SPOILER ALERT – If you haven’t read the book, “Go Tell the Bees I am Gone” by Diana Gabaldon, and intend to, stop here. But do come back after…
…Set in 1779-1780 in the backcountry of the Carolinas, this novel helped “make it real”, by fleshing out and making more human people during the time of the American Revolution. These characters indeed reflect my actual ancestry and family history.
I have visited many of the settings portrayed in the book, in 2021 prior to reading the book itself. One such excursion was to a place in South Carolina known as Musgrove’s Mill. There was one particular memorial along the trail that drew me in, I remember a strong feeling of connection, and I lingered at the spot.
Flash forward to February 2022, and I am nearing the end of the book, and reading a fictional letter from a NC Militia Commander to Col Jaime Fraser, detailing the action at Musgrove Mill. My heart skipped a beat:
“Captain Shadrach Inman of Clarke’s Georgia Militia was killed in the first Attack, but succeeded in discompsing the Defenders, who then found themselves in some Dissarray and were thus overcome and scattered…”
The memorial that had captivated me?
