Really inspiring novel about the Civil War Battle of Franklin and its aftermath. The novel is told from several different perspectives, the main one being from the point of view of Carrie McGavock who was tasked with operating a hospital from Carnton, her house near the battlefield in Tennessee. This battle was one of the largest during the Civil War with over 9200 men perishing. Carrie is there to see the horrors first hand as the wounded are brought to her house for care. One of these, Zachariah Cashwell, loses a leg and wants to die but Carrie ends ups saving him and has deep feelings for him even though she is married. At the end of the war, many of the dead are buried in a field that is owned by a landowner who wants to plow it up and plant crops. Carrie takes it on herself to move the 1500 men buried there to her land at Carnton and establish a Confederate Cemetery that she tended over the rest of her days.
The characters in this novel are really well developed and the details of their stories very well told. Zachariah, John (Carrie's husband), Mariah (Carries former slave), and others all have compelling narratives in the book. Carrie lost her first three children prior to the war and it seemed as if she was honoring them by making sure the dead confederates were well taken care of. I would definitely recommend this one to anyone interested in Civil War history. I read another book, The Black Flower by Howard Bahr, a few years ago that also told the story of Franklin and was also a very good read that I would recommend.
The characters in this novel are really well developed and the details of their stories very well told. Zachariah, John (Carrie's husband), Mariah (Carries former slave), and others all have compelling narratives in the book. Carrie lost her first three children prior to the war and it seemed as if she was honoring them by making sure the dead confederates were well taken care of. I would definitely recommend this one to anyone interested in Civil War history. I read another book, The Black Flower by Howard Bahr, a few years ago that also told the story of Franklin and was also a very good read that I would recommend.
