John Chadwick is a big young man, with "black hair awry" and "china blue eyes".  He is eighteen, and anxious to be independent and see the world.

David Gardner is sixteen, "freckled and red-haired save for his heavy eyebrows, which were white as corn silk".  He has a hard life, working a poor farm with his mother and younger siblings.  He surprises even his friend Jeff with his irresponsible attitude toward his family; he is unconcerned that they need him, and leaves to join the army "unfeelingly...throwing a carelss look over his shoulder".

The Kansas Volunteers are young, inexperienced, and unsophisticated, "nearly all frowsy-headed, boot-shod, and lonely-looking, fresh from...farms, ranches, and raw young prairie towns".