The story of course takes place early in the Civil War, but in telling it Bayard looks ahead to "the next war," when "men from the South" will be fighting and sometimes commanding soldiers from the re-united states (671). "And that happened," he says, "thirty years later," when the former Confederate "General Wheeler" commanded "in Cuba" (672). During the Spanish-American War at the end of the 19th century U.S. forces engaged in combat around the city and harbor of Santiago, on the southeastern coast of the island.
Chapultepec Castle was attacked and taken by United States forces on September 12-13, 1847, as part of the Battle of Mexico City during the Mexican-American War. Cousin Philip's father would have been one of about 900 American casualties of the battle. Among the U.S. officers who fought there were both Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee.
"The summer house" at the Sartoris plantation is presumably a small, open-air building, designed to provide a cool place to sit on the hottest days (678). In "My Grandmother Millard" it furnishes Cousin Philip with a place to clean himself up before being introduced to "that beautiful girl" (678).
Chapultepec Castle was attacked and taken by United States forces on September 12-13, 1847, as part of the Battle of Mexico City during the Mexican-American War. Both Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee were among the U.S. Army officers who fought there. Cousin Philip's father - mentioned in "My Grandmother Millard" - would have been one of about 900 American casualties of the battle (682).
King's Mountain, mentioned in "My Grandmother Millard" as part of the glorious military history of the Backhouse family, is the name of a town in North Carolina where a decisive battle was fought and won by the colonial forces during the American Revolution, on 7 October 1780.
During most of the 19th century, even wealthy southerners went to the bathroom in a small outside building, known by a number of different names, including "outhouse" (as the narrator of "My Grandmother Millard," Bayard Sartoris, calls it) and "privy" (as Rosa calls it, 675) and, unfortunately for Melisandre and Philip, "backhouse." As described by Bayard - "the little tall narrow flimsy sentry-box" (676) - the Sartoris outhouse is typical.
