Gone With The Wind: Chapter 14

Chapter 14 Summary: Summer of 1863, Atlanta is riding high on the victories at Fredericksburg and Chancellorville and they expect another one at Gettysburg on the Yankee's home turf in Pennsylvania.  Letters home from Darcy Meade reveal that General Lee forbade looting and destruction of Yankee lands, which is more than the Union Army did for the Confederacy and has left the Confederate army without basic essentials.  Darcy begs for a new pair of boots and gives a few more details of the march north.  Then on July 3rd, Atlanta is left without any news whatsoever.  The citizens are in a panic to hear about their loved ones and the Wilkes/Hamilton family is no different.  Scarlett, Melanie, and Aunt PittyPat wait outside the Daily Examiner office for the printed lists of the Gettysburg dead.  Rhett Butler is able to provide a little more information and a list hot off the presses.  Even though Ashley is safe, Scarlett finds the names of all three Tarleton boys as well aws Raif Calvert, Joe Fontaine, and Lafe Munroe - all boys that she grew up with in the county.  It's then that Mrs. Meade discover's her son, Darcy's name on the list and has to make a quick exit.  Melanie and Scarlett head over to the Meade's residence to sit with the family and Melanie reveals that she's jealous of Scarlett's son, Wade.  She imagines what it would be like to lose Ashley in the war without some sort of child left to comfort her and tells Scarlett that she sometimes pretends little Wade is her own child.  Scarlett chides her for her tears and then sends her out to tend to the remaining Meade son, Phil.

KatieBug's Response: Remember that child that Scarlett and Charles had? No? Me either.  I had quite forgotten him, just as Scarlett seems to, until Melanie brings him up in conversation.   I can understand why the script writer's decided to leave him out of the movie entirely.  That being said, this reads pretty closely to the movie and we see Scarlett realize the true consequences of war.  She's lost friends, boys she grew up with, and she doesn't agree with any of it.