Drusilla Hawk

Drusilla is Bayard's cousin. Before the War, she was engaged to Gavin Breckbridge, who died at Shiloh. At the time of the story, she is a very skilled rider who rides "astride like a man" rather than sidesaddle (43), wears "pants, like a man" (44), and aches to fight in Colonel Sartoris' troop against the Yankees. Described as "not tall" and "light as a willow branch in the wind," she nonetheless defends her family plantation against both the Union army and the self-emancipated slaves who travel behind them with great courage.