The Black Flower: A Novel of the Civil War (ISBN 187785350X)

Amazon.com Review:
Howard Bahr compresses this moving Civil War novel into 48 hours--two short days filled with grim deaths and the prelude, at least, to a love story. First issued by a small Baltimore press in 1997,The Black Flower was nominated for four major awards, including one from the Academy of Arts and Letters, but failed to garner the attention paid to Cold Mountain. Civil War buffs will rejoice in Bahr's vivid retelling of the November 1864 Battle of Franklin, Tennessee. More to the point, The Black Flower transcends its historical fiction niche and deserves a wider audience. Confederate rifleman Bushrod Carter, the novel's protagonist, is wounded during the battle and taken to a nearby house. In this makeshift hospital, he and two childhood friends huddle together, "shivering with cold and exhaustion, ignoring the ghostly shapes still shuffling through the coiling smoke around them, calling the names of men who would never answer." Bahr has poured 20 years of research into his novel, but this haunting portrayal of suffering and death is the product not merely of historical diligence but also an impressive literary imagination. --Eugenia Trinkle

Darkly Beautiful:
"The Black Flower" is one of the most depressingly heartbreaking Civil War novels I have ever read - and one of the best. Mr. Bahr's use of mystical imagery and his chilling unflinching descriptions of the battlefield in the aftermath of the battle of Franklin haunted me like a bad dream. This is no romantic glorification of war yet there is a dark romanticism to be found amidst the chaos and humor-tinged irony of some of his vignettes. I particularly loved the burial scene at Kennesaw Mountain and his depiction of the three grim reaper-like drummers clad in black frock coats beating mournful time as the Southern line advanced to meet their almost certain death at Franklin. Another incredibly powerful scene which I found very touching occurred on the McGavock family's estate the day following the battle. It concerned a tintype of the three soldier companions (Bushrod - the central character - and his two childhood friends) discovered by the little McGavock boy Winder as he secretly examined the contents of Bushrod's haversack which he was carrying. The boy had wandered away from the house and was found by his family after dark where he had fallen asleep amidst a nightmarish landscape of horror. As he is carried back to the house, the tintype fell from his pocket into the shadows lost in the darkness presumably for eternity. The characters are quite unforgettable - even the minor ones. They represent a full spectrum of good and evil, insanity and innocence. I loved how Mr. Bahr wove Bushrod Carter's Episcopal faith into the story from beginning to end like an artist adding subtle brush strokes to a portrait to round out his subject. This book requires courage to read for it takes you to a very dark place; however it is well worth your time and I know I shall read it again. I highly recommend it.

SUPERB!:
I tend to agree with several other reviewers: this rates as one of the best books I have read. Howard Bahr's BLACK FLOWER is visually poetic and hauntingly sad. It forces one to ponder the insanity of war and this fleeting thing we call life. Read it slowly and deliberately. read it aloud. And read it again.

Franklin's Savage Battle:
Unless you are from Tennessee or a Civil Buff you may not have heard of the battle in Franklin,Tennessee. Here fierce hand-to-hand combat occurred and there were 5,500 Confederate casualties and 1,300 Union casualties. One of the bloodiest battles of the war was over in a few hours. Bahr takes you to Franklin and describes the savage fighting and the horrors of death of that battle. A must read! By Ruth Thompson author of "Natchez Above The River" and "The Bluegrass Dream"

talk about gruesome....:
I have read many Civil War books and I know it must have been a horrible nightmare. But ...over and over........in minute detail, "The Black Flower" takes us through the battle and the aftermath for page after page....chapter after chapter.....Two of the characters are lost about midway through the book. The main character, Bushrod, makes it to the very end, struggling every step of the way. My thought is that the book could have been about half as "wordy" and made a good story.

civil war:
I enjoyed this novel very much, and yes they cuss alot, but wouldnt you in war.