Ye! I wish more people talked about the Civil War, because it is really interesting despite having some obviously controversial elements to it. The time period in general is absolutely epic from a storytelling perspective.

The story I have so far goes like this:

A poor farm boy from the country (I can't decide yet if he's from Arkansas or Louisiana based on where the unit I have in is from) Jeb joins the army with his best friend in order to win over his lover, the daughter of a wealthy planter. He, along with his best friend who also has a crush on her, hope to move up the ranks so that they will have the social standing to finally win her over. Jeb fights in the army while his best friend becomes a General's aide. The best friend eventually realizes that Jeb will win the heart of their lover if they both survive, so he convinces the general he works for to put Jeb's unit on the front line so he gets killed. He becomes a ghost and follows the army to another battle, where he meets Billy who also recently died.

I have less info on Billy since that area's a little bit more foreign to me, but he's the son of escaped slaves living in Pennsylvania. Naturally Billy's parents are very supportive of the war, and when Billy says he wants to be a drummer boy they are happy to sign him up.

The hardest part of the story is the ghost perspective because that's something I'm much less versed on. I have no idea what sort of trouble they get into in the afterlife since they're already dead. They need some antagonistic elements, but that will require more research into the paranormal.