429plantations. There is evidence, too, that southern women
encouraged their men to fight. In 1862 and again the next
year, a letter appeared in many Confederate newspapers in
which “The Women of the South” called on their men to
enlist and fight.“Never turn your backs on the flag,” it advised
soldiers, for cowardly behavior would disgrace themselves
and their “children’s children.” When Sergeant Edwin Fay of
Louisiana wrote to his wife saying that he wanted to leave
“this horrid war,” she responded that while she missed him
terribly she could not countenance his becoming a deserter.
The Confederacy’s appeal to women reflected their
increasing importance in public life. Historian Drew Gilpin
Faust (who in 2007 became the first woman president of
Harvard University) argues that women’s role shifted further
as the Confederacy and its menfolk failed to defend white
southern “womanhood.”“Of necessity,” such women assumed
a larger role in the management of farms and plantations and
they became more assertive in public matters. Some took the
lead—as did Ada—in encouraging their men to desert.
“Though the ladies may not be willing to concede the
fact,” a Confederate official in North Carolina declared,“they
are nevertheless responsible for the desertion in the army.”
James Fowler, a private from North Carolina who had been
sentenced to death for desertion, cited his wife’s pleas in his
appeal for clemency.“I received a letter from my wife stating
there [sic] condition and my two children was both at the
point of Death and I made evry [sic] effort to get permission
to go home honorably.”
Cold Mountainis not history. But the movie illuminates
the anguish of those who cling to life and love rather than to
a war effort that will likely fail.Questions for Discussion
■What causes soldiers to abandon a war?
■How do you think any soldiers reconcile their duties to
their family and to their nation?The woman in The Consecration(1861) by George Cochran Lambdin was probably
used as the model for Nicole Kidman's hair style and clothing. The movie was
extraordinarily attentive to historical visual detail.