Category: Diaries and Letters

Civil War Diarists of Fredericksburg, Virginia Fredericksburg, Virginia was occupied on three separate occasions by Union forces. These ‘invasions’ had an impact on the townspeople. The diaries of Fredericksburg residents allow us to experience their anxiety and fear toward enemy armies, as well as the loss of loved ones and the damage or destruction of homes and personal property. Lizzie Alsop in 1862 Elizabeth Maxwell Alsop Elizabeth (Lizzie) Maxwell Alsop began writing her Civil War diary in 1862. She was the sixteen-year-old daughter of Sarah and Joseph Alsop, who lived at what is today 1201 Princess Anne Street in Fredericksburg, Virginia. Her father was one of the richest members of the Fredericksburg community; a large part of his wealth consisted…

Union and Confederate Women Who Kept Diaries The small town of Winchester in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia changed hands between the Confederate Army and Union Army numerous times during the Civil War. The town’s strategic location included a network of seven major roads that radiated out toward other towns and cities; two of the roads were macadamized. This road system made the town a major trade center in the Valley. Image: Mary Greenhow Lee, Winchester’s most prolific diarist and dedicated Confederate sympathizer Another geographic feature would magnify in importance during the war: Winchester was surrounded on all sides by low hills that hid the approach of enemy armies. Occupying forces found it almost impossible to mount a defense, so…

Witness to the Burning of Columbia, South Carolina Emma Leconte was only seventeen years old when she recorded in her diary the systematic burning of Columbia, SC during General Sherman’s Carolinas Campaign. During the war Emma remained in the city with her mother, while her father Joseph LeConte, a former professor at South Carolina College, worked as a chemist in the Confederate States Nitre and Mining Bureau attempting to make gunpowder for the Confederate army. After completing his famous March to the Sea by capturing Savannah, Georgia in December 1864, Union General William Tecumseh Sherman began planning his invasion of South Carolina. Emma LeConte began writing a diary on December 31, and her first entry leaves no doubt about her…

A Union Soldier’s Letter to His Wife Image: Sullivan and Sarah Ballou Sarah Ballou’s husband, Sullivan, left his family, law practice and a promising political career to enlist in the Union Army. On July 14, 1861, Sullivan Ballou wrote a poignant letter to his wife, expressing his love for her and his patriotism toward his country. A week later he fought in the first battle of the Civil War at Bull Run. Sarah would not see this letter for many months. Sarah Hart Shumway was born on February 26, 1837 in Worcester, Massachusetts to Christopher Columbus and Catharine Fowler Shumway. Sullivan Ballou was born March 28, 1829 in Smithfield, Rhode Island to Hiram and Emeline Bowen Ballou. He lost both…

Women Lived in Caves During the Siege of Vicksburg During the siege of Vicksburg, Mississippi in the summer of 1863, many residents of the city cut caves into the hillsides and lived in them. In these dark quarters, they lived in constant fear of the 220-pound mortar shells fired by the Union fleet on the Mississippi River. In 1864 Mary Loughborough published her experiences in My Cave Life in Vicksburg, and the account she wrote is the most vivid picture we have of cave life in the besieged city. Image: The Shirley House in Vicksburg, 1863 During the siege this house was located directly in front of the Confederate fortifications and would have been burned by the Rebels if not…

Civil War Civilian and Diarist The journal Caroline Richards started when she was 10, parallels a young girl growing up as the nation did too. Although raised by a Puritan grandmother, she was blessed with both humor and the intelligence to think for herself. When Richards heard Susan B. Anthony speak, she signed a pledge to help bring about equal rights for women. And during the Civil War, she sent a letter of support to General McClellan when he was criticized. Image: Caroline Cowles Richards in 1860 Caroline Cowles Richards was born in a small town in upstate New York in 1842 and was raised by her grandparents. Her grandmother, a very religious woman, held true to her Puritan family…

Author of the Most Famous Civil War Diary Early Years Mary Boykin Miller was born on March 31, 1823, on her grandparents’ plantation near Stateburg, South Carolina, in the High Hills of Santee. Her grandfather, Burwell Boykin, served as an officer in the Revolutionary War under Francis Marion and established one of the largest upcountry plantations in the state. Her father, Stephen Decatur Miller, served in the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate, and as governor of South Carolina. Image: Mary Boykin Chesnut by Samuel Osgood, 1856 Mary grew up in the family’s modest country house in Stateburg called Plane Hill and attended school in Camden, South Carolina. When she was twelve years old, the family moved to…

Lucy Buck from Front Royal, Virginia kept a diary of the events she witnessed from December 1861 to April 1865. Her diary entries describe daily life at her home with an extended family that included parents, a grandmother, aunts, cousins, younger siblings and visitors. Image: Bel Air, the home of Lucy Buck As taken from a sketch made in 1860 From her diary, Sad Earth, Sweet Heaven Early Years Lucy Rebecca Buck was born on September 25, 1842, in Warren County, Virginia, the third of thirteen children. She learned the social graces at two local schools. Lucy was 18 years old when the Civil War began, and she lived with her family in Front Royal, Virginia, throughout the war. Built…