A Year in the South

A Year in the South is 1865 novel written by Stephen V. Ash about four Southerners faced an uncertain future. The story primarily concerns these four Southerners of Louis Hughes known as a Deep South Slave; Cornelia McDonald is Virginia Confederate army wife and mother of seven children; John Robertson as an East Tennessee former Confederate soldier, and Samuel Agnew is a Mississippi preacher and son of prominent planter. The book divided chapters into "winter", "spring", "summer", and "fall and winter again." Ash leaves to reader to be remembered about these four Southerners as "they stepped across the threshold between old world and new." (Ash, 6). The story explores the theme of their social behavior and conditions and how each member of community interacted with each other.

During this time, slaves were treated as comedy because they forced to work in very harsh conditions. In the meanwhile, slaves also have taken good care of their meals, and their happiness. Ash stated "The slaves were well cared for and well protected." (Ash, 23). Louis Hughes and his wife's incredible wedding ceremony is an example of slaving. He operated his business of the end of war in 1865 to made sizable income by selling tobacco plugs within slave community. In summer of 1865, Hughes' owner trapped him and his wife, Matilda, in bondage when end of war. He finally returned to United States and settle in Milwaukee