The magistrates worried not only about keeping the slaves in submission but also keeping them at work.
The narrator says these words to illuminate the situation that the county faced in the Civil War. This was because the slaves who worked in the plantations in the South ran off and joined the Yankee army when the army came loot the area. The plantations therefore were shorthanded because the slaves had ran off and formed allegiance with the Yankees. The magistrates who kept law and order therefore had a lot of work in their hands in managing the slaves since they were leaving the place.
This crisis of spirit became especially acute in the last four months of 1864
These words were said since the people had began to fear losing the Civil War. These people included Cornelia MC Donald who had held high hopes of winning beforehand. More states such as Atlanta had fallen into the hands of the rebels and the people were now worried about their fates.
It is a poor man’s fight and a rich man’s war.
The narrator echoed the thoughts of the people as they realized that the wealthy planters of the south were not being conscripted into the war since they claimed that they would be managing their slaves. This was unfair, for the other citizens were forced to join the army yet the wealthy ones were not.
Rock bridge citizens spotted flocks of wild geese flying northward. This has always been regarded as the infallible sign of the breaking up of winter
The journalist said these words because they held the hope that the breaking up of winter would mean the breaking up of the Civil War. They hoped for the end of the war for it had brought them to their knees such that they lacked basic necessities such as food because of the looting of their property by the armies.
He did not know what lay along that path, however; and so he kept his pistol at hand
The narrator says this in regards to the life path that John Robertson had picked. John had come back home after leaving the army and had been looking for a divine revelation which he got. Robertson joined the ministry and became a preacher and he still held onto his pistol because the times were not certain because of the Civil War.
