A seemingly endless army of ruthless invaders led by a legendary conqueror encircles an enemy stronghold filled with women and children. The city’s defenders have either run away or been slaughtered, leaving its doomed residents to the mercy of the foreign soldiers. No, it’s not the latest fantasy epic, it’s John Jakes’ new Civil War novel Savannah: Or, a Gift for Mr. Lincoln.
Jakes, a prolific historical novelist who has been called “America’s history teacher,” now takes readers back to 1864, when General William Tecumseh Sherman is leading his army of 60,000 strong on a historic campaign to the Atlantic Ocean. Fresh from the burning of Atlanta, Sherman’s next target is Savannah, Georgia’s greatest port and one of the leading cities of the Confederacy. With the holidays quickly approaching, the capture of Savannah is to be Sherman’s glorious Christmas present to President Lincoln. With the Confederate forces in full retreat, the fate of Savannah is left in the hands of some unlikely heroes, including widow Sara Lester and her 12-year-old daughter Hattie. Reluctantly leaving their home, an old rice plantation, for the safety of the city, both Sara and Hattie experience firsthand the incomparable sorrow and unexpected joys of their plight.
Savannah is comparable in many ways to Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. Both novels masterfully reflect the horrific social injustices of their respective eras and feature truly vile characters who are completely apathetic to the suffering around them. Savannah has its fair share of Ebenezer Scrooges, including greedy Judge Cincinnatus Drewgood, who plots to steal the Lesters’ invaluable plantation, and Yankee soldier Marcus O. Marcus, who considers war-ravaged Georgia his own personal sociopathic playground. And while Jakes’ newest is set in the bloodiest war in American history, Savannah is, like Dickens’ classic, a heartwarming story about hope and compassion conquering all. The Christmas carol is an apt symbol throughout, bringing people black and white, Union and Confederate, rich and poor together in a time of absolute anarchy to find the one thing that truly matters: love. Paul Goat Allen is a freelance editor and writer in Syracuse, New York.
