Kincaid's Battery

The story opens on a sweltering afternoon in the Louisiana Delta of 1861, where the Mississippi swells to a towering, restless wall of water. Amid the willow‑laden marshes and budding cypresses, the modest town of Carrollton—now a quiet suburb of New Orleans—offers a lush oasis of rose gardens, orange groves, and a sun‑lit courtyard at a genteel hotel. The vivid landscape, with its fragrant oaks and moss‑draped pecans, sets a lush, almost hypnotic backdrop for the drama about to unfold.

Inside the hotel, retired army officer Brodnax sits alone, his mind drifting far beyond the newspaper before him. He is a man of means and lingering memories, haunted by thoughts of several women—Flora Valcour, her French grandmother, and the step‑daughters Constance and Anna of his late friend’s widow. Their presence, coupled with the oppressive heat and the distant hum of the river, creates a tension that hints at secrets and desires waiting to surface in this richly painted world.