The Widow of the South, by Robert Hicks

Carnton Plantation   Field hospital after Battle of Franklin	McGavock family: Carrie Colonel John Hattie Winder Deceased children – Martha, John Randall, Mary Elizabeth   Mariah – Creole Slave/Companion Theopolis - son
Sgt. Zachariah Cashwell	Confederate soldier from Arkansas – picked up colors in battle At Carnton after injured in Battle of Franklin   Jerod – friend
Lt. Nathan Stiles	Union soldier from Ohio Professor at Indian site
Griffin	Joseph – father Becky – daughter Eli – son, friend of Ab Wills and Winder
Baylor	Will “Cotton Gin” – Becky’s boyfriend

For discussion:

1.            In chapter 3, Cashwell explains why men were willing to fight.  He explained that they either forgot the possibility of death or convinced themselves that they “didn’t matter in this world.”    He explained that “I was insignificant like everyone else and it was this insignificance that made me strong.”   Does this help you understand how so many were willing to face probable death in the battles?

2.            How did Cashwell’s willingness to die make him stronger?  How did his childhood (father killed, mother abandoned him and ran away with preacher) affect him as an adult?

3.            Discuss Carrie McGavock. 

·         How did she cope with the deaths of her children? 
·         Why didn’t she take the laudanum like many of the other women?  
·         Why did she collect the laudanum she did not take and how did this help her?
·         In chapter 11, when she knew her house would be a field hospital, she stated that “I had power.  I had a power others did not.”  And, “Death could not make me afraid anymore.”

4.            Consider the relationship between Cashwell and Carrie. 

·         Why did she keep him at the plantation for so long? 
·         Why did she beat him with his crutch in chapter 25? 
·         What was their connection with each other?

5.            Cashwell also had a unique relationship with John McGavock.  In chapter 32 John told Cashwell his life story. 

·         What was it about Cashwell that made both Carrie and John confide in him?
·         When thinking about John, Cashwell thought that, “Something had happened to that poor son of a bitch.  Or he’d done something I didn’t want to hear about.”   What was it?

6.            Discuss Mariah. 

·         Why did she stay with Carrie after the other slaves were freed and left? 
·         She had a special connection with the most severely wounded soldiers – they realized they were going to be restricted for the rest of their lives by their injuries and felt a connection with Mariah.  Why?  (Chapter 34)

7.            Who was Theopolis’ father?

8.            What was Baylor’s real purpose in wanting to destroy the burial field and plant on it?

9.            Did the author do a good job combining the true story with some fictional details?  

10.          Did this novel give you any insights into the Civil War and/or A Team of Rivals by Doris Kerns Goodwin?