Download One Book/One Town Marshall County A Civil Conversation

One Book/One Town
Marshall County
A Civil Conversation
Book Discussions led by Jim Faulkner
April 4th - 6:30 PM
April 28th - 1:30 PM
Culver-Union Twp. Public Library
107 N. Main St.
Culver, IN 46511
574-842-2941
www.culver.lib.in.us
Table of Contents
Shiloh’s Perspectives: A chapter-bychapter guide for readers
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
CUTPL Events List
Shiloh’s Perspectives: A chapter-by-chapter
guide for readers
Shiloh: a Novel by Shelby Foote
Chapter 1 – The chapter’s point of view is that of nineteen-year-old Lieutenant
Palmer Metcalfe who is Aide-de-Camp for Confederate General Albert Sidney
Johnston, West Point graduate and former U.S. Army commander, whom Metcalfe
greatly admires. Metcalfe’s voice will also narrate the closing chapter. This first
chapter introduces the reader to some important points relevant to the entire story:
the weather and geography of the location, the reasons for ending up at Pittsburg
Landing, and the disagreement between General Beauregard and the other
commanders about the timing of the battle, as well as some characterizations of his
superiors’ mannerisms and personal qualities. Note the extended biographical data on
General Johnston that young Metcalfe learned from his own father who had ridden
with Johnston in the Texas revolution. At the very front matter of the book, the reader
can review the Shiloh battlefield map to identify Metcalfe’s location #1 and survey the
setting for the novel.
Some questions to guide thoughtful discussion of this chapter:

What do we learn about the young man who is introducing us to the Battle of
Shiloh? What makes him a good choice as our guide into understanding the
battle? Why would Shelby Foote select this viewpoint as a place to begin?

Why does Beauregard resist going into battle with Grant’s Union forces? Are
there other hints of foreshadowing that the battle may not bode well for the
Confederates? (Hint: look at imagery and descriptive phrasing)

What role is assigned to women in this opening chapter?

Can you find a passage that echoes Foote’s own belief of how war is to be viewed
and the story told?
Chapter 2 – The perspective shifts to the Union side in the narration provided
by Captain Walter Fountain of the 53rd Ohio. As Adjutant, he assists Colonel Appler –
whom he dislikes – in administering orders throughout the regiment and with their
division commander, General William Tecumseh Sherman. This chapter parallels the
same important points found in the first, only from a Union vantage point: the
weather and geography of the location, the reasons for ending up at Pittsburg Landing,
and the disagreements among the officers about the potential of a Confederate attack.
The extended biographical account, this time, reviews the life of General Ulysses S.
Grant, whom Fountain clearly admires, sharing the same origins in Georgetown.
Unique to this chapter are the intermittent words Fountain is writing to his wife
Martha while trying to stay awake all night as the officer on line duty. The reader must
negotiate between the stream of consciousness of Fountain’s thoughts and memories
interspersed with his shaped words written as a “nice long letter” to his loving wife.
Note Fountain’s location #2 on the Shiloh map.
Some questions to guide thoughtful discussion of this chapter:
 What do we learn about this man who represents the “other side” from our initial
introduction to the impending battle? What additional information do we glean
about this location and the reasons for being there? How has Shelby Foote
changed the voice preparing us for war?Why is Sherman convinced that the
Confederates are not massing in the woods? What evidence is Appler seeing that
the others are ignoring? Note the numerous ways Foote builds the situational
irony – through characterization and descriptive details as well as setting.
 What role is assigned to women in this chapter?
 How has Foote already established the confusion of war?
Chapter 3 – As the battle looms, the next narrator is a Confederate private, a
rifleman in the 6th Mississippi, named Luther Dade. The private begins his narration in
the confusion between sleeping and waking just before the battle commences, then
documents the confusion of “meeting the elephant” and all that war truly means for
the foot soldier. From his more distant perspective, the reader again sees Beauregard
and Johnston as they prepare the troops. Focusing on the sensory experience of
battle – the one often glossed over in writing history – Dade takes the reader along
through the sights, sounds, and physical sensations that have deep and shocking
impact on the human system. Wounded, he first stays behind when the battle moves
on, but then wanders off in the loudest direction, figuring that he will find doctors
nearest the sounds of battle. His wandering chronicles other parts of the battlefield
that will be read about in later chapters. Notice how many small connections to earlier
chapters are created for the reader to discover in Dade’s observations – and also to
connect in later chapters. Note Dade’s route #3 on the Shiloh map.
Some questions to guide thoughtful discussion of this chapter:
 How does Dade’s use of comparisons to describe his experiences reveal his
background and education level? What are some of the more colorful ones? How
accurate do his assessments of people and experiences seem? What evidence
exists to prove he is a trustworthy narrator (or is not)?
 How are the descriptions of officers different in this chapter from those offered by
Metcalfe and Fountain? How does lisping Captain Plummer seem to fit with the
other circumstances described in Dade’s first confrontation with “the elephant”?
Why end the chapter with Johnston’s death?
 What kinds of cultural differences are apparent so far – between soldiers and
officers? Between union and confederate? Between the educated and the
uneducated?
 How does Shelby Foote want readers to feel about this battle? About war in
general?
 How does he use details about being “human” to make war seem “inhumane”?
Chapter 4 – A Union private now takes the reader into the thick of battle:
Otto Flickner, a cannoneer in the 1st Minnesota Battery. The chapter begins after
Flickner has become “demolaized,” as Sergeant Buterbaugh characterized the
condition, and conveys details of what has happened to characters introduced in
chapter two, specifically Captain Fountain and the mascot Bango. The horrors of
battle are couched in a discussion of what makes the difference between being labeled
a “coward” and being called “demoralized.” Flickner’s memories and perceptions –
about his feelings, about the expectations of war, about the other men and officers –
are mixed in with the unfolding events, but not in a sequential or chronological way.
His concern for time matches his seeming disregard for the gift of his grandfather’s
watch. Huddled with the other skulkers, Flickner watches Buell’s army coming off the
steamboats to join the next day’s fighting and confronts his own cowardice, eventually
returning to the battlefield to rejoin his battery. Trace Flickner’s journey from position
#1 and #2 and down to the bluff along route #4 on the Shiloh map.
Some questions to guide thoughtful discussion of this chapter:
 How does Flickner’s experience as a Union private compare with that of Dade’s?
In what ways are their experiences similar? What distinguishes them? Is
Flickner’s account of what happened helpful to understand the battle or more so
to understand human nature? Where is Shelby Foote guiding us with this
narrator?
 How do the commanders seem to influence those under their command in
Flickner’s view? Are there any officers he seems to respect? What evidence in the
text suggests that he does or does not? Is the Union view of authority different
than the Confederate view? What would you cite that seems to suggest it is or is
not?
 What examples of a more northern attitude toward life pervade Flickner’s story of
events? Are there details that reflect different perceptions about attitudes toward
family, friendship, women, or war than in Private Dade’s account? Are any
suggested differences reinforced by your own beliefs about a North/South
dichotomy?
 To what extent might Shelby Foote’s mid-20th century understanding of “battle
fatigue” (or as we say now “post-traumatic stress disorder”) have influenced his
interpretation of what happened at Shiloh? Are there other explanations of why
10,000 skulkers might have defected?
Chapter 5 – Sergeant Jefferson Polly is a scout in Confederate Colonel Forrest’s
cavalry. Note his account’s dedication to accurate geographic detail, compass
directions, and military terminology. The reader has been introduced to him before in
Dade’s account (p. 89), but won’t recognize that until the cross reference is made clear
(p. 141). Polly’s narration begins with showing his colonel what the scout had
discovered: Buell’s reinforcements had arrived, were disembarking the steamboats,
and preparing to reinforce Grant’s troops in the next day’s battle. This truth countered
the dispatch the Confederate generals had received and inspires Forrest with urgency
to share the information. But then Polly interrupts his story with a flashback of the
first day’s battle. The reader gets the chance to learn how Forrest takes command of
the situation (since no one in the Confederacy seemed to know where to go for orders)
and charges the very battery of cannoneers whose point of view narrated the previous
chapter. The narrator then returns to the current crisis and Forrest’s inability to
convince anyone in command to launch a surprise attack on Buell’s new forces. The
odyssey of trying to raise the alarm gives Polly plenty of time to recount Forrest’s
biography as well as his own. To Polly, the next morning’s sounds of battle echo the
two different approaches – the high yip of the rebel yell versus the deep surf-like roar
of disciplined Union troops. Locate Polly’s position at point #5 on the Shiloh map.
Some questions to guide thoughtful discussion of this chapter:
 How does it change the narration to not know anything about Polly until much
later in the chapter? On whom does Polly seem to want to focus attention and
why? In what ways do Polly’s father and Colonel Forrest seem alike? In what
ways different? How does the war seem to fit with Polly’s “stage in life”?
 How is Colonel Forrest different from the other Confederate leaders? Is the
reader supposed to view this difference positively? Why or why not?
 Polly refers to women figuratively, “trees bent forward like keening women;” he
says that for some men war meant “widow’s tears”; yet, he portrays Forrest as
afraid of only one thing – his wife. To what extent does the book reveal women as
symbols of weakness in the Confederate culture? To what extent are they
symbols of strength?
 As a Southern writer, might Shelby Foote be revealing any of his own beliefs about
why the Confederacy lost the war? What in the text supports your answer?
Chapter 6 – Perhaps the most confusing to read without help, this chapter’s
narration switches among the voices of the 6th squad of the 23rd Indiana. Nowhere
does Foote list for the reader the individual narrators or provide any information about
how to read the chapter. Who is speaking must be interpreted by what the speaker
reveals about himself and what the others say about him. Each time the reader comes
to the symbol of crossed gun barrels, the narrator changes. The clues to the speaker’s
identity must be ferreted out in addition to trying to follow the flow of the events of
battle. See page 183 for a list of the members of the squad. Squad narrators (in order):
(1) Robert Winter, (2) Sergeant Bonner, (3) Klein, (4) Diffenbuch, (5) Holliday, (6)
Corporal Blake [flashback], (7) Joyner, (8) Grissom. (9) Pettigrew [3 words], (10) Lavery,
(11) Amory, and Pope. Note the location of the 6th Indiana and the direction of their
advance at position #6 on the Shiloh map.
Some questions to guide thoughtful discussion of this chapter:
 How can the reader distinguish the individualities of the varied narrators? What
purpose does it serve in the book to create confusion for the reader about who is
speaking?
 Despite the confusion, what do we learn about the second day’s battle? Is there a
clear sense of victory in the recounting of events? Why or why not? How is the
Union leadership portrayed?
 Do Corporal Blake’s words ring true (p. 192)? Are human beings on both sides of
the conflict fighting for the same things? Does war happen because of bad men’s
leadership? Is it important to figure out why wars happen?
 What questions would you ask Shelby Foote about this chapter? What do you
think he might answer?
Chapter 7 – The final chapter returns us to the opening narrator, Lieutenant
Metcalfe, now listed as “unattached” since General Johnston died on the first day of
the Battle of Shiloh. Being dragged away, literally, because his riding boots weren’t
made for walking, Metcalfe reflects on his current surroundings – the wagonload of
wounded, including the face of a boy whose arm has been amputated. The boy’s
words take the reader back to Dade’s chapter (p. 85) to recognize the connection.
Metcalfe narrates a flashback to the two days of battle, also filling in details about the
death of Johnston and speculating on the failures, both of the Battle of Shiloh and the
Confederate Cause. The final portion of the reminiscence celebrates the charisma and
leadership of Colonel Forrest who surprises the Union troops that pursue the
retreating rebels. Such courage inspires Metcalfe to vow to fight with Forrest if he
survives and gives him the belief that he and the cause of constitutional liberty will be
able to prove General Sherman wrong by the end of the war. Note on the map of
Shiloh Battlefield, position #7, hat the story has returned to the location from which
the story began.
Some questions to guide thoughtful discussion of this chapter:
 Has Lieutenant Metcalfe changed in any significant way from the opening
chapter’s narrator? How does he make sense of his experience at the Battle of
Shiloh? Why would Shelby Foote end with the same voice with which he began
his novel?
 Does Metcalfe admire Forrest for different reasons than those that initially drew
him to admire General Johnston? What does the shift in perceptions about
leaders suggest about how the war is changing the South?
 Notice the closing line of the novel. What do the words suggest about the
importance of gender roles during the Civil War period? Is this casual reference to
the role of women purposeful and important to our thinking about war, or
accidental? What in the text informs your position?
 What do you think was Shelby Foote’s primary purpose in writing this historical
fiction (a term which he hates)? In other words, to what extent is this a novel
that . . .
 informs readers about the Battle of Shiloh
 explores underlying causes of the Civil War
 distinguishes among American cultural attitudes
 succeeds as both a literary and an historical account
Date and
Time
February 15th
March 31
st
April 4th
Noon
April 4th
6:30 P.M.
April 11th
4:00 P.M.
April 18th
Location
Event
Culver-Union
Township
Public Library
Exhibit – Civil War Uniforms & Accoutrements
provided by Dr. Mark Couts
Culver-Union
Township
Public Library
Book & Film Discussion “Novel Approach”
Friendly Persuasion Large Meeting Room
Culver-Union
Township
Public Library
Book Discussion Shiloh ­–Led by Jim Faulkner
Culver-Union
Township
Public Library
Piano Selections from the Civil War Era by
Jarrod Drake
Culver High
School
2:45 P.M.
April 18th
6:30 P.M.
April 20th
1:15 P.M.
April 24th
4:00 P.M.
April 28th
1:30 P.M.
Book Discussion – Behind Rebel Lines led by
Ali Gaskill
Culver-Union
Township
Public Library
Presentation – “What You Didn’t Learn about
the Civil War in School” by Margaret Carter
Culver Middle
School
Presentation - “Women in the Civil War” by
Margaret Carter & Ali Gaskill
Culver-Union
Township
Public Library
Book Discussion – Behind Rebel Lines- Led by
Ali Gaskill— Children’s Dept.
Culver-Union
Township
Public Library
Book Discussion Shiloh – Led by Jim Faulkner
– Small Meeting Room