Book Nook: The Roads of War

The American Civil War continues to fascinate people. It is blamed for much of the tensions that America faces today. In many ways, it is seemed as being unresolved. There are still divisions over it today in how we regard it, the reason it was fought, and what it meant to us as a nation. I had a chance to interview John B. Cameron, author of the critically acclaimed book, The Roads of War.

What are some of the ways the Civil War affects our culture even today?
The south remains the poorest and most backward part of the United States. Except for its aristocracy and a few exceptional cities and people, it was so in 1860. The utter destruction of the region exacerbated the backwardness. The Civil War ended slavery but left the majority of black Americans in peonage and little better off than before. Their descendants have made remarkable advances in education and wealth, but a very large percentage is still held down by residual poverty and near peonage.

Why are people often fascinated with this war?
The Civil war was the great American tragedy resulting from the failure of the founding fathers to end the evil of slavery in 1789. As a result of that failure, three quarters of a million men died, and an entire region of the US was destroyed and pushed into abject poverty. I am especially interested in understanding how thousands of poor southern men were convinced to fight a war that could only have benefited the rich. Never forget the tragedy was compounded by the fact that despite ending slavery little was done to enable the formerly enslaved to lead good, productive lives. In the end the same rich men who brought on the war were left in control. Many people today are fascinated with the Civil War because so many of the southern generals seem dashing, romantic figures wearing fancy uniforms.

Why is it important for people to learn more about the Civil War?
There are many important things we should understand about the Civil War. First, good people can be involved in bad, even evil, things. There is no doubt about the absolute evil of slavery. However, should we completely condemn men and women who thought they were behaving in a proper way.

Second, that a man may have treated his slaves humanely does not negate that slavery was evil. It speaks well for the man but does not, as some southerners have urged, mitigate slavery.

Third, it was a war in which many poor southern men were convinced to fight and die for a cause that could not benefit them in the slightest. Why and how?

Fourth, there was strong resistance to secession and conscription into the Confederate army in many parts of the south. A sizeable minority of white southerners was bitterly opposed to the Confederacy; many others were lukewarm and pushed into the army at the point of a bayonet. Mostly the south has been portrayed as all in favor of the war. It was not.

What led you to write fiction centered in the Civil War?
I read several groups of fascinating letters written by soldiers and their wives and friends. I am a historian so I first wrote a standard history of a North Carolina regiment (TARHEELS IN GRAY, McFarland Press). As I reflected on the people involved I decided that it might be even better to write a novel. This could deal with emotions, fears and hopes in ways that a standard history cannot.

Tell me about the writing of of the Roads of War?
My writing process is always the same. I begin with a notion of the theme of a chapter, take pen (yes real fountain pen) in hand and turn my imagination loose. At some point chapters get shifted about and linked together.

What was the most challenging aspect?
The most challenging was to balance sympathy with characters and their plights with the fact that they were on the wrong side of history. Some of them held enslaved persons and they fought in a war to perpetuate slavery.

How did you develop the characters?
Many of the characters came out of people who wrote or who were mentioned in the letters which inspired me to write on the Civil War. That gave a starting point and I developed them from that. Other characters were created because they were needed to flesh out a scene or to make sure particular points of view were represented.

Are there things now you wish that you had included?
Yes. I should have had more to say about the resistance to the Confederacy in NC and the peace movement which tried to take the state out of the war.

What is next for you?
TouchPoint Press will release my novel on Sally Hemings and Thomas Jefferson, THE PRICE OF FREEDOM, late in 2022. I am now writing the fourth novel in a series about a crime solver in 1780s Marseille