Friday, December 29, 2008

Author finds inspiration in Civil War era

By Erin Rossiter 

 

All the elements of a good story live in the Civil War South, Sumter County-based writer Jacquelyn Cook said.

"It was a romantic time where men and women were beautiful, and there is built in drama," she said. "You don't have to manufacture some silly argument between the characters, because you have all this real life and death drama going on. There are a million stories that can be told."

Her latest tale weaves together some of Georgia's most picturesque settings and storied characters in history, many of whom have connections to Athens.

Titled "The Gates of Trevalyan," Cook's ninth novel showcases antebellum Madison and its Civil War struggle and its aftermath as well as chronicles Cobb's Legion, which was formed by Athens' Confederate Gen. T.R.R. Cobb.

Confederate vice-president, Georgia governor and U.S. Congressman Alexander H. Stephens and his dear Elizabeth Church Craig, daughter of University of Georgia president Alonzo Church, are also featured.

Their true story, especially, appealed to Cook. She researched their biographies and letters, a surprise find that ultimately guided her storytelling.

"She was (the university president's) daughter and Stephens had gone there to school. They knew each other, their love story just kind of continued," Cook said. "When I found their letters in the Library of Congress, I thought, 'That just really wraps up the story.' It is just such a sweet and touching story."

The central characters, however, are fictional. Jenny Mobley and Charles King meet, fall in love, marry and cope with war and a Union invasion that threatens their plantation home, Trevalyan.

Cook took the name from an English river and then slightly amended it to fit her fictional mansion. She hoped "valyan" would sound to readers like valor, a defining characteristic she found in the historical men and women she wrote about.

As an example, Cook mentioned the banner of Cobb's Legion, which read, "Either with it or upon it."

"That is the Spartan mother's admonitions to their sons. You either bring this shield in honor, or you come back upon it having died in honor. And they believed that," Cook said. "I was amazed at how they (could) go out in battle like this, knowing they're just marching out to be killed."

As with her details of actual missions launched by Cobb's Legion units, Cook took great measures to fuse real history into her fiction. She provides a bibliography and an epilogue to furnish readers with insight as to what happened to the real men and women following her book's completion in time.

"I researched every little possible part of it and went to every place I mentioned that I possibly could," Cook said. "I like to see every place I write about."

Records, old diaries and oral histories also helped Cook accomplish this over a period of many years.

Though her novels are popular, with the five-book River Series having sold close to 500,000 copies, her goal with "The Gates of Trevalyan" was to dig deeper into the past.

She hopes the book preserves some of the lesser known details of life in the South before, during, and after the Civil War.

"Our history is so important to us. Our heritage is there, of course, and we learn a lot from it and we should learn from history. We should know those things," Cook said. "Time is getting away. Children are not studying this period in school anymore, because so much new has happened. I wanted to preserve these details while I could still find them."

Originally published in the Athens Banner-Herald on Monday, December 29, 2008

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