Confederates In The Attic: Dispatches From The Unfinished Civil War

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 1998

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.

Download PDF

Summary

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-2

Chapters 3-4

Chapter 5

Chapters 6-7

Chapters 8-9

Chapter 10

Chapters 11-13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Key Figures

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Tools

Beta

Discussion Questions

Chapters 6-7Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 6 Summary: “Virginia A Farb of the Heart”

After the dark themes presented in Chapter 5, in Chapter 6 Horwitz returns to the more light-hearted aspects of his Southern journey, the aspects of reenacting which prove popular for many residents of the American South. Horwitz gets back in touch with Robert Lee Hodge, and the two make plans to attend a reenactment for the Battle of the Wilderness, which Rob claims will be “a total Farbfest” (125), an allusion to the notion that the vast majority of the participants will not be “hardcore” reenactors like himself but rather people who are just going through the motions of reenacting without the back knowledge that a “hardcore” member like himself possesses.

During the Chapter, Horwitz goes on to discuss the history and background pertaining to the Battle of the Wilderness in 1864, and he undertakes his first, real attempt at becoming a bonafide Civil War reenactor. While doing this, Horwitz meets with other reenactors, each of whom has their own reason for being there, yet the common thread seems to be echoed by a young man named Butch McClaren, who says “if I could trade places with my great-great-grandpappy, I’d do it in a second…he knew what he was living for” (133). It is this notion of nostalgia and that life was both better and simpler in the past that drives many of the reenactors to use these weekends as a chance to escape from the problems or monotony of their everyday lives and lose themselves in the past, which they see as a glorious time period where everything made sense, “a lost era that we are trying to recapture” (134).

Chapter 7 Summary: “Tennessee At the Foote of the Master”

Chapter 7 takes Horwitz to Memphis, Tennessee, where he meets with famed author and Civil War historian Shelby Foote. The chapter takes the form of a long, singular interview, in which Foote offers many insights into the Southern mentality and mindset, especially that of the Southern man, whom Foote states possesses a sort of “stubborn pride” (150), which led to a belief in “one’s people before one’s principles” (150). The meeting with Foote helps Horwitz to better understand this dilemma of how many Southerners seem to hold contradictory views in their minds simultaneously. They may be anti-slavery and not hold slaves, but still will fight for a government that supports the institution.

Foote is a complex man filled with contradictions, something he seems to be both aware of and embrace: “I abhor the idea of a perfect world…it would bore me to tears” (156). Foote speaks of his own childhood, upbringing, experience as a soldier during the Second World War, and of the project that brought him his literary fame. He also echoes the sentiment of many other Civil War enthusiasts who are drawn to the idea of the simplicity of the time:

[…] it’s the simplicity of the people that fascinates me…their minds don’t seem to have been cluttered like ours, they didn’t have all the hesitations about things being right or wrong. They knew, and they acted. (155)

In this manner, Foote’s explanation serves as an eloquent, if problematic treatise on the Southern mindset that has been offered to Horwitz previously, but perhaps in a blunter and less esoteric manner.

Chapters 6-7 Analysis

After the weighty themes discussed in Chapter 5, Horwitz resumes his lighter and more whimsical pursuit of Civil War history by returning to his battle field tours and reenactment routines. Chapter 5 is also a moment in which Horwitz begins to reflect on his own family history and the notions of loss and displacement he has as a descendent of a Russian immigrant. One central theme that runs through Chapters 6 and 7 is the notion of ownership of place and the connection of one to a specific piece of land. For many Southerners, this notion of connection to the land and place seems to define how they view themselves and forms their foundation of what it means to be Southern. To this end, the conversation with Shelby Foote does much to dive more deeply into this mindset. As Foote is a noted historian, novelist, and scholar, his conversation and words contain a gravitas that is absent in many of the other conversations of the book. When Foote speaks, even when he offers controversial statements, it comes with the air of a learned man, and therefore it forces both the reader and Horwitz to no longer see the arguments offered in terms of black and white.

Chapter 7 serves as the moment where all of the hard and fast ideas regarding one being right or wrong regarding the Civil War goes out the window. Here, the reader is forced to confront the messy, human aspects of the war that seem to have been lessened by the distance of time. Foote forces Horwitz and the reader to remember that the participants were men, and that all men are flawed in their own way but still trying to live the best that they can, given their historical circumstance. Thus, Chapter 7 sets in motion a new line of examination, a more personal and questioning mentality that will continue to inform the rest of the book and the way in which both events and people are presented. We are no longer allowed to pick a right and a wrong side; instead, we are forced to try to understand the psychology that allowed for people to hold contradictory viewpoints in their minds simultaneously and act accordingly.