Gone With The Wind

By mid-November, the family is eating a meager dinner when they hear horses and soldiers approaching. Realizing that the Yankees are in the area, Scarlett quickly orders everyone to conceal the horse, the cows, and the pigs in the swamp. The group scatters to hide their supplies while Scarlett puts the dead Yankee’s wallet in little Beau’s diaper.

When the soldiers arrive, they ransack the house, confiscating all the jewelry that Scarlett has left. After they depart, Scarlett belatedly realizes that someone has started a fire in the kitchen. She goes to battle the blaze, fearing the entire building will burn. Melanie arrives in time to help her put out the flames, knocking Scarlett out in the process because the back of her dress has caught fire. When she revives, Scarlett once again admires her timid sister-in-law’s courage in a crisis.

When winter comes, everyone in the county is struggling to obtain food. The few plantations that were still standing when Scarlett returned have all been burned and plundered by the Yankees. During this time, Scarlett is plagued by a recurring dream in which she is running through a mist, trying to get to safety, but it always remains out of reach. She doesn’t know the meaning of the dream, but it becomes more frequent as time passes:

Suddenly she was running, running through the mist like a mad thing, crying and screaming, throwing out her arms to clutch only empty air and wet mist. Where was the haven? It eluded her but it was there, hidden, somewhere. If she could only reach it! (609).

During the Christmas season, a neighbor named Frank Kennedy arrives with troops from the commissary looking for provisions. Scarlett welcomes the soldiers inside for dinner but hides most of the remaining food. As they share a meal, the family receives the news about the burning of Atlanta and the capture of Savannah. Frank assures them that the Yankees have moved on and won’t be back, but nobody has heard any word about Ashley yet. Frank was once Suellen’s suitor but was always too shy to propose. After dinner, he asks for Suellen’s hand, and Scarlett agrees. She figures this will leave her one less mouth to feed.

By April 1865, news of the South’s surrender arrives. Scarlett is relieved:

Now she would never have to stand on the lawn and see smoke billowing from the beloved house and hear the roar of flames as the roof fell in. Yes, the Cause was dead but war had always seemed foolish to her and peace was better (628).

The neighbors are gradually getting back on their feet, and Scarlett’s group is busy planting crops. Suellen is pining for her fiancé, who hasn’t written to her since Christmas. There is now time to spend visiting with the local planters, but they are all grieving the loss of family members in the war. After witnessing their misfortune, Scarlett says, “I won’t let Tara go. And I don’t intend to waste my money on tombstones or my time crying about the war. We can make out somehow” (636-37).

During the summer of 1865, Tara sees an influx of Confederate soldiers walking home. Everyone tries to help feed them, wash their clothing, and cure their ailments, but Scarlett is tired of running a charity hospital when she still needs to provide for her own people. In June, the family is surprised to see Uncle Peter arrive on horseback. He is Aunt Pitty’s faithful retainer, and he scolds Scarlett and Melanie for leaving their aunt alone. She has returned to Atlanta because her house is intact. Melanie promises to come later in the year when the crop has been harvested. Then, Uncle Peter produces a letter from Ashley in which he says that he will be returning on foot. Both Scarlett and Melanie are elated:

Occasionally, Scarlett wondered bitterly why Melanie could not have died in childbirth in Atlanta. That would have made things perfect. Then she could have married Ashley after a decent interval and made little Beau a good stepmother too (651).

As the summer wears on, the people at Tara continue to help the Confederate stragglers who pass through. One is a man named Will Benteen, who is unconscious and suffering from pneumonia when another soldier dumps him at the plantation. Will isn’t a gentleman. He comes from the social class of small farmers known as “Crackers.” He has a wooden leg, but as he recovers, Scarlett finds him to be a useful addition to the clan: “She told him about her problems of weeding and hoeing and planting, of fattening the hogs and breeding the cow, and he gave good advice for he had owned a small farm in South Georgia” (656). Will is also smitten with Carreen, who thinks of him as a brother.

Although Will doesn’t say much, he manages to observe everything. One day, a soldier arrives on foot at Tara. Ashley has returned. Melanie flies into his arms, and Scarlett is about to do the same when Will holds her back: “‘After all, he’s HER husband, ain’t he?’ Will asked calmly and, looking down at him in a confusion of joy and impotent fury, Scarlett saw in the quiet depths of his eyes understanding and pity” (662).