The Digital Yoknapatawpha Project

The "Carolina boys" whom Gombault refers to are based on a historical fact: on the night after the first day's fighting at Chancellorsville, while reconnoitering for a possible attack, General Stonewall Jackson was fatally shot by his own troops in the 33rd North Carolina regiment - or, as Gombault puts it, "those Carolina boys shot Jackson by mistake" (54).

Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson was one of the Confederacy's most victorious and famous generals. He got his nickname at the first major battle of the Civil War. Mr. Gombault recalls that serving under General Jackson was so important to Old Anse McCallum that he walked all the way from Mississippi to Virginia to enlist.

The mother of "Old Anse" is identified as "a Carter," which explains his determination "to go all the way back to Virginia to do his fighting" at the start of the Civil War (54). (The Carter family name is one of the oldest in Virginia, dating back to the early 17th century.)

When Buddy McCallum thinks that his sons are being called up for active duty in wartime, he tells them to obey their sergeants and officers, adding, "The Government done right by me in my day, and it will do right by you" (53).

Dr. Schofield's unnamed nurse never actually appears in the story. When debating how best to amputate Buddy McCallum's leg, Dr. Schofield realizes to anesthetize Buddy "I'll need my nurse to help me" (51).

Mr. Pearson's unnamed grandfather provides the first point at which Pearson begins to identify with the McCallum family. When Pearson enters the bedroom where the injured Buddy McCallum lies, he sees beside Buddy's bedside a "big, old-fashioned, wicker-covered demijohn" like the one in which his grandfather kept his own whisky (49).

Lucius is one of Buddy McCallum's twin sons, "two absolutely identifical blue-eyed youths" (49). He and his brother Anse are "wild as spikehorn bucks" as children (55). Later, they go to the agricultural college to learn how to raise whiteface cattle. And when their father tells them it's their time to enlist, they obey without hesitation.

Anse is one of Buddy McCallum's twin sons, "two absolutely identical blue-eyed youths" (49). He and his brother Lucius are "wild as spikehorn bucks" as children (55). Later, they go to the agricultural college to learn how to raise whiteface cattle. And when their father tells them it's their time to enlist, they obey without hesitation.

The eldest son of Old Anse McCallum, Jackson first appears pouring whiskey for his injured brother Buddy. As the eldest, his opinion has influence with his brothers. They consult him when trying to decide whether or not to accept the subsidy for not growing cotton even though he "ain't no farmer" because he "knowed father longer than the rest of us" and could best know how Old Anse would have acted (57). However he doesn't seem to be the most dominant personality in the family because when Dr.

Stuart is another of Old Anse's sons, and Rafe McCallum's twin. He seems both cautious and matter-of-fact in manner. After Buddy practically amputates his own leg, he says, "Stuart kept warning me about that frame I was using," and Stuart replies, "That's correct" (50).