Brendan J. Lyons Book Signing

Join us in welcoming local author Brendan J. Lyons with his new book, Charley: The True Story of the Youngest Soldier to Die in the American Civil War.

In early April 1861, the streets of West Chester, PA, echoed with the sound of a rattling snare drum. The orders it marked out could be heard for blocks around – about face, advance, retreat, company rest – but there were no troops in the city to hear it. The Civil War, though it loomed heavy on the minds of everyone in the nation, had not yet begun. Fort Sumter would remain in Union hands for another two weeks and the secession crisis in the south was yet still only a war of words.?

But on the one hundred block of Barnard Street, the children had already mustered. The children were already marching. And Charley King, a boy of only 11, was leading them. In a matter of days, the war would start in earnest. In just a few months, Charley would march with the 49th Pennsylvania Infantry into the heat of battle. And in just under a year and a half, he would become the youngest enlisted soldier to die in the American Civil War.

Come out to meet the author, hear more about this fascinating look at our local history, and pick up a signed copy of the book!