Section 1
- Bayard, the narrator, and Ringo, his slave, friend, and possible half-brother, build a map of the ongoing Civil War in the woodpile behind their house.
- Loosh, Ringo's uncle, destroys Vicksburg on their map (more info on that little tidbit here). Which implies that the Southern cause is not going so well.
- Bayard says that his father, John, is fighting in Tennessee, but Loosh says that it isn't true because the Yankees have already made it to Mississippi. Who's got the facts here?
- Ringo and Bayard play war for a while, until suddenly Bayard's dad comes galloping down the driveway on his horse, Jupiter.
Section 2
- John, Joby, Ringo, Loosh, and Bayard build a stock pen in the creek bottom so that no one will be able to find their animals.
- After they fill it with the livestock, the boys try to stay awake to hear some war stories, but mean ol' dad sends them to bed.
- John orders Loosh to bury a trunk filled with the family's silver. While the boys are asleep, Daddy-o heads off to war again.
Section 3
- Granny reads a cookbook to Ringo and Bayard (sometimes you just get tired of picture books).
- Afterward Bayard says they have to watch Loosh because of a dream he had. Since Loosh knew that Vicksburg had fallen before anyone else, in the dream John told Bayard that he should watch him to know what was going to happen.
- The boys spend their days and nights following Loosh, and overhear him talking to his wife, Philadelphy, about how General Sherman will free all the slaves.
- Now the boys decide they have to watch the road to be ready when Sherman comes, and they finally do see Yankees coming on horseback. They run home, grab the musket, and head back to the road, where they shoot at one of the riders. Uh-oh.
Section 4
- The boys run home and tell Granny that they shot the "bastud." Before she can figure out what's going on, the house is surrounded by Union soldiers. Super uh-oh.
- Granny sits down and makes the boys hide under her skirts, and then the Yankees come in looking for the boys.
- She says that there are no children at the place, and that she's never seen the gun before in her life, but the soldiers don't believe her and start searching her house.
- Finally it comes out that what they shot (and killed) was a horse, not a man. Which is a small relief, unless you really have a thing for horses (still, it's not as punishable, you know).
- Then a Colonel comes in and tells the sergeant who's questioning Granny to leave her alone. He also makes it clear that he knows exactly where the two boys are.
- When it's all over and the boys come out from under her dress, Granny makes them clean out their mouths with soap. Yes, they are in trouble for having said "bastud," not for almost getting them all killed by Union soldiers.
Section 5
- The boys wash out their mouths with soap, and say that Tennessee is "too far to go just to fight Yankees." Yes, it's a funny ending for the first section.