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Confederado: A Novel of the Americas
Alvis Stevens has a price on his head. The death of one abusive federal occupation soldier in the wake of the Civil War weighs more heavily upon him than all of the men he killed during the conflict as a member of Mosby's Rangers. The devastation visited upon the South already has forced some of its citizens to seek new lives abroad; among them, Lavinia, the prewar love Alvis believes he has lost forever. At the urging of his uncle, Thomas Bocock, Alvis seeks to evade his pursuers and join the migration to Brazil. Based on a true story and rich in historical events and personages, Confederado records one man's epic adventure across wars and hemispheres.
- GenresHistorical Fiction
276 pages, Paperback
First published June 25, 2012
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
May 31, 2014
Confederado is a fictionalized account of a historical actual. Few people know about the "Confederados" -- those thousands of disgruntled Southerners who immigrated to Brazil after the U.S. Civil War to escape the oppressive control of the Union Army of Occupation. “The Brazilian Emperor knew Southerners possessed advanced agricultural knowledge,” says Casey Clabough. “Free land-grants were advertised in Southern newspapers, even here in Richmond, and a number of hard-pressed Southern families and Confederate veterans took the chance as a way of starting over in South America.”
Clabough's novel follows the journey of Alvis Stevens from the war-ravaged lands of Virginia to the lush forests of Brazil. “The real story was a great story,” says Clabough. “[The book] didn’t have to be fiction—and a lot of it isn’t.” By giving himself the liberty of imagination, he could inject drama to benefit the adventurous plotline. In so doing, Clabough achieves the ultimate of literary trifectas: the combination of a revelatory story, a fascinating plot and muscular prose. The book is reminiscent of Charles Frazier’s tour de force Cold Mountain, though the dialogue does not stray as far into the vernacular, making it easier to read.
The story begins as the Civil War ends. Alvis makes his way home only to find the family farm in ruins. He works hard to resurrect his farmland, but he is forced to go into town and register that he is loyal to the United States. During the war Alvis had served in Mosby’s Rangers, which was famous for two things: horsemanship and ruthlessness. When he goes into town to swear allegiance, his former service is made known and he becomes a marked man. Peace may have been declared, but that doesn’t mean all soldiers can turn off the spigot of hate that fed four years of bloodshed. One Union occupation soldier attacks Alvis, and Alvis is forced to kill him. Although it was self-defense, Alvis is now labeled an outlaw with a bounty on his head. His only choice is to run away.
In one passage Clabough sums up the misgivings of his hero’s forthcoming quest: “He knew only that a long exile likely lay ahead of him and vast sea reaches beyond his imagining. He had been to the war and acquired from it a terrible body of knowledge, but it remained that he knew precious little of the world. Yet the understanding that he might be condemned to forever walk alone upon it pierced his heart more woefully than any wound of battle had.”
As Alvis trudges eastward through Virginia, we witness the wreckage left by war: ramshackle homes missing floorboards, walls pocked by shell holes, hardscrabble earth riddled with weeds instead of crops. Throughout the novel Clabough pays great attention to the scenery, but it is after Alvis lands in Brazil and wends his way through the forest that the landscape flourishes with the strokes of his masterful pen. “Some of the true trunks were as broad as houses, their massive roots snaking away in all directions. The light of day came and went, splitting the canopy in some places while failing entry everywhere else—blocked, as it were, to the degree that the visibility resembled that of dusk.”
Much of the novel is intimate, melancholic and contemplative, looking inside Alvis’s thoughts as he struggles to make sense of war and what becomes of the men who fight them. But he is heartened by the knowledge that his former love, Lavinia, had also immigrated to Brazil with her family. Alvis had cast her out of his mind during the war, but now could think of little else. As Clabough writes, “The sad constellation of circumstances regarding his family at home, along with the haunting ravages of the war, had blocked further thought of her from his mind. But she had been his love before the war and likely his wife if war had not come."
As before, war threatens to keep the lovers apart again. He and other Confederados are recruited to fight in the War of the Triple Alliance, a six-year war between Paraguay and the combined armies of Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay. Alvis’s combat skills are once more put to use and demons he had hoped to lay to rest are reawakened.
Confederado is about redemption and new beginnings, about starting your life over again after it seemed all was lost. Clabough weaves together this most human of themes with the inhumane conditions of war. That he plays out this story against a backdrop of Civil War history known by very few people today serves to make his novel a stunning and captivating read.
Clabough's novel follows the journey of Alvis Stevens from the war-ravaged lands of Virginia to the lush forests of Brazil. “The real story was a great story,” says Clabough. “[The book] didn’t have to be fiction—and a lot of it isn’t.” By giving himself the liberty of imagination, he could inject drama to benefit the adventurous plotline. In so doing, Clabough achieves the ultimate of literary trifectas: the combination of a revelatory story, a fascinating plot and muscular prose. The book is reminiscent of Charles Frazier’s tour de force Cold Mountain, though the dialogue does not stray as far into the vernacular, making it easier to read.
The story begins as the Civil War ends. Alvis makes his way home only to find the family farm in ruins. He works hard to resurrect his farmland, but he is forced to go into town and register that he is loyal to the United States. During the war Alvis had served in Mosby’s Rangers, which was famous for two things: horsemanship and ruthlessness. When he goes into town to swear allegiance, his former service is made known and he becomes a marked man. Peace may have been declared, but that doesn’t mean all soldiers can turn off the spigot of hate that fed four years of bloodshed. One Union occupation soldier attacks Alvis, and Alvis is forced to kill him. Although it was self-defense, Alvis is now labeled an outlaw with a bounty on his head. His only choice is to run away.
In one passage Clabough sums up the misgivings of his hero’s forthcoming quest: “He knew only that a long exile likely lay ahead of him and vast sea reaches beyond his imagining. He had been to the war and acquired from it a terrible body of knowledge, but it remained that he knew precious little of the world. Yet the understanding that he might be condemned to forever walk alone upon it pierced his heart more woefully than any wound of battle had.”
As Alvis trudges eastward through Virginia, we witness the wreckage left by war: ramshackle homes missing floorboards, walls pocked by shell holes, hardscrabble earth riddled with weeds instead of crops. Throughout the novel Clabough pays great attention to the scenery, but it is after Alvis lands in Brazil and wends his way through the forest that the landscape flourishes with the strokes of his masterful pen. “Some of the true trunks were as broad as houses, their massive roots snaking away in all directions. The light of day came and went, splitting the canopy in some places while failing entry everywhere else—blocked, as it were, to the degree that the visibility resembled that of dusk.”
Much of the novel is intimate, melancholic and contemplative, looking inside Alvis’s thoughts as he struggles to make sense of war and what becomes of the men who fight them. But he is heartened by the knowledge that his former love, Lavinia, had also immigrated to Brazil with her family. Alvis had cast her out of his mind during the war, but now could think of little else. As Clabough writes, “The sad constellation of circumstances regarding his family at home, along with the haunting ravages of the war, had blocked further thought of her from his mind. But she had been his love before the war and likely his wife if war had not come."
As before, war threatens to keep the lovers apart again. He and other Confederados are recruited to fight in the War of the Triple Alliance, a six-year war between Paraguay and the combined armies of Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay. Alvis’s combat skills are once more put to use and demons he had hoped to lay to rest are reawakened.
Confederado is about redemption and new beginnings, about starting your life over again after it seemed all was lost. Clabough weaves together this most human of themes with the inhumane conditions of war. That he plays out this story against a backdrop of Civil War history known by very few people today serves to make his novel a stunning and captivating read.
May 5, 2017
Although this book taught me about the Confederados, I was disappointed with it. I felt the beginning was good and then it dragged and seemed very choppy. I really struggled to finish it.
January 12, 2021
Very well written and tells the story of a fictional character in the factual historical context of post US civil war reconstruction. Little has been written about the choice a few hundred Americans,on the losing side of the war, made to move to Brazil and start new lives. For some it was a chance to carry on their old practices (I.e slavery) and for others it was an escape from the demons of war or the law.
Some gave up and returned to the US in defeat while others made successful new lives where they have descendants to this day. These are the Confederados. This is the only novel I know of written on the subject. If anybody knows of any others, please share. More should be written.
Some gave up and returned to the US in defeat while others made successful new lives where they have descendants to this day. These are the Confederados. This is the only novel I know of written on the subject. If anybody knows of any others, please share. More should be written.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews