Novelist spins Civil War-era saga

The battle of Franklin, Tenn., during the Civil War is little known, but Robert Hicks used his debut novel, "Widow of the South," to remind people of its importance.

"The five hours were like the first 20 minutes of 'Saving Private Ryan,' except after those five hours are over you will lose more American lives than in 19 hours during D-Day," said Hicks. "It marked the last hurrah of the Confederacy."

Hicks, this year's United We Read author, read passages from his novel to an audience of 60 people at Central High School library Thursday evening. In honor of his visit, Friday has officially been declared Robert Hicks Day in Cape Girardeau.

Hicks emphasized that even though the novel features historical figures, like its heroine Carrie McGavock, it is still a work of fiction. "I don't want people to forget that it's a novel, it says so right there on the cover," said Hicks. "I wanted to tell a story of how people transform from epic moments. I want people to learn from her, not her exactly as she was but her as she may have been."

Scene of 1864 battle

The history is this: On Nov. 30, 1864, Confederate Gen. John Bell Hood led his army in a charge against Major Gen. John Schofield's Union forces, which were positioned on higher, heavily fortified ground in Franklin. After five hours of battle, 9,200 men were dead.

McGavock's plantation home was used as a Confederate hospital during the battle. After the battle, McGavock helped bury 1,500 Confederate soldiers and maintained the cemetery until she died in 1905. At the time of her death she had become a symbol of the grieving South.

Hicks, a former music publisher and artist manager, became inspired to tell this story after he moved to Williamson County, Tenn., in 1974. A lifelong collector and preservationist, Hicks became interested in preserving the Carnton Plantation, where the eastern end of the battlefield of Franklin was located. He was also moved by the accounts of McGavock, who wore black until the day she died and kept a permanent "book of the dead," listing all the soldiers' names buried on her property. In the novel McGavock uses the incredible carnage of the battle to subsume her own grief from losing three children.

"There were no McGavocks listed in that book, but now because of what she's done they're all McGavocks," said Hicks.

Librarian Julia Jorgensen said "Widow of the South" has been a perfect book for her program.

"We wanted something historical to celebrate Cape Girardeau's bicentennial," she said. "But I also liked it as a former English teacher because I knew it was a book that would promote a lot of interest and one that people from different generations could all talk about."

Hicks will speak again Friday at Cape Central at 8:30 a.m., 10:15 a.m., and 12:45 p.m. The talks which are aimed at students are also open to anyone wishing to attend.

tgreaney@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 245