A Southern Girl's Diary

The Spirit of Christmas Past...

The War-Time Journal of
A Young Georgia Girl

BY

ELIZA FRANCES ANDREWS
1864-1865

"In the fall of 1864, while Sherman's army was lying around Atlanta like a pent-up
torrent ready to burst forth at any moment, my father was afraid to let us get out of
his sight, and we all stood waiting in our defenseless homes till we could see what
course the destroying flood would take. Happily for us it passed by without engulfing
the little town of Washington, where our home was situated, and after it had swept
over the capital of the State, reaching Milledgeville November 23d, rolled on toward toward Savannah, where the sound of merry Christmas bells was hushed by the roar of its angry waters."
Eliza Frances Andrews was born in Washington, Georgia in 1840. The daughter of
a prominent judgeand accustomed to all the niceties of life, she was caught up in the
Civil War as an enthusiastic supporter of her home under Southern skies. She kept a
simple diary of what was going on around and in her life. And she was very verbal
about her feelings of the war and the treatment of the Southern people both during
the war and through the "reconstruction." The diary was written in a time of storm
and tempest, of bitter hatreds and fierce animosities, and its pages are saturated
with the spirit of the time. Attesting to the fact that the Old South was not the
monstrosity that some would have us believe, but merely a case of belated survival.
I have read this diary from start to finish, and was totally captivated. This was a
true daughter of the South, and so very proud of her heritage.
I have tried to pick a few of the entries from her diary which began as Sherman
was making his march across Georgia. This can in no way even begin to document
the events which happened in this young girl's life in such a brief but everlasting
time in 1864-65. The last entry was made August 29, 1865.
She and her sister were making a trip to her older sister's home in Albany for
safety reasons. Only to get there and learn that the sleepy little town they had
left,Washington, Georgia had become the very center or mecca of the war as the
Confederacy was crumbling. There are "shades of Scarlett" in this lady's life!

By the middle of December, communication, though subject to many difficulties and
discomforts, was so well established that my father concluded it would be practicable
for us to make the journey to our sisters. We were eager to go, and would be safer,
he thought, when once across the line, than at home.
Sherman had industriously spread the impression that his next move would be on either
Charleston or Augusta, and in the latter event, our home would be in the line of danger.
So then, after careful consultation with my oldest brother, Fred, we set out under
the protection of a reliable man whom my brother detailed to take care of us.
It may seem strange to modern readers that two young women should have been
sent off on such a journey with no companion of their own sex, but the exigencies
of the times did away with many conventions.
Then, too, the exquisite courtesy and deference of the Southern men of that
day toward women made the chaperon ofsecondary importance among us.
It was the "male protector" who was indispensable.
I have known matrons of forty wait for weeks on the movements of some male
acquaintance rather than take the railroad journey of fifty miles from our village
to Augusta, alone; and when I was sent off to boarding school, I remember, the
great desideratum was to findsome man who would pilot me safely through the awful difficulties of a railroad journey of 200 miles. Women, young or old were
intrusted to the care of any man known to their family as a gentleman, with a confidence as beautiful as the loyalty that inspired it."
"About three miles from Sparta we struck the "Burnt Country," as it is well named by the natives, and then I could better understand the wrath and desperation of these poor people. I almost felt as if I should like to hang a Yankee myself."
There was hardly a fence left standing all the way from Sparta to Gordon. The fields were
trampled down and the road was lined with carcasses of horses, hogs, and cattle that the
invaders, unable either to consume or to carry away with them, had been wantonly shot down
to starve out the people and prevent them from making their crops. The stench in some places
was unbearable; every few hundred yards we had to hold our noses or stop them with the
cologne Mrs. Elzey had given us. The dwellings that were standing all showed signs of pillage,
and on every plantation we saw the charred remains of the gin-house and packing-screw, while
here and there, lone chimney-stacks, "Sherman's Sentinels," told of homes laid in ashes.
The infamous wretches! I couldn't wonder now that these poor people should want to put a rope
round the neck of every "devil of them" they could lay their hands on. Hay ricks and fodder
stacks were demolished, corn cribs were empty, and every bale of cotton that could be found
was burnt by the savages. I saw no grain of any sort, except for the little patches spilled on the
ground when feeding their horses. There was not even a chicken left to eat it.
" Crowds of soldiers were tramping over the road in both directions; They were mostly
on foot, and I saw numbers seated on the roadside greedily eating raw turnips, meat skins,
parched corn -anything they could find, even picking up the loose grains that Sherman's
horses had left."
Jan.1, 1865
Wednesday. - I am just getting well of measles, and a rough time I had of it.
Measles is no such small affair after all, especially when aggravated by
perpetual alarms of Yankee raiders. For the last week we have lived in a state of
incessant fear. All sorts of rumors come up the road and down it, and we never
know what to believe. I used to feel very brave about Yankees, but since I have passed over Sherman's track and seen what devastation they make, I am so afraid of them that I believe I should drop down dead if one of the wretches should come into my presence.
Gen.Sherman told Mr. Cuyler that he did not intend to leave so much as a blade of grass in South-West Georgia. They say his soldiers have sworn that they will spare neither man, woman norchild in all South-West Georgia. It is only a question of time, I suppose, when all this will be done.
"It begins to look as if the Yankees can do whatever they please and go wherever they wish - except to heaven.
I do fervently pray the good Lord will give us rest from them there."
Feb. 12, Sunday. - Spring is already breaking in this heavenly climate, and the
weather has been lovely to-day. Theyellow jessamine buds begin to show their golden tips,
forget-me-nots are peeping from under the wire grass, and the cherry tree by the dairy is
full of green leaves. Spring is so beautiful; I don't wonder the spring poet breaks loose then.
Our "piney woods" don't enjoy a very poetical reputation, but at this season they are the
most beautiful place in the world to me.

Feb. 13, Monday. - Letters from home.
Mary Day had typhoid fever in Augusta. She is too weak to make the journey from Mayfield
to Macon, and all non-combatants have been ordered to leave Augusta, so mother invited
her to Haywood. Oh, that dear old home! I know it is sweeter than ever now, with all those
delightful people gathered there. One good thing the war has done among many evils; it has
brought us into contact with so many pleasant people we should never have known otherwise.
"I know it must be charming to have all those nice army officers around, and I do
want to go back.   They write us that little Washington has gotten to be the great
thoroughfare of the Confederacy now, since Sherman has cut the South Carolina R.R."
Feb. 16, Thursday. - We started for Albany for Mrs. Welsh's party, soon after
breakfast, but were a good deal delayed on the way by having to wait for a train of forty
government wagons to pass. We found Mrs. Julia Butler at Mrs. Sims's, straight from
Washington, with letters for us, and plenty of news. I feel anxious to get back now, since
Washington is going to be such a center of interest. If the Yanks take Augusta, it will become
the headquarters of the department.
Mrs. Butler says a train of 300 wagons runs between there and Abbeville, and they are surveying a railroad route. Several regiments are stationed there and the town is alive with army officers and government officials. How strange all this seems for dear, quiet little Washington! It must be delightful, with all those nice army officers.
"I am going back home as soon as I can decently change my mind about coming here.
I have been at the rear all during the war, and now I have a chance to go to the front."
Feb. 26, Sunday. -Jimmy Callaway and his father have just come from Washington with such
glowing accounts of the excitement and gaiety there that I am distracted to go back home.
"If father don't write for us to come soon, I think we will go to Chunnenuggee
by way of Eufaula and the Chattahoochee, and if Thomas's raiders catch us over in
Alabama, father will wish he had let us come home."
April 2, Sunday. - I went to church at Mt. Enon. After service we stopped to tell everybody
good-by, and I could hardly help crying, for there is no telling what may happen before we come back; the Yankees may have put an end to our glorious old plantation life forever. I went to quarters after dinner and told the negroes good-by. Poor things, I may never see any of them again. and even if I do, everything will be different. We all went to bed crying, sister, the children, and servants.
"Farewells are serious things in these times, when one never knows where
or under what circumstances friends will meet again."
April 3, Monday. Albany, Ga. - All of us very miserable at the thought of parting.
The news this evening is that Montgomery has gone, and the new capital of the Confederacy
will be either Macon, or Athens, Georgia.
"The war is closing in upon us from all sides. I am afraid there are rougher times
ahead than we have ever known yet."

April 17, Monday. Macon. Ga. - Up early, to be ready for the train at seven. When the train
arrived from Eufaula it was already crowded with refugees, besides 300 volunteers from the
exempts goingto help fight the Yankees at Columbus.   The excitement was intense all along the
route. At every little station crowds were gathered to hear the news The excitement increased
as we approached Fort Valley, and many of the passengers predicted that we should be captured
there.
"At the next station below Fort Valley, our fears regarding the fate of Columbus were
confirmed by a soldier on the platform, who shouted out as the train slowed down,
"Columbus gone up the spout!" Nobody was surprised, and all were eager to hear
particulars. I was glad to learn that our poor little handful of Confederates had made
a brave fight before surrendering."
April 18, Tuesday. - At last, to the great relief of us all, the train steamed out of Macon and
traveled along in peace till it reached Goggins's Station, four miles from Barnesville, where it
was stopped by some country people who said that the down train from Atlanta had been captured
and the Yankees were just five miles beyond Barnesville waiting for us.
"I confess to being pretty badly scared at this possibility, but the women on board
seemed to have worked off their excitement by this time, and we all kept quiet and
behaved ourselves very creditably."
April 19, Wednesday. Milledgeville. - They began to evacuate the city [Macon] at dusk
yesterday, and all through the night we could hear the tramp of men and horses, mingled
with the rattle ofartillery and baggage wagons. Mr. Toombs was very averse to spending
the night in Macon, and we were all anxious to push ahead to the end of our journey, but
it was impossible to get a conveyance of any sort.
"The Yankees were expected every minute, and as this was our very last chance to
escape, there was a great rush to get on board the train."
There were enough people and baggage still at the dépot to load a dozen trains, and the people
scrambled for places next the track.
When the Central train backed up, there was such a rush to get aboard that I thought we would
have the life squeezed out of us.
"I saw one man knock a woman down and run right over her.
I hope the Yankees will catch him."
April 20, Thursday. Sparta, Ga. - I went to bed about eleven last night, but never slept
a wink for bedbugs and cockroaches, to say nothing of the diabolical noises in the streets.
Our wagon was ready to leave on the long final stretch to Mayfield at 8 o'clock. At noon
we dined on a dirty biscuit apiece that we had brought from Milledgeville, for we could buy
nothing to eat along the road.
About one o'clock we reached Barnett, where I used to feel as much at home as in Washington
itself, but there was such a crowd, such a rush, such a hurrying to and fro at the quiet little
dépot, that I could recognize it.
"When we drew up at the dépot, amid all the bustle and confusion of an important
military post. I could hardly believe that this was the same quiet little village we had
left sleeping in the winter sunshine five months ago."
Long trains of government wagons were filing through the streets and we ran against squads
of soldiers at every turn.
April 24, Monday. - The shattered remains of Lee's army are beginning to arrive. There is an endless
stream passing between the transportation office and the dépot, and trains are going and coming at all hours. The soldiers bring all sorts of rumors and keep us stirred up in a state of never-ending excitement. Our avenue leads from the principal street on which they pass, and great numbers stop to rest in the grove. Emily is kept busy cooking rations for them and, pinched as we are ourselves for supplies it is impossible to refuse anything to the men that have been fighting for us. Even when they don't ask for anything the poor fellows look so tired and hungry that we feel tempted to give them everything we have.
. Nearly everybody that passes our street gate stops and looks up the avenue and I know they can't help thinking what a beautiful place it is. The Cherokee rose hedge is white with blooms. It is glorious. The officers often ask for a night's lodging, but our house is always so full of friends who have a nearer claim, that a great many have to be refused. It hurts my conscience ever to turn off a Confederate soldier on any account, but we are so overwhelmed with company - friends and people bringing letters of introduction - that the house, big as it is, will hardly hold us all.
The square is so crowded with soldiers and government wagons that it is not easy to make your way through it. It is especially difficult around the government offices, where the poor, ragged, starved,& dirty remnants of Lee's heroic army are gathered day and night.
Little Washington is now, perhaps, the most important military post in our poor, doomed Confederacy. - what there is left of them. Soon all this will give place to Yankee barracks, and our dear old Confederate gray will be seen no more.

"When we arrived in the afternoon, I found Burton Harrison, President Jefferson Davis's
private secretary, among our guests He is traveling with Mrs. Davis, who is being
entertained at Dr. Ficklen's. Nobody knows where President Davis is."
All sorts of ridiculous rumors are afloat concerning him; one, that he passed through town
yesterday hid in a box.
Mr. Harrison probably knows more about his whereabouts than anybody else, but of course we
ask no questions.
"Mrs. Davis herself says that she has no idea where he is, which is the only wise thing
for her to say.
The poor woman is in a deplorable condition - no home, no money, and her husband a
fugitive. She says she sold her plate in Richmond, and in the stampede from that place,
the money, all but fifty dollars, was left behind. I am very sorry for her, and wish I could
do something to help her, but we are all reduced to poverty, and the most we can do is for
those of us who have homes to open our doors to the rest."

May 1, Monday. - Men were coming in all day, with busy faces, to see Mr. Harrison, and one
of them brought news of Johnston's surrender, but Mr. Harrison didn't tell anybody about it
except father, and the rest of us were left in ignorance till afternoon when Fred came back
with the news from Augusta.
While we were at dinner, a brother of Mrs. Davis came in and called for Mr. Harrison, and
after a hurried interview with him, Mr. Harrison came back into the dining-room and said it
had been decided that Mrs. Davis would leave town to-morrow. Delicacy forbade our asking
any questions, but I suppose they were alarmed by some of the numerous reports that are
always flying about the approach of the Yankees.
"Mother called on Mrs. Davis this afternoon, and she really believes they are on
their way here and may arrive at any moment. She seemed delighted with her
reception here, and, to the honor of our town, it can be truly said that she has
received more attention than would have been shown her even in the palmiest days
of her prosperity."
May 2, Tuesday. - Mr. Harrison left this morning, with a God-speed from all the family and
prayers for the safety of the honored fugitives committed to his charge.
There is so much company and so much to do that even the servants hardly have time to eat.
I never lived in such excitement and confusion in my life. Thousands of people pass through
Washington every day, and our house is like a free hotel; father welcomes everybody as long
as there is a square foot of vacant space under his roof.
Meeting all these pleasant people isthe one compensation of this dismal time, and I don't
know how I shall exist when they have all gone their ways.
The sad part of it is that the most of them I will probably never meet again, and if I should,
where, and how? What will they be? What will I be? These are portentous questions in such
a time as this.

It seems as if all the people I ever heard of, or never heard of, either, for that matter, are
passing through Washington. Some of our friends pass on without stopping to see us because
they say they are too ragged and dirty to show themselves. Poor fellows! if they only knew
how honorable rags and dirt are now, in our eyes, when endured in the service of their country,
they would not be ashamed of them.
The town is full of celebrities, and many poor fugitives, whose necks are in danger, meet here
to concert plans for escape. and I put it in my prayers every night that they may be successful.
Yankee troopers, are closing in upon us; our own disbanded armies, ragged, starving, leaders, making their way to their far-off homes as best they can.
While the structure of our social fabric was aristocratic, it was extremely democratic. Life was
simple, patriarchal, unostentatious. Our chief extravagance was the exercise of unlimited hospitality.
Anybody that was respectable was welcome to come as often as they liked and stay as long as they
pleased, and I remember very few occasions during my father's life when there were no guests in the house.
"The props that held society up are broken. Everything is in a state of disorganization and tumult. We have no currency, no law save the primitive code that might makes right. We are in a transition state from war to subjugation, and it is far worse than was the transition from peace to war. The suspense and anxiety in which we live are terrible."

Jefferson Davis, President of The Confederacy Arrives

About noon the town was thrown into the wildest excitement by the arrival of President Davis.
He is traveling with a large escort of cavalry, a very imprudent thing for a men in his position
to do, especially now that Johnston has surrendered, and the fact that they are all going in the
same direction to their homes is the only thing that keeps them together. He rode into town ahead
of his escort, and as he was passing by the bank, where the Elzey's board, the general and
several other gentlemen were sitting on the front porch, and the instant they recognized him they
took off their hats and received him every mark of respect due the president of a brave people.
When he reined in his horse, all the staffwho were present advanced to hold the reins and assist
him to dismount, while Dr. and Mrs. Robertson hastened to offer the hospitality of their home.
About forty of his immediate personal friends and attendants were with him, and they were all
half-starved, having tasted nothing for twenty-four hours.
Capt. Irwin came running home in great haste to ask mother to send them something to eat, as it
was reported the Yankees were approaching the town from two opposite directions closing in
upon the President, and it was necessary to hurry him off at once. There was not so much as a
crust of bread in our house, everything available having been given to soldiers. There was some
bread in the kitchen that had just been baked for a party of soldiers, but they were willing to
wait, and I begged some milk from Aunt Sallie, and by adding to these our own dinner as soon
as Emily could finish cooking it, we contrived to get together a very respectable lunch. We had
just sent it off when the president's escort came in, followed by couriers who brought the
comforting assurance that it was a false alarm about the enemy being so near. By this time the
president's arrival had become generally known, and people began flocking to see him; but he
went to bed almost as soon as he got into the house, and Mrs. Elzey would not let him be waked.
One of his friends, Col. Thorburne, came to our house and went right to bed and slept fourteen
hours on a stretch. The party are all worn out and half-dead for sleep. They travel mostly at
night, and have been in the saddle for three nights in succession.
"Mrs. Elzey says that Mr. Davis does not seem to have been aware of the real danger
of his situation until he came to Washington, where some of his friends gave him a
serious talk, and advised him to travel with more secrecy and dispatch than he has
been using."
May 4, Thursday. - I am in such a state of excitement that I can do nothing but
spend my time, like the Athenians of old, in either hearing or telling some new thing.
I sat under the cedar trees by the street gate nearly all the morning, with Metta
and Cousin Liza, watching the stream of human life flow by.
Father and Cora went to call on the President Crowds of people flocked to see him,
and nearly all were melted to tears. Gen. Elzey pretended to have dust in his eyes
and Mrs. Elzey blubbered outright. She told us, after the crowd left
there was a private meeting in his room, where Reagan and Mallory and other high
officials were present, and again early in the morning there were other
confabulations before they all scattered and went their ways.
"The people of the village sent so many good things for the President to eat, that an ogre couldn't have devoured them all, and he left many little delicacies, besides giving away a number of his personal effects, to people who had been kind to him. He requested that one package be sent to mother, which, if it ever comes, must be kept as an heirloom in the family, for this I believe is the end of The Confederacy."
May 5, Friday. - It has come at last - what we have been dreading and expecting so long
- what has caused so many panics and false alarms - but it is no false alarm
this time; the Yankees are actually in Washington. Before we were
out of bed a courier came in with news that Kirke - name of ill omen - was
only seven miles from town, plundering anddevastating the country. Father hid
the silver and what little coin he had in the house, but no other precautions were
taken.
They have cried "wolf" so often that we didn't pay much attention to it, and
besides, what could we do, anyway?
After dinner we all went to our rooms as usual, and I sat down to write.
Presently some one knocked at my door and said:
"The Yankees have come, and are camped in Will Pope's grove." I paid no
attention and went on quietly with my writing.
I have so little time for writing lately, I make a mess of the pages. I can hardly
ever write fifteen minutes at a time without interruption. Sometimes I have to
break off in the middle of a sentence and do not return to it for hours and so
I am apt to have everything in a jumble.
"And the worst of it is, we are living in such a state of hurry and excitement
that half the time I don't know whether I am telling the truth or not. It seems
that the more I have to say, the less time I have to say it."

The streets of our town are deserted; . The silence of death reigns where a few hours ago all was stir and bustle - and it is the death of our liberty.
After the excitement of the last few days, the stillness was painful, oppressive. News of the odious arrival seems to have spread like a secret pestilence through the country, for the refugees and the soldiers avoid the tainted spot. I suppose, for I have seen none on the streets to-day, and none have called at our house.
"Since Lincoln's assassination the feeling against Southerners has grown so bitter. The generality of the people at the North were disposed to receive the Confederate officers kindly, but since the assassination the whole country is embittered against us - very unjustly, too, for they have no right to lay upon innocent people the crazydeed of a madman."
    June 7, Wednesday The great armies have about all passed through, and now are coming the sick from the hospitals and prisons, poor fellows straggling home. They often stop to rest
in the cool shade of our grove, and the sight of their gray coats is so refreshing to my eyes.
. - I started out soon after breakfast and got rid of several duty visits to old ladies and invalids. There is certainly something in the air. The town is fuller of bluecoats than I have seen it in a long time. I crossed the street to avoid meeting a squad of them, as I didn't wish to do anything that would attract their notice,
"I bulged right through the midst of the next crowd I met, keeping my veil down and my parasol raised, and it wouldn't have broken my heart if the point had punched some of their eyes out."

Aug. 22, Tuesday. I don't think I shall mind working at all when I get used
to it. Mrs. Bryan's party was charming, though I was too tired to enjoy the
dancing as much as usual. Mrs. Bryan gave us a splendid little supper - the
second one we have had this summer, besides the few given at our house.
Most of our entertainments are starvation parties. We are too poor to have
suppers often, but when we do get one we enjoy it famously.
Aug. 23, Wednesday. - Up very early, sweeping and cleaning the house. I worked very hard in the morning because I had a great deal to do. I got through by ten o'clock and was preparing for a nap when Cousin Liza came in with some of our country kin, and immediately after, Mrs. Jordan, with her sister, two children and three servants, came to spend the night. I counted twenty at the table. After I fed and hurried the Southern soldiers who passed this day
I was never so tired in my whole life. Every bone in my body felt like it was going to drop out.
But we had not long to indulge our feelings, for we had promised Minnie Evans to go to a dance she was giving for Ella Daniel, and we always stand by Minnie, though we would both a great deal rather have stayed at home.
"I was so tired that I made Jim Bryan tell the boys not to ask me to dance. Mett and Kate Robertson were in the same plight, so we hid off in a corner and called ourselves "the broom-stick brigade."
Aug. 24, Thursday. - I had to be up early and clean the house and prepare food, though half-dead with fatigue. There were calls on the invalids to be made.
" Afterwards we went into town and while we were crossing the square I received a piece of politeness from a Yankee, which astonished me so that I almost lost my breath."

Dr. Hardesty left for Baltimore and we sent off a big Christmas mail to be posted by him
there- Garnett brought Taz Anderson and Dr. McMillan home todinner. It seemed just like
the quiet antebellum days,before Washington had become such a thoroughfare, and our
house a sort of headquarters for the officers of two Confederate armies.
The pleasant strangers the war brought here have nearly all gone their ways,
and Washington is becoming nothing but a small, dull country village again.
"Everything relating to the dear old Confederate times is already so completely
dead and buried that they seem to have existed only in imagination."
I feel like one awaking from some bright dream, to face the bitter realities of a hard
sordid world. The frightful results of its downfall are all that remain to tell us
that there ever was a Southern Confederacy.
"Oh, for the glorious old days backagain, with all their hardships and heroism,
with all their"pomp and circumstanceof glorious war!" - for war, with all its
cruelty and destruction, is better than such a degrading peace as this."

"I hate the Yankees more and more, every time I look at one of their horrid newspapers andread the lies they tell about us, while we have our mouthsclosed and padlocked. The world will not hear our story,I get in such a rage when I look at them that I sometimes take off my slipper and beat the senseless paper with it."
No words can express the wrath of a Southerner on beholding pictures of
President Davis in woman's dress; And Lee, that star of light before which
even Washington's glory pales, crouching on his knees.
The world is filled with tales of the horrors of Andersonville prison but
never a worddoes it hear about Elmira and Fort Delaware.
The "Augusta Transcript" was suppressed, and its editorimprisoned merely
for publishing the obituary of aSouthern soldier, in which it was stated that
he died ofdisease "contracted in the icy prisons of the North."
Splendid monuments are being reared to the Yankee dead, and the whole world
resounds with pæans because they overwhelmed us with their big, plundering
armies, whileour Southern dead lie unheeded on the fields where they fought
so bravely, and our real heroes, our noblest and best, the glory of human nature,
the grandest of God'sworks, are defamed, vilified, spit upon.
"Oh! you brave unfortunates! history will yet do you justice. Your
monuments areraised in the hearts of a people whoselove isstronger
than fate, and they will seethat yourmemory does not perish."
Let the enemy triumph; they will only disgrace themselves in the eyes of all decent people. They are so blind that they boast of their own shame. They make pictures
pictures of the ruin of our cities andexult in their work. They picture the destitution of Southern homes and gloat over the desolation they havemade. "Harper's" goes so far as to publish a picture ofKilpatrick's "foragers" in South-West Georgia, displaying the plate and jewels they have stolen from our homes! "Out of their own mouths they are condemned," and they are so base they do not even know that they are publishing their own shame.
Aug.29- The Ficklens sent us some books of fashion brought by Mr. Boyce from
New York.The styles are very pretty, but too expensive for us broken-down Southerners.
I intend to always dress as well as my means will allow, but will attempt nothing in the
way of finery so long as I have to sweep floors and make up beds. It is more graceful
and more sensible to accept poverty as it comes than to try to hide it under a flimsy
covering of false appearances. Nothing is more contemptible than broken-down gentility
trying to ape its betters. For my part, I am prouder of my poverty than I ever was of
my former prosperity, when I remember in what a noble cause all was lost.
We Southerners are the Faubourg St. Germain of American society, and I feel with
perfect sincerity, that my faded calico dress has a right to look with scorn at the rich
toilettes of our plunderers.
"Notwithstanding all our trouble and wretchedness, I thank Heaven that I was born a
Southerner, - that I belong to the noblest race on earth - for this is a heritage that
nothing can ever take from me. The greatness of the Southern character is showing
itself beyond the mere accidents of time and fortune; though reduced to the lowest
state of poverty and subjection, we can stillfeel that we are superior to those whom
brute force has placed above us in worldly state.
Heaven grant me rather the horrors of war!..."

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A gracious "Thank you" to UNC for all their research and
for the use of these excerpts from "Documenting The American South"