Marching On

by James Boyd

It is no coincidence that up to the present there have been so few good novels written about the Civil War. Histories, memoirs, and military studies we have had a plenty, but few novels, and none, certainly, so good as Marching On by James Boyd. Clearly it took years for rancor to subside, for wounded memories to heal, and in the interval those of the immediate generations, in the words of General Lee, ‘felt no desire to revive any recollections of those events.’ But the sixty-six years since Sumter are, as it were, a telescope permitting us to see that far time with understanding and detachment. By focusing the glass on his home country, by his striking interpretation of history and reminiscence, Mr. Boyd, a Southerner, has brought to light a novel as free from animosity as it is full of character and movement.

James Fraser, a descendant of the hero of Drums, is the son of a small farmer with land along the Cape Fear River. Even as he sees that the cards are stacked against small landowners like his family, James falls in love with Stewart Prevost, the daughter of a wealthy plantation owner. Frustrated in love and with his economic prospects, James goes to Wilmington. Once the Civil War begins, James joins the Confederate army and becomes part of Stonewall Jackson’s army. He is capture by the Yankees but is freed just as the tide of war turns in the North’s favor. After making his way back home, he attempts to protect the Prevost plantation. In that he fails, but the war has both changed the Prevost family fortunes and their daughter’s opinion of James.

239 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1927

Reviews

[Stephen · Rating 5 out of 5]

A masterpiece written in the 20th Century about an event in the 19th century and read by someone in the 21st century. Filled this reader with awe, tears and admiration. A better book would be hard to find but I will continue the search.