Ashley Wilkes Timeline & Summary

Ashley falls in love with Scarlett O'Hara.
He feels he will not be happy with Scarlett, so marries his cousin Melanie Hamilton shortly before the Civil War.
Ashley fights in the war. He gets leave and goes to Atlanta where Melanie and Scarlett (now the widow of Melanie's brother) are living together.
Melanie becomes pregnant.
Ashley returns to the war and is captured; he is put in a prison camp.
The war ends; Ashley is released and comes to Tara, where Melanie and his new son are staying with Scarlett.
Ashley tries to work on the farm, but he's not very good at it.
He still loves Scarlett, and sort of tells her.
She heads off to Atlanta to try to get money to pay the taxes on Tara, then she marries and goes into business as a mill owner.
Eventually Ashley and Melanie decide to go north for Ashley to get work.
Scarlett instead insists he help her by taking over the management of one of her mills.
He's not really any good at that either.
One day, Scarlett and Ashley are caught in a friendly embrace—people believe they were committing adultery, but Melanie does not.
Ashley stays away from Scarlett as much as possible after that.
Melanie becomes pregnant again, but she dies in childbirth.
Ashley realizes he always really loved Melanie and not Scarlett.
Scarlett realizes Ashley stinks.
Scarlett promises Melanie on her deathbed that she'll take care of Ashley. Which is good; he needs taking care of. (Though Scarlett doesn't want to marry him.)