Born in Chatham in 1886, Father Benedict Joseph Murdoch joined the Canadian Army in 1916. His exposure to combat made him subject to what was then called "shell shock." To exorcise his mind of the war's legacy, Murdoch wrote The Red Vineyard in 1922. Throughout the 1920s Murdoch continued to struggle. From 1932 onward, he found peace as a recluse deep in the New Brunswick woods. He died in 1973.