John Deane lives in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania with his family. He is friends with Nicholas, a black servant, with whom he is training a colt. He is devastated when Nicholas is kidnapped by slave catchers and sent to the South to be sold. He learns that his father is a conductor on the Underground Railroad, and he visits Harper's Ferry where he witnesses John Brown's raid. When the war reaches Pennsylvania, his house is seized by the Confederates, and he is locked in the cellar. However, he is helped by the troop's cook, his old friend Nicholas. Later he joins the Union Army and sees the final events of the war.
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