Rosa Millard

Rosa Millard is the mother-in-law of Col. John Sartoris and the grandmother of Bayard Sartoris. No details of her earlier life are revealed in this story, but she lives at the Sartoris plantation and is responsible for managing things while her son-in-law is away fighting in the Civil War. She is referred to as "Granny" both by her grandson Bayard and by Ringo, a family slave. She is responsible for the moral upbringing of both boys, punishing them, for instance, when they utter profanity, but as the story depicts, she herself is willing to lie to protect them from Union soldiers. Afterwards, she prays for forgiveness for her lie, and she punishes the boys (by washing their mouths out with soap) for their referring to the soldiers as "bastards." She is a major character in this and four other stories in what can be called the Unvanquished series.