Two Little Confederates (Thomas Nelson Page)

Two Little Confederates

The war in their own town

When there first began to be talk around Oakland about the war, the boys thought it would be a dreadful thing; their ideas about war were pretty much formed from reading about it in the Bible, where they had read of men, women and children being put to the sword. So they feared it greatly.

One evening, as the family discussed the coming crisis, Willy astonished all at the table, who were discussing the merits of the Union armies, by announcing that “I bet they didn’t have any general who could beat Joab.”

The boys dubbed “two little confederates” lived in Oakland, Virginia. It was not a handsome village, as modern views are, but down in Old Virginia it passed as one of the best plantations in that region. The boys thought it was the greatest place in the world!

Two Boys Watching the Conflict Unfold

It was quite secluded and lay right between two of the county roads, the Court-house Road on one side and the Great Mountain Road on the other. The boys were Frank and Willy. Their mother called them her “little men”, with much pride; but Lucy Ann, who was taken into the home to help care for them, always coupled their names together and just called them “Frank n Willy.”

These read as unforgettable tales from one of the South’s greatest 19th-century story-tellers; a favorite with children since its original publication in 1888. Two boys, Willie and Frank, are trapped between Union and Confederate lines in war-torn Virginia. The secrets they must keep and the dangers they confront are fascinating to all readers. Highly authentic from a man who lived his boyhood during those times.