Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Across Five Aprils, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Coming of Age
The Realities of War
Self-Determination
Personal Conviction
Hardship, Suffering, and Beauty
Summary
Analysis
Nearly six months go by before Nancy receives another letter from John. In the weeks of silence, she and Jethro try valiantly to understand the confusing newspaper reports of the chaotic Battle of Chickamauga Creek, where the Confederate forces deal a terrible but incomplete defeat to the Union Army in September 1863. Although three of the Union generals lost control of their troops in the confusing, mountainous terrain, John’s wing of the Union forces holds firm under the rock steady leadership of General George Thomas. And while he feels deep shame over the Union loss, he also takes pride in his and his comrades’ brave action.
Confederate forces didn’t just win the Battle of Chickamauga—they did so despite being vastly outnumbered by Union troops. This defeat deals another blow to the North’s hope for an end to the war. It also reminds readers of the costs the war exacted as it dragged late into its third year. And John’s pride as his unit was under fire reminds Jethro of a key component of maturity—courage in the face of danger. And, like all other acts of courage that soldiers demonstrate throughout the book, it contrasts directly with the cowardly actions of men like Guy Wortman who cover up their fear with hatred and harsh words for others.
Themes
After repulsing most of the Union forces, Confederate snipers pin down the remaining men and prevent food or supplies from reaching them. John describes eating the company’s horses and mules to stave off starvation, but they hang on until reinforcements arrive, including Grant’s army. At first, John and his comrades resent the arrival of these fresh men, although the success of the battle hinges on their presence. John describes how the generals assign his unit, despite the valor they showed in holding out under Confederate siege, the easiest point of attack. But when the charge came, their ferocious attack broke straight through the Confederate line.
John’s letter doesn’t fully clarify the timeline of events; after the Battle of Chickamauga—fought on September 19 and 20—defeated Union forces retreated to Chattanooga, Tennessee to take shelter in its strong defensive position. Confederate forces pinned them there and cut off their supply lines, besieging the men for weeks. The attack John describes took place on November 25 after two months of siege. His letter thus reminds readers yet again of the terrifying reality of war—and of the bravery that animates men (and adults in general) of conviction.
Themes
Jethro copies the letter and forwards the original to Shad and Jenny in Washington. He describes the battle to John’s sons, and John writes to Nancy how much it comforts him to know that the “one brother [he’s] got left” watches over his boys.
The longer his brothers are away, the more responsibilities Jethro takes on at the homestead. Becoming a kind of surrogate father-figure to his young nephews further indicates the degree to which he's grown up and matured over the course of the war.
Themes
In November 1863, the newspapers all carry the transcript of President Lincoln’s address at Gettysburg, although opinions divide over its value. When Jethro reads it to Ellen, she declares that it has the ring of scripture. It seems like the end of the war may be in sight, but this just makes Northerners angrier at the Confederate states. President Lincoln offers amnesty for former Confederate soldiers and charts a path for Confederate states to rejoin the Union. This makes him unpopular in the South and the North, where increasingly vindictive mobs call for “wholesale execution of rebels.”
Four months after the Battle of Gettysburg, President Lincoln visited the site and gave the Gettysburg Address, one of the most famous speeches in American history. In it, he renewed Northern commitment to freedom for all (including formerly enslaved people) and to the unity of a nation created under the belief that all men are created equal. While many in the North want to punish the Southern obstinacy that led to and extended the war, Lincoln’s address and offer of amnesty recognizes that the nation cannot heal so long as one side (the North) vilifies and excludes the other. Yet again, he demonstrates an idealized version of masculinity and maturity that tempers justice with ample amounts of mercy.
Themes
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Over the winter of 1863–4, the Union forces seem to stabilize with the promotion of General Ulysses S. Grant, although losses continue to mount. Shadrach slowly recovers his health, and since Jenny stays with him in Washington, his letters now come addressed to Jethro. In one, he describes seeing President Lincoln and General Grant riding through the streets of Washington. Both men have rough-hewn, unpolished looks, but hard experience has taught Shad (and Jethro) to distrust charm and polish.
While readers know that many battles remain in the Civil War (and the Creightons seem to intuitively sense this as well), the tide of the war seems to shift over this winter with the promotion of General Grant. He and Lincoln represent an un-glamorous but steady approach to the leadership (and masculinity) that brings much-needed stability to the Union war effort.
Themes
Throughout the spring of 1854, Jethro pays attention to the presidential primaries—and the violent feelings they inspire in people. President Lincoln’s merciful character makes him unpopular with some in his own Republican Party and among Democrats who want to punish the South for its obstinacy. War weariness and anger over the lost lives—which now number in the tens of thousands—gives the Democrats an advantage over the incumbent Republican administration. This increases with the disastrous battles of the Wilderness and Cold Harbor, where Generals Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee finally come face to face. Grant refuses to retreat in any of these engagements but neither side can claim a conclusive victory.
Lincoln, like Matt Creighton, represents the book’s ideal version of masculinity and leadership, both in the way he tempers justice with ample amounts of mercy and in the way that he refuses to bow to the pressure of others against the conviction of his own conscience. Yet, the primary and election cycles suggest that few people share Lincoln’s values—most Northerners want Southern blood. The book rejects this unthinking violence as cruel and inhumane, a precursor to the shallow “justice” of lynch mobs and self-righteous vigilantes.
Themes
As anger against President Lincoln rises, people begin to predict his defeat in the fall’s general election, although Ross Milton maintains that in the end, he will win because Northerners aren’t willing to admit that their men “died for nothing.” To face him, the Democrats nominate George B. McClellan, disgraced former commander of the Union forces. In a letter, Shad confides to Jethro that this raises McClellan in his opinion, since a presidential campaign demonstrates a character trait Shad thought McClellan lacked—the “courage to risk being wrong.”
As always, the feelings of the masses (as represented and inflamed by the newspapers) prove to be fickle, shifting with every perceived win or loss. Lincoln—and other mature men, like Ross Milton—hold steady, providing Jethro with ongoing examples of fortitude and conviction. Even McClellan, entering the presidential campaign, earns new respect from Shad, since his entry into politics means he can no longer depend on uncritical devotion.
Themes
In August, Union forces capture the important Confederate seaport of Mobile, Alabama; in September, they win Atlanta; and in October, they score a key victory in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. With final victory feeling so near, the North—especially its soldiers—vote for President Lincoln by a wide margin. Within weeks of his reelection, an ill-advised attack by Confederate forces on Union soldiers (including John) ends in a bloody defeat for the Southern army at Franklin.
The quick reversals of the war remind readers why it’s important to stand on one’s convictions rather than allowing one’s circumstances to influence their opinions. And yet another bloody battle reinforces the book’s unromanticized view of war.
Themes
John writes home about the Battle of Franklin. Afterward, he finds Bill among the captured Confederate forces to whom he hands out rations. His commander allows him a private talk with his “own blood brother,” and he relates all the family news, happy and sad. Bill stares silently at the ground. When John stands to leave, Bill calls him back and tells him to write to Ellen that he was at Shiloh but that he promises that he did not fire the bullet that killed Bill.
At the beginning of the book, Bill followed his conscience to join the South; the book suggests the wrongness of this choice in his broken spirit and capture. Still, neither his family nor the book explicitly criticizes his right to choose his own path, and he himself seems to accept the consequences of his actions, no matter how bitter those consequences may be.
Themes
