Soldier's Heart: Being the Story of the Enlistment and Due Service of the Boy Charley Goddard in the First Minnesota Volunteers is a historical war novella by Gary Paulsen aimed at the teenage market.

It is a fictionalization of the true story of a Minnesotan farm boy, Charley Goddard, who at the age of 15 enlisted in the Union Army during the American Civil War.

Charley lied about his age to join the First Volunteers of Minnesota and was involved in combat at Bull Run and Gettysburg.

[1] Although some events and time sequences are not completely factual, the essential elements of the book's story are true.

Charley lies about his age and joins the Minnesota Volunteers in what he thinks will be a fun experience that will make him a man.

In Charley's first battle, near Manassas Junction, Virginia, in 1861, he is caught in the middle of violent suffering and death.

He and the others forage for food at local farms and eventually build log houses to live in during the approaching winter.

Nelson, shot in the stomach, knows that the surgeons do not have the skills or time to mend his wound, so he shoots himself with his own rifle on the battlefield.

Charley is knocked out by enemy blows, seeing a red veil come down over his eyes and believing that he is about to die.