Hickahala Bottom (Location Key)

In Faulkner's fictions, a 'bottom' is the wetland along the sides of a stream or river; typically it is thickly overgrown and a good place to hide. This is the "bottom" between Mottstown and the Sartoris plantation where Ab Snopes hides the mules that Miss Rosa has stolen from the Union Army in "The Unvanquished" and The Unvanquished. There is a real Hickahala Creek in Mississippi, halfway between Oxford and Memphis. If we were sure Faulkner had this real creek in mind, this reference would be one of the strongest clues he provides to the relative positions of the real Oxford and his imaginary Jefferson - that is, Jefferson would also be between Oxford and Memphis, and about 20 miles north of Hickahala Creek But we cannot be sure about this.