Dr. Mr. Hodge:

Thank you for your reply.

Your first response was to the point, I confess. I have relied on the depictions of Margaret Mitchell through the years, because her vast collection of letters suggested that she was meticulous in her narrative of the War -- as a newsreporter would presumably be. But I also confess that I was assuming that the makers of "Cold Mountain" were being meticulous about the historical aspects of the movie -- and that the author of the book COLD MOUNTAIN had been as well. As the daughter of a man extremely well-versed in the history of the War, and as a descendant of at least three ancestors who fought in the War, I should have known better. (My ancestors fought on the Northern side, which would have been natural inasmuch as most of my family had settled in the 1700s in the Western mountains of Virginia --that part of Virginia that seceded from Virginia in 1863. It is interesting that the Union fought against States seceding from the Union but favored part of a State "seceding" from the whole State -- railroads, perhaps?)

I do appreciate the information you gave me. I will follow your advice and start studying. I retain my faith in much of what Margaret Mitchell wrote, but will allow that she saw events from a very particular aspect. As for "Cold Mountain" -- with Nicole Kidman playing the part of a young well bred Charlestonian coming to the backwoods of North Carolina in 1861, smart boots, bleached hair, and all -- I will put it to rest!

Christiana Reed -- whose family settled many years ago in Western Virginia, in the Free State of Preston