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Problem
Noah decides he is going to fight for the north and take part in the Civil War, but Mama does not want him to go. -
Event #1
Mr. Pruitt has already gone away and left their family, mama was afraid of losing the only man left in her life and not knowing if he would return. -
Event #2
Noah's mother gets worried when he pretends to be part of the Union, wants to go out on the river, marches, and calls out demands with his friends -
Event #3
Noah and his friends hang around the landing and want to get picked up to be a roustabout, a laborer that does different jobs. -
Event #4
Noah took on difficult tasks and manly jobs like working at the freight landing and unloading the boat when it was needed. -
Event #5
Abraham Lincoln procalimed his blockade of the Southern ports and was calling for seventy-five thousand volunteers to fight in the war. -
Event #6
In the middle of the first spring gathering, two young ladies come off a boat needing somewhere to stay; Mrs. Pruitt invites them to temporarily live in their home. -
Event #7
Mama forbid Noah from ever seeing Delphine in her room, it was not right for Noah to see a woman changing in front of him. -
Event #8
Noah thought he was a man already. He would act more mature than usual (especially around Delphine), and Mama did not like it. -
Event #9
Mama was a stubborn woman; when Madame Duval sent her a dress, she thought it was a gift a little too close to charity to suit her. -
Event #10
Curry Marshall left Tilly a letter and two red ribbons he won for a spelling bee before he leftt to become a soldier. -
Event #11
Noah asked Delphine to dance when they were on the showboat and everybody was surprised at what they were seeing and how well they danced together. -
Event #12
Noah left home "like a theif in the night" and joined the Thirty- first Illinois Infantry Regiment, Mama was devastated. -
The Climax
Noah joins the war, Tilly and Delphine travel to Cairo to find him, as mama demanded Tilly to do. -
Falling Action 1
Tilly sees the book Hardee's Tactics, (a text about soldiering and great battles and how they were waged) at Noah's bedside, which hinted that he was planning on returning to the war. -
Falling Action 2
When a coffin was brought back by boat to the Pruitt's home, Mama thought it was Noah inside, but really it was Paw. Before Cass or Calinda could stop her, she committed suicide and had gone in the river. -
The Resolution
Noah eventually comes home from the war and has a caring sister, Delphine whom he loves very much, wonderful nephews, and he can still function normally with just one arm. -
Lincoln's Inaguration
Abraham Lincoln leaves the Willard Hotel in a horse-drawn carriage and heads toward the Capitol. Lincoln swears his official vows and became the 16th president of the United States. -
Attack of Fort Sumter
General Beauregard demanded the surrender of the Union garrison of Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor, but garrison commander Anderson refused. Confederates opened fire on the fort, so Major Anderson surrendered. -
The Battle of Bull Run
This five- hour battle was the first major conflict of the American Civil War. General McDowell commanded 28,000 men who fought 33,000 Confederates under General Beauregard. -
The Battle of Belmont
This battle was when Ulysses S. Grant landed his men on the Missouri side and marched to Belmont to attack the Confederate fortress.
