General Compson

The first Compson in Yoknapatawpha, already an established planter in Jefferson when Thomas Sutpen arrives there in 1833, and the man who is Sutpen's "only friend" (220) before and during the Civil War, this character is referred to throughout the novel either as "General Compson" or Quentin's "Grandfather" - even though he did not become a general until 1865 (221) or a grandfather until 1890. Like Sutpen, he is "a young man too" at the time of Sutpen's arrival (25), but already a successful cotton planter who can lend Sutpen the seed from which the first cotton on Sutpen's Hundred is grown. It is to him that Sutpen tells the story of his life before Jefferson. Much of the narrative derives from what "Grandfather" told Mr. Compson that Sutpen told him, as retold in turn to Quentin by Mr. Compson. Before he became a general, Compson was "colonel of the regiment" that included the University Grays, Bon and Henry's unit (217). They all fought at the Battle of Shiloh, where Colonel Compson lost his right arm and either Bon or Henry was wounded, but despite all that "Grandfather says" in this novel, whatever he thought or knew about both Bon and Henry remains unsaid. After the war he tries to help Judith with the problem of "Charles Bon's son" by giving that young man money go away "among strangers" (165).