Mary Chesnut
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Mary Chesnut (1823-1886) lived in Charleston, South Carolina, and is famous for keeping an extremely detailed diary describing the American Civil War. She was born in Stateboro, South Carolina, to Mary Boykin and Stephen Decatur Miller, who had been a senator and governor of South Carolina.
On April 23, 1840, she married James Chesnut, Jr. who was elected to the senate in 1850.
Her diary, called A Diary from Dixie, begins on February 15, 1861, and ends on August 2, 1865. It was originally published in 1905, and a larger edition was published in 1949.
Readings from her diary play an important role in the documentary television series, The Civil War by Ken Burns.
External links
- Electronic copy of Mary Chesnut's diary from UNC: Chapel Hill (http://docsouth.unc.edu/chesnut/menu.html)