Georgia in the Civil War (Location Key)

Various locations in Georgia are Locations in 7 different Yoknapatawpha fictions, but in each case the context is military history. In one case, in the "Appendix" that Faulkner wrote for The Sound and the Fury, the fighting takes place during the Revolutionary War: Charles Stuart Compson vanishes "from one of Tarleton's regiments on a Georgia battlefield" in 1778 (326; see "Georgia in the Revolutionary War" in this index). The "Appendix" also mentions the Civil War battle that was fought at Resaca, Georgia, over three days in May, 1864, during the Union Army's campaign to capture Atlanta. The Compson at that battle was Confederate General Quentin Compson; he "failed" there, "though not so badly" as he had earlier at Shiloh in neighboring Tennessee (329). General Johnston, the Confederate retreat through Georgia and the Atlanta battles are also briefly mentioned in Absalom, Absalom! and Requiem for a Nun. During the Civil War, Atlanta was an important railroad center for the South, which provides the background to the war story Drusilla tells Bayard and Ringo in "Raid" and The Unvanquished about the daring Confederate raid to liberate a locomotive from the Yankees after Atlanta had fallen (97; see "Atlanta" in this index). Confusingly, Drusilla tells this story well before the campaign to capture Atlanta has begun - but it has to be acknowledged that while Faulkner was a student of history, including Civil War history, he scrambles the events of the war in more than one text. For example, in the magazine version of "Ambuscade," Bayard mentions hearing about two battles - "Chickamauga and Lookout Mountain" - from his father in July 1863 (5), but the battles were not fought until September and November, respectively, of that year. Chickamauga is in Georgia. "Chickamauga and Lookout Mountain" are mentioned again in The Town (152).