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.

Showing posts with label George Stoneman. Show all posts

Wednesday, November 4, 2015

7 April 1865, Richmond falls

Richmond, Virginia
April 1865

"Richmond has fallen—and I have no heart to write about it. Grant broke through our lines. Sherman cut through them. Stoneman is this side of Danville.

They are too many for us.

Everything lost in Richmond, even our archives.

Blue-black is our horizon."

Sunday, September 20, 2015

August 1862 - September 1863

"I destroyed all my notes and journal—from the time I arrived in Flat Rock [North Carolina]—during a raid upon Richmond in 1863.* Afterward—I tried to fill up the gap from memory."

*While the battle of Chancellorsville, Virginia, was fought to the north, detachments of U.S. Maj. Gen. George Stoneman's cavalry rode within several miles of Richmond on May 3-4, 1863, in an effort to cut communication lines.