The Sheriff's Children

“To Branson County, as to most rural communities in the South, the war is the one historical event that overshadows all others. It is the era from which all local chronicles are dated—births, deaths, marriages, storms, freshets. No description of the life of any Southern community would be perfect that failed to emphasize the all pervading influence of the great conflict.”

This quote illustrates the importance of the war, providing context with which to understand Branson County. In this, Charles W. Chesnutt juxtaposes the county, in its refusal to properly acknowledge the war, with the reality of an established new era, bringing new modes of thought, law, and action. The narrator is self-referential, drawing the reader’s attention to the importance of the war, contrasting the way the town obstinately holds onto ways of life established before the war.

“The war, it is true, had robbed the county of the flower of its young manhood; but the burden of taxation, the doubt and uncertainty of the conflict, and the sting of ultimate defeat, had been borne by the people with an apathy that robbed misfortune of half its sharpness.”

This quote acknowledges the effects of the war on the citizens but characterizes them as so insensible that they barely feel these privations. This passage prefigures the later characterization of the mob and pre-empts much of the sympathy that the reader might feel for the underprivileged citizens of Branson County. Chesnutt does not allow their deprivation to be an apology for their violence and racism.

“I s’pose the n***** ‘lowed the Cap’n had some greenbacks,’ observed a third observer. ‘The Cap’n,’ said another, with an air of superior information, ‘has left two bairls of Confederate money, which ‘spected ‘ud be good some day er nuther.’ This statement gave rise to a discussion of the speculative value of Confederate money; but in a little while the conversation returned to the murder.”

This quote raises the question of economics within the narrative and time period, illustrating the uncertainty of the townspeople’s fate. In this sense, it also reflects the county’s questions around their worth in light of their wartime defeat and compromised social status.