Mary Boykin Chesnut
Mary Boykin Chesnut
Mary Boykin Chesnut, was a South Carolina author noted for a book published as her Civil War diary, a "vivid picture of a society in the throes of its life-and-death struggle." She described the war from within her upper-class circles of Southern planter society, but encompassed all classes in her book. She was married to a lawyer who served as a United States senator and Confederate officer. Unlike her husband, Mary secretly held anti-slavery views. Chesnut worked toward a final...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionAuthor
Date of Birth31 March 1823
CountryUnited States of America
I think this journal will be disadvantageous for me, for I spend my time now like a spider spinning my own entrails.
We are scattered, stunned; the remnant of heart left alive is filled with brotherly hate... Whose fault? Everybody blamed somebody else. Only the dead heroes left stiff and stark on the battlefield escape.
Darkest of all Decembers ever has my life known, Sitting here by the embers, stunned, helpless, alone.
To think there are men who dare so defile a church, a sacred sanctuary dedicated to God. We have to hold up our skirts and walk tiptoe, so covered is the floor, the aisle and pews, with the dark shower of tobacco juice.
Peace, comfort, quiet, happiness, I have found away from home. Only your own family, those nearest and dearest, can hurt you.
Richmond has fallen - and I have no heart to write about it... They are too many for us. Everythign lost in Richmond, even our archives. Blue-black is our horizon.
Forgiveness is indifference. Forgiveness is impossible while love lasts.
I am always on the women's side.
The weight that hangs upon our eyelids - is of lead.