Chickamauga and Other Civil War Stories

by Shelby Foote (editor)

Shelby Foote's monumental historical trilogy, " The Civil A Narrative ," is our window into the day-by-day unfolding of our nation's defining event.  Now Foote reveals the deeper human truth behind the battles and speeches through the fiction he has chosen for this vivid, moving collection.



These ten stories of the Civil War give us the experience of joining a coachload of whores left on a siding during a battle in Virginia  . . .marching into an old man's house to tell him it's about to be burned down . . .or seeing a childhood friend shot down at Chickamauga.



The result is history that lives again in our imagination, as the creative vision of these great writers touches our emotions and makes us witness to the human tragedy of this war, fought so bravely by those in blue and gray.

Genres: Civil War, Historical Fiction, American History, Short Stories, War, Anthologies, Fiction

256 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1993

About the author

Shelby Dade Foote, Jr. was an American novelist and a noted historian of the American Civil War, writing a massive, three-volume history of the war entitled The Civil War: A Narrative. With geographic and cultural roots in the Mississippi Delta, Foote's life and writing paralleled the radical shift from the agrarian planter system of the Old South to the Civil Rights era of the New South. Foote was relatively unknown to the general public for most of his career until his appearance in Ken Burns's PBS documentary The Civil War in 1990, where he introduced a generation of Americans to a war that he believed was "central to all our lives."

Reviews

[Allen Kearns, Jr. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very different slants on the same war. A good deal of it shows the effect the Civil War had on the southern civilian population. The Mark Twain piece rounds out the collection nicely with a bit of humor. The rest are quite dark. I thoroughly enjoyed the collection of stories by an all-star list of authors.

[Clinton · Rating 2 out of 5]

The best of this collection of short stories is the one by Mark Twain. That is in the public domain and widely available on the internet.The remaining stories are OK, but I would not buy the book to read them. One may find it worthy of a library checkout.

[Marcus McCollom · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was okay, stories were very hit or miss. The story was either great or absolutely dull or uninteresting. Out of the ten stories only three or four were profound enough to be considered enjoyable by me. Mark Twains and Shelby Footes stories kept this from a one star. Not bad for someone younger or if it’s a library checkout.

[Stephen Mc · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not the best but some interesting short stories and extracts from various authors all relating to the civil war.One for the anoraks really.

[Stuart Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some grand stories, some clunkers.

[RANGER · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable mixed-bag anthology of Civil War short fiction
One of America's most famous Civil War historians, novelist Shelby Foote, put together this anthology of short Civil War fiction which also includes one of his own stories. In his introduction to this collection, he does complain about the dearth of Civil War short-fiction and the difficulties in finding just the right stories to bring to life the war for modern readers. If that is true, he did a fine job with this collection. As he also notes in his intro, he has managed to divide this collection evenly between Northerners and Southerners, quite a feat, actually. And the opposing perspective visions are fascinating. Probably most post-modern American readers won't appreciate this collection. 21st Century Americans are woefully ignorant of the events leading up to the war and the tremendous grace and reconciliation of the combatants in the decades following it. But the US would have failed as a nation had that grace and reconciliation not been brought to bear on the belligerents who went on to forge the world's greatest economic, military, and democratic power the world has ever seen.
But getting back to this book, Chickamauga and Other Civil War Stories, like most anthologies, is a mixed bag. The historian in Foote put Jefferson Davis' inaugural address at the beginning and Abraham Lincoln's second inaugural address at the end. Very clever, especially as their brevity makes for an interesting perspective of the war from both sides. The rest of the pieces are fiction. Some selections are not easy on the 21st Century ear, especially as they adopt the difficult regional dialects of some characters and a descriptive prose that was denser in the early 20th century than most fiction writers use today. My favorite (and the most modern of them all) is Ambrose Pierce's "Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" a speculative story about the execution of a Confederate saboteur that has appeared in many such anthologies. I also enjoyed Shelby Foote's own contribution, "Pillar of Fire" which is probably the most "historical fiction" of all the stories... as would be expected of this author.
This was a quick read for me. I highly recommend it to those with an interest in American history, the Civil War and historical fiction. I only gave this four stars because, like most anthologies, there are always one or two stories included that some readers will absolutely hate. But I liked all of it.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
Enjoy!

[Ken Oder · Rating 3 out of 5]

Despite an array of classical authors, this collection of Civil War stories pulled together by Shelby Foote is a disappointment. By far the best story is Foote's own contribution. Ambrose Pierce's Owl Creek Bridge is artful and thought provoking. Neither qualifies as a masterpiece, but at least they're good. The pieces by Crane and Fitzgerald deserve honorable mention, as well, but Wolfe's Chicamauga is a boring tale presented in clunky prose. Faulkner's Grandmother is incomprehensible; Welty's Burning is nearly so (although I could at least glean the gist of it); and Twain's Private History isn't funny. None of the other selections warrant attention. In the Introduction, Foote explains that he scoured the literary landscape in search of good short fiction about the Civil War and was surprised by the paucity of selection. I'm sure he did his best, but the landscape must have been exceedingly barren.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

You have to wonder when a collection of civil war stories begins with Jefferson Davis's inaugural speech justifying secession, but I didn't notice that until after I'd read the title story by Thomas Wolfe, my whole purpose for checking out this book. Wolfe's story is a first-person rendering of what it's like to be in a battle, and the way it is presented left me breathless. The narrator is matter-of-fact to a point, but periodically, he pauses and his ensuing reflections nearly halt the narrative. When he re-groups, he repeats ideas until he gets rolling again. Then I read a Fitzgerald story and decided I'd had enough. Even though "Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" is also included, I just couldn't bring myself to re-read it. Well-written war fiction is a tremendous anti-war act.

[Rosa Cline · Rating 3 out of 5]

This isn't a book that Shelby Foote wrote (like I originally thought) It's a collection of small stories from various authors all related to the Civil War. I found some of them not interesting at all and after reading half into them had to skip them but others I found really interesting and loved them and now know I like that author and will try and read more from that author. If you enjoy stories from the past then you would enjoy this book

[Alexander Wilson · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of civil war stories. The quality of the stories increases towards the end of the book with Shelby Footes own account of the burning of a house, Mark Twain's account of his time in the Confederacy and Lincoln's second inaugural address. That is five star stuff, but the material in front of it is lesser.

[Tim Armstrong · Rating 1 out of 5]

Very disappointed in this. Most of the stories in this collection are actively bad and the few stories that were passable aren't enough to redeem this collection. There is much better Civil War fiction out there so if you are looking for some good Civil War fiction, look elsewhere.

[Kevin Hostettler · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good collection of stories. Good, not great. I expected more.

[Scott]

E-Book

[Mark Luongo · Rating 2 out of 5]

Had some difficulty in getting through some of the stories, especially Faulkner. Possibly the colloquial language being somewhat hard to follow. Foote's "Pillar of Fire' was the best.

[Michael Cawley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent collection of American Civil War short fiction stories

[Mike Glaser · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection primarily of fiction stories about the civil war along with a couple of speeches used as bookends for the stories. Interesting choices by the editor and well worth your time.

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

The stories were a mixed bag for me. ★★★★★ for Mr. Foote and Mr. Twain, but the other eight stories range from ★ to ★★. We own it because my husband and I both adore Mr. Foote and will buy anything with his name on it, but you won't miss much if you skip this collection.

[Martha]

I've out this one off so many times. Now's the time. :-)

[Sue · Rating 5 out of 5]

Shelby Foote gathered stories from a selection of authors whose fiction accounts of the Civil War, he felt, best represented that time period. Authors include Mark Twain, William Faulkner, Eudora Welty, Ambrose Bierce, himself, Stephen Crane, and Stephen Vincent Benet. My favorite was verse written by Benet titled Fish-Hook Gettysburg. The author's powerful words paint incredible pictures i.e.
"his guns begin to peck at the pillared porches", "in a field, far off, a peaceable farmer puts his hands to his ears, still hearing that one sharp shot, that he will hear and hear til he dies".

[Jay · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an interesting book with a bunch of short stories written by noted authors such as Shelby Foote and Mark Twain. It gave me a little insight to some of the things that happened not usually discussed in most Civil War books.

[Dick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Shelby Foote is an acknowledged expert on the war and an outstanding writer.

[Toni]

If you read short stories by Ambrose Bierce you need to find joy in perverse and unexpected twists and turns. I could only take so many or just small amounts in short time bursts.

[Sean · Rating 3 out of 5]

No standouts, though the Fitzgerald, Welty, Twain, and Faulkner stories were all of note.

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Burning, by Eudora Welty, and Pillar of Fire, by Shelby Foote, are by far the strongest stories in this collection, and they both are superb, especially Pillar of Fire.