Robert Koch's gripping Civil War novel of a young man working out his relationships -- to his country in the midst of war, his heritage of faith, his father, and his sweetheart.Joseph King, like many patriotic young men in the Civil War summer of 1862, enlists in the Union Army.Before long he is faced with violence and the death of friends in the battle at South Mountain, near Frederick, Maryland. For the first time, the teachings of his Mennonite minister father about Jesus' way of nonresistance and love for the enemy begin to make sense. When he lands in prison after deserting the army, he realizes he may never get to live out his newfound convictions.