The Bookshelf: New Sources and New Liberties in Volume II of Civil War Graphic Novel

Freeman Colby was a young schoolteacher from New Hampshire who joined the Union Army during the American Civil War. For the first nine months, Colby kept detailed notes of his service and wrote to his family members. Marek Bennett of Henniker drew on these rich resources for his graphic novel, The Civil War Diary of Freeman Colby. In that volume, Bennett stuck close to Colby's exact language. Recently, he's published Volume II, in which he takes some liberties and draws on new sources for inspiration. NHPR's Peter Biello sat down with Marek Bennett to talk about Volume II. The transcript has been lightly edited for clarity. So what drew you back to Freeman in his story? I think the incompleteness of it. He wrote this diary and then I spent a couple of years drawing it out. And then I realized it was only the first nine months of his service and that he served for the final three years of the Civil War. And I was curious about what happened. But I kind of figured, "Well, he didn't write