Download From Mary Chestnut`s Civil War

From
Mary Chestnut’s Civil
War
By Mary Boykin Miller
Chestnut
About Mary Chestnut
Born in 1823
Daughter of US Senator from South
Carolina Stephen Miller and Mary
Boykin
Well educated
Grew up in Charleston, South
Carolina
Married James Chestnut, Jr. in April
of 1840
Husband elected to the US Senate
Chestnut became very close friends
of Varina and Jefferson Davis as well
as many congressional members who
later became key members of the
Confederate government
James Chestnut became a General
and Aide-de-Camp to P.T.
Beauregard.
Historical Significance
Doubts about slavery, fears for the future
of the south and intelligent insights made
her diary an important chronicle of the war.
Close friendships with the Confederate
Government leaders (Means and
Manning), gave her rare insight to the
political workings of a war
About the story
Diaries written between February of
1861 and July of 1865
Written in First Person point of view
Since this is a Diary she wrote
informally because she did not expect
her entries to get published
Diaries were left to Isabella D. Martin
a close friend
The diaries were first published in
1905 in a heavily edited edition
known as A Diary from Dixie
In 1949 an annotated edition of A
diary from Dixie was published
Mary Chestnut’s Civil War was
published in its current form in 1981
Chestnut was present at many significant
sites of the civil war including:
– Montgomery
– Richmond
– Charleston
Mary Chestnut’s Civil War won the
Pulitzer Prize in 1982.
Selections from the book are featured in
Ken Burns’ Documentary, The Civil War
Point of View
Saw the inside workings of
government politics
Had a close up view of the
confederate government
Was effectively an outside observer in
the middle of everything
Difference in point of views?
Wouldn’t have known what was going on if
she was a lower class confederate
Less accurate account of events
If she was a northerner she might not have
even known who was in charge of making
the decisions
Literary Style
Journal
Written informally with personal
thoughts
Generally journals are not meant to
be published