Mary Boykin Chesnut

Mary Boykin Chesnut is one of the most important voices of the American Civil War with her unique perspective from inside Confederate halls of power. Her husband James Chesnut, Jr, served in the South Carolina legislature, and in 1858 was elected to the U.S. Senate. He resigned from office after Lincoln's 1860 win, then returned south to help draft the ordinance of secession and attend the First Confederate Congress. He was a close aide to Jefferson Davis for much of the war as history unfolded.

Monday, August 24, 2015

24 July 1861, Richmond

"Here Mr Chesnut opened my door—and walked in. Of the fullness of the heart the mouth speaketh. I had to ask no questions. He gave me an account of the battle as he saw it.... Told what regiments he was sent to bring up.

Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson
(1824-1863)

He took orders to Colonel Jackson—whose regiment stood so stock-still under fire they were called a stone wall.* Also, they called Beauregard 'Engine' and Johnston 'Marlboro' (s'en va—en guerre.) Mr C rode with Lay's cavalry after the retreating enemy, in the pursuit, they following them until midnight. There then came such a rain—rain such as only known in semitropical lands."

*For this stand, Thomas Jonathan Jackson, a former West Pointer and instructor at Virginia Military Institute, received a promotion to brigadier general as well as his enduring nickname: "Stonewall."