All Confederate dead, laid out by state and unit, with each of their names listed for their families to visit the grave their loved one. Their graves were tended by Carrie until she passed away in 1905, and are now cared for by the Daughters of the Confederacy. Today Carrie’s preserved home is the site of the largest private cemetery in the country where over 1400 souls are buried. Hundreds of soldiers were cared for by the family and the army orderlies and surgeons. The Confederate army used her home as a hospital. Carrie and her home were unfortunate to end up sitting only a few hundred yards from the Civil War Battle of Franklin Tennessee. This novel is based on the true story of Carrie McGavock who gave of herself for the benefit of others selflessly her entire life. In this extraordinary debut novel based on a true story, Robert Hicks has written an epic novel of love and heroism set against the madness of the American Civil War.

In the pain-filled days and weeks that follow, both find a form of mutual healing that neither thinks possible. Carrie recognizes something in him - a willingness to die - and decides on that day, in her house, she will not let him. He survives and is brought to the hospital. Out on the battlefield, a tired young Southern soldier drops his guns and charges forward into Yankee territory, holding only the flag of his company's colours. Taking charge, she finds the courage to face up to the horrors around her and, in doing so, finds a cause. None will be more changed than Carrie McGavock, who finds her home taken over by the Confederate army and turned into a field hospital. On a late autumn day, near a little town called Franklin, 10,000 men will soon lie dead or dying in a battle that will change many lives for ever.

The Widow of the South by Robert Hicks