A Sobering Read

I was meandering through the bookstore the other day (one of my favorite pastimes) and noticed a book on one of the center aisle tables entitled "The Widow of the South" by Robert Hicks. Being a Southerner (and darn proud of it), I picked it up and read the back. The book is a fictional tale about real life people and real life events that were birthed by the Battle of Franklin near the end of the Civil War (or as we Southerners prefer to call it - the War of Northern Aggression). It looked interesting so it went in my bag at the checkout counter.

I've now spent the last week reading this book every chance I got. (Take my advice, don't try to read and drive.) It's an odd book. Not a pleasant read so much as a story that grabs you with cold hands and compels you to read further. It is full of mental illness, death, depravity of the human soul, violence, hope, faith, and a steadfastness of character - all good Southern novel traits according to my college Southern Literature professor at Middle Tennessee State University oh so long ago.

Ashamedly, I have to confess that despite having been born and bred about 30 miles from the location of the novel, Franklin, Tennessee, I had never heard of the central character Carrie Winder McGavock. I have heard of McGavock High School and McGavock Pike in Nashville but never wondered where the name originated. Now I know.

I had also never studied up much on the Battle of Franklin. I was quite familiar with the Battle of Stones River that occurred in Murfreesboro where I went to college and lived for several years. I've been to Shiloh and Lookout Mountain, Chickamauga and Stone Mountain. I've visited Andersonville Prison in Georgia, even. But I've never really paid attention to the Battle of Franklin. I am ashamed.

The most deadly day in the entire Civil War occurred in a place that I associate with great malls and a high-income population, big houses and golf courses. I never knew it. How did I miss this? I grew up under the wing of a Civil War enthusiast, my dad, and across the street from a real, live historian. The fact that 9.200 Americans died in one day in Franklin has simply stopped me in my tracks this week as I read this book.

Think about that for a minute. 9,200 Americans DEAD in ONE DAY. That's worse than 9/11 and the Iraq war combined. You could even throw in Pearl Harbor and only approach that number. That's more than died in Normandy on D-Day.

The book is not so much about the Battle of Franklin as how it impacted the lives of people who were there. I recognize some of the common traits of disaster survived in the characters that Hicks has built around these real-life people. I recognize the Southern outlook on faith, death, work, family, and honor these people held.

Over the years, it seems that Carrie McGavock has become a sort of historical heroine who was viewed as better than others with stronger moral fiber than others. I beg to differ. Carrie McGavock sounds like an average Southern woman to me. She was pragmatic and practical. She did what needed to be done because it needed to be done and she happened to be there to do it. She grit her teeth and went to work helping people that needed help. That's what we Southern women do. Sure, we have our blue days just like Carrie. Who doesn't? But we carry on and we are polite about it. The world is too full of unpleasantness without us adding to it.

Next week I will be traveling right by Carnton Plantation on my way back across the state from a trip to west Tennessee. I hope I have time to stop and visit. If not, I'll build in time on my next trip because I need to see Carrie's cemetery and thank all those boys who died in a different war long ago.