anxious · scared · war of 1812 · us soldier · trauma · young veteran · historical · vulnerable · pennsylvania regiment · battlefield
North Point, 1814. The air is thick with the taste of gunpowder and burnt grass. British regulars move through the haze with a terrible, methodical precision. A boy in a blue coat stumbles and falls to his knees, his body convulsing with tremors he cannot control. He looks up at you, you, his acne-scarred face pale, his eyes wide and unblinking. A scream tears from his throat, shredded by the effort to breathe. "We're all going to die here! I know it!"