It would soon be Christmas and Harry Kenton, at his desk in the Pendleton Academy, saw the snow falling heavily outside. The school stood on the skirt of the town, and the forest came down to the edge of the playing field. The great trees, oak and ash and elm, were clothed in white, and they stood out a vast and glittering tracery against the somber sky...

The Guns of Bull Run tells the tale of a young man caught up in the strife between North and South during the American Civil war. Harry Kenton grew up in Kentucky, the son of a prominent Southern sympathizer. When South Carolina secedes from the Union, his father sends him there to offer his support. Harry winds up joining the Confederate Army and witnessing the key events of the early part of the war, including the pivotal battle of Bull Run. One of a series of novels for young people about the Civil War, written from the view of two cousins from opposite sides, The Guns of Bull Run is a fascinating and realistic portrayal of those turbulent times.

Joseph Alexander Altsheler (April 29, 1862 – June 5, 1919) was an American newspaper reporter, editor and author of popular juvenile historical fiction. His seven series comprise a total of thirty-two novels, each containing an independent story. There are nineteen non-series novels. He also authored forty-four short stories and two non-fiction items.