Cold Mountain’s Civil War Battles Tyler Irish March 20 th, 2014 Honors Literature

Research Behind the Novel “when my father told me about an ancestor of ours, a man named Inman who left the war and walked home wounded… I set out on Inman’s trail and followed it for five years of writing” Frazier got information on Inman’s Civil War Service through North Carolina State Archives, and Confederate compiled military service records from the National Archives.

Battles Mentioned Malvern Hill “Sharpsburg” Petersburg Fredericksburg

Malvern Hill July 1, 1862 Union Army had developed a nearly impregnable position on the high ground of Malvern Hill. General D.H. Hill was skeptical to attack and advised Lee to leave the Union troops alone. Longstreet suggested that massed artillery on the Confederate side would weaken the Union long enough to storm the hill.

“Sharpsburg” 17 September 1862 “America’s bloodiest day”

Petersburg 15 June April 1865 “Battle of Crater” First scene of the Movie Inman gets wounded here Admitted to a general hospital in Petersburg, Virginia due to his wound on August 21, 1864.

Fredericksburg 13 December 1862 Battle Inman describes to the blind man. Lee’s army had found high ground above the river Burnside led the Union troops up the hill to be butchered by Confederate troops. Most one-sided victory for Confederates.

Fredericksburg Frazier’s Research is shown in his remark about Lee’s comment on ”war being so terrible, or else we would get to liking it too much” (Frazier 6) Lee supposedly remarked at Fredericksburg: “It is well that war is so horrible, or else we should grow too fond of it” (Encyclopedia Civil War 778).

Question??? Do you think Frazier’s research of historical facts aided the novel to create a sense of nonfiction instead of fiction that the novel is based on?

Tucker, Spencer C. “Fredericksburg, First Battle of.” Encyclopedia of the American Civil War. Volume 2. Santa Barbara, California Print. Browning, Judkin. “Malvern Hill, Battle of.” Encyclopedia of the American Civil War. Volume 3. Santa Barbara, California Print. Somners, Richard J. “Petersburg Campaign.” Encyclopedia of the American Civil War. Volume 3. Santa Barbara, California Print. Wolff, Robert S. “Antietam, Battle of.” Encyclopedia of the American Civil War. Volume 1. Santa Barbara, California Print. Picture. campaign/ campaign/ Charles Frazier. Cold Mountain. New York: Atlantic Monthly Press, Peuser and Plante. “Cold Mountain’s Inman: Fact Versus Fiction.” National Archives. Archives.gov. Web. 19 Mar