Comments on: Yanks behaving like human beings with a few exceptions.

Yanks behaving like human beings with a few exceptions.

marxchivist — Mon, 28 Feb 2005 20:52:25 -0800

The diary of a 16 year old girl in Yankee-occupied Gallatin, Tennessee. Images of the actual diary and a text version with annotations.

By: marxchivist

marxchivist — Mon, 28 Feb 2005 20:54:21 -0800

Courtesy of the folks at Duke University's Rare Book, Manuscript and Special Collections Library. They have more cool online exhibits.

By: ChrisTN

ChrisTN — Mon, 28 Feb 2005 21:12:00 -0800

Holy crap, I used to live there! (Between you and me, I think that some of Gallatin's residents are still a bit miffed about Yankee occupation.) Great find, Marxchivist, thanks!

By: 3.2.3

3.2.3 — Mon, 28 Feb 2005 21:13:59 -0800

Oh wow. My buddy Paolo worked on this.

By: Hildago

Hildago — Mon, 28 Feb 2005 22:01:31 -0800

"Stop horning in on my schtick, Williamson." -- Mary Chestnut

By: antron

antron — Mon, 28 Feb 2005 23:00:42 -0800

It's much better if you have that theme from the Civil War (Ken Burns documentary) playing wistfully in the background.

By: Cranberry

Cranberry — Mon, 28 Feb 2005 23:40:09 -0800

Payne's abuse of power sounds familiar.

By: Mayor Curley

Mayor Curley — Tue, 01 Mar 2005 03:40:20 -0800

From page 2: "I suppose Payne's task is to furnish the contraband camp, i.e. the camp of his angels (colored)." So she pretty much conforms to every stereotype about confederates except that she's literate.

By: stupidsexyFlanders

stupidsexyFlanders — Tue, 01 Mar 2005 04:36:37 -0800

I'm surprised they dug into census records to learn more about the diarist, but never close the loop on her two brothers off fighting for the Rebs. Did they survive? I wish I knew. Curley: War's over. Let it go. d--n yank

By: socratic

socratic — Tue, 01 Mar 2005 05:22:00 -0800

If you're interested in this sort of thing, there's also the diary of Emma LeConte, who was a 16-year-old girl in Columbia, SC when Sherman burned the city. (and she's my great great great aunt...)

By: matteo

matteo — Tue, 01 Mar 2005 05:32:27 -0800

awesome, thanks

By: IshmaelGraves

IshmaelGraves — Tue, 01 Mar 2005 06:34:13 -0800

Lovely. Letters to and from B. Frank Hall during his time as a Confederate soldier, and his later recollections of the war and Reconstruction in Wilmington, North Carolina. [self-links, transcriptions only]

By: bardic

bardic — Tue, 01 Mar 2005 08:09:05 -0800

By: grapefruitmoon

grapefruitmoon — Tue, 01 Mar 2005 08:54:39 -0800

Lots of commentary on the weather... what is it with human nature and talking about the weather? March 12th Weather moderate; so is old Payne, but as weather is changeable our general is too.

By: Hildago

Hildago — Tue, 01 Mar 2005 09:16:32 -0800

Lots of commentary on the weather... what is it with human nature and talking about the weather? All over the world, strangers talk only about the weather. All over the world, it's the same, it's the same. In this case it looked like she was sometimes using the weather as a metaphor for Gen. Payne's mood, too. She didn't do it all the time, and she didn't make it subtle enough that you'd think it was a code. Not sure what she was doing.

By: eatitlive

eatitlive — Tue, 01 Mar 2005 09:48:19 -0800

I would guess that there are so many notes on the weather in part because that is the one thing she can talk about regularly from her own direct observation. Most of her entries have to be rumors -- how else would a schoolgirl know so much of the daily comings-and-goings of a general's family? And the entries from April 6th-9th sound like ore for folk song ( "Mount that horse and say no more . . ." and "have fine fun chasing the boy with fresh horses"). Thanks for the link. It's something like a livejournal dispatch from the Dixie triangle.

By: Pdubby

Pdubby — Tue, 01 Mar 2005 10:08:43 -0800

Nice link, Marx. One would think you do this sort of thing for a living...

By: marxchivist

marxchivist — Tue, 01 Mar 2005 10:41:21 -0800

Lots of commentary on the weather... what is it with human nature and talking about the weather? What eatitlive said, also I think if you live somewhere with only dirt roads, you probably do the majority of your work outside, and have to walk or ride a horse anywhere you go, the weather becomes a lot more important. Nice link, Marx. One would think you do this sort of thing for a living... Thanks, I get to play with stuff like this at a place down the road from Duke, but I don't get to make nice web pages like they do.

By: Pdubby

Pdubby — Tue, 01 Mar 2005 13:55:54 -0800

Re the weather: And with no forecasting, direct observation also becomes that much more important. And, Marx, we both know the place where you work is a real hole...

By: alumshubby

alumshubby — Tue, 01 Mar 2005 14:18:05 -0800

when Sherman burned the city Actually, the truth of what happened to Columbia is a little more complex than just "Sherman burned the city." As Marion B. Lucas notes, it was a attributable to a combination of burning cotton, whiskey, and wind.

By: Target Practice

Target Practice — Tue, 01 Mar 2005 15:07:38 -0800

I guess they didn't teach proper English conventions in Gallatin's schools. That thing is painful to read.

By: marxchivist

marxchivist — Tue, 01 Mar 2005 15:14:57 -0800

I guess they didn't teach proper English conventions in Gallatin's schools. Yeah, people sure were stupid in the 19th century, weren't they?