when the Southerners attacked. Colburne literally took command while Gazaway huddled in a protected spot with Lillie. After the Confederate troops had been repulsed, Dr. Ravenel attended the wounded. Lillie had been impressed by Colburne's courage.

Reporting to Carter, Colburne found him celebrating a victory with whiskey and women. The young man felt sorry for Lillie. A few days later, Carter established his wife in a local cottage, and Dr. Ravenel returned to head the hospital in New Orleans. Colburne spent much time with the Carters. Carter, however, was gradually sinking under his debts. A summons to Washington took Colonel Carter away from his wife after he had borrowed two hundred dollars from Colburne. Another passenger on the ship with Carter was Mrs. Larue. Although he berated himself for his infidelity, Carter carried on an affair with Lillie's aunt.

Carter did try, unsuccessfully, to obtain a promotion for Colburne. In Washington, he bowed to custom and beguiled senators and officials until he was promised promotion to the rank of a brigadier general. He called on Mrs. Larue in New York. They traveled together to New Orleans on the return trip. Carter borrowed one hundred dollars from the widow.

After his return, Carter sank more deeply into debt. He and Mrs. Larue met frequently in a private room behind his office. When Lillie's baby was born, however, he promised himself to have nothing more to do with Mrs. Larue.

To alleviate his indebtedness, Carter began to speculate with government funds. Shortly afterward, he received his appointment as brigadier general and was recalled to active duty. At that time, Dr. Ravenel found and read a letter written to him by Mrs. Larue. Heartsick, the doctor tried to hide the news from Lillie. Unfortunately, she came upon the same letter and, accustomed to reading her father's mail, read it.

When Lillie became seriously ill, her father took her and the baby on a sea voyage, his intention being to take Lillie north after her recovery. The letter he wrote to his son-in-law, informing him of that decision, was delivered on the eve of a battle in which Carter was mortally wounded. Colburne grieved for the fallen officer and for the bereaved wife.

Gradually, Lillie readjusted herself and devoted her time to her child. When Colburne, worn out and sick, returned to New Boston near the end of the war, Dr. Ravenel undertook to cure him. During his convalescence, Colburne renewed his friendship with Lillie, who more and more began to display her old charm. Still in love with her, he was too hesitant to speak up boldly. When he finally asked her to marry him, Lillie realized that she truly loved him, better than she had loved any other.

Critical Evaluation:

In the development of modern realistic American fiction, few nineteenth century novels are more significant than MISS RAVENEL'S CONVERSION FROM SECESSION TO LOYALTY. In this brilliant Civil War novel, William De Forest explores issues and problems—war, political corruption, marriage, sex—with a realism and candor that would hardly be seen again in American literature before the turn of the century.

Most immediately impressive is De Forest's presentation of the war. Writing in simple, direct, but restrained language, selecting his scenes and details carefully, he conveys the futility, horror, violence, and weariness of battle with a vividness rarely equalled in American literature at least until after World War II. Avoiding descriptions of mass combat, De Forest concentrates on those lulls in battle when the terrible effects of combat can be seen in the actions of a few sharply described individuals, such as soldiers pretending normalcy in the midst of sudden death, or medics performing assembly-line amputations.

The novel is perhaps even more impressive as a study of individuals caught up in the sweep of historical events. As the title suggests, the book centers on the "conversion" or education of Miss Lillie Ravenel. Her father, Dr. Ravenel, a Southern gentleman and self-converted "loyalist," supplies the moral idealism requisite to her growth. Yet it is her involvement with two lovers, Colonel John Carter and Edward Colburne, that completes the education.

The charming, sophisticated Colonel Carter is one of the most virile and forceful characters in American fiction. Although spectacular in battle, he cannot adjust to peace. He is a man of simple courage and combat morality who is able to deal neither with the emotional difficulties of marriage nor the complexities of modern society. He loves Lillie, but his casual sexual morality cannot withstand the seductions of Mrs. Larue; he commands men adroitly in combat but cannot manage money under pressure. It is appropriate that he dies in battle, and in doing so, attains a bit of tragic stature.

On the other hand, De Forest's Colburne, probably an idealized self portrait, is a citizen-soldier. He does not have the automatic animal courage of the natural soldier, but the found courage of an ordinary citizen fighting for a cause in which he believes. His trial by experience purges him of his youthful naivete and priggishness and makes him worthy to be Lillie's second husband. Lillie, in her turn, by virtue of having endured the war, the love, infidelity, and death of a husband, and the birth of a son, is converted from a frivolous, shallow, "secessionist" girl to De Forest's ideal—a mature, "loyalist," Christian mother.