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Period: to
Civil War Era
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Letter from A. Davison Hennen to Anna Maria Jennings
Hennen, wife of New Orleans attorney and bank director Alfred Hennen, writes her daughter, Jennings, regarding secession and possible Civil War:
It seems strange that LA has gone out of the Union...To the sensible, well informed people, all this Secession looks like playing Baby house. It has not seemed so to me, I have been trembling for fear of Civil War...I have been sad and gloomy at the prospect of affairs. -
New Testament presented to William H. Ellis
Ellis' mother inscribed a prayer on the front cover for him to use before battle and at night. She inscribed her own prayer for his safety on the back cover. "That God shall keep my son under the shadow of his wing, his mother prays. O! How sincerely!" -
An Unwelcome Return
Three months volunteer: "What! Don't you know me-your own husband?"
Daughter of Columbia: "Get away! No husband of mine would be here while the country needs his help."
"Harper's Weekly" -
A Female Rebel in Baltimore - an erveryday scene
This image represents a female rebel (whose bodice is emblazoned with the Confederate national flag) flaunting her colors in the face of Union troops. From "Harper's Weekly" -
Letter from Stella Bringier to Louis Bringier
Stella writes from Hermitage Plantation in Ascension Parish, LA to her husband of her worries of the Federals' threat to bombard both sides of the Mississippi River and "not leave a single building standing on any of the plantations."
"If you were only here to tell me with 4 little children where I can go and how? Gun boats have been passing at a rapid rate since yesterday...I have been told that the women and children in B.R. had been given until 10 yesterday to evacuate the city." -
Letter from Kate Burruss to her brother Edward Burruss
Kate writes to Edward, "So the girls have as dry a time as usual, escorting each other about the country...We will all be old maids, regular vinegar cruets by the time you all get back." -
Diary entry details breakdown of institution of slavery
"I rose and I went to the kitchen to speak to Becky; she was leaning down, with her back towards me as I entered, and I could not resist giving her a good hard slap on the shoulders which by the bye hurt my hand, I have no doubt, more than it did her, at the same time I asked her how she dared to send in such bread and cakes; she started up, looked furiously at me, and exclaimed 'don't you do that again, let it be the last time, or I'll just march out of this yard.'" -
Detail from "New Year's Day: North and South"
"Harper's Weekly" -
Diary Entries
Sidney Harding's family's sugar plantation in St. Mary's Parish was destroyed by federal forces and the Hardings were forced to move to DeSoto Parish, north of Mansfield. Her entries, written during the lead-in and aftermath of the Battle of Mansfield, the twenty-three-year-old describes watching the Confederates pass on their way to Mansfield, going to the scene of battle to check on friends, and visiting the hospital afterwards. -
Diary Entries
Nineteen-year-old Virginia native Kate Garland had a front row seat to the end of the war. She had a vantage point near Appomattox Courthouse and wrote, "Lee is falling back." -
Richmond Ladies Going to Receive Government Rations: "Don't you think that Yankee must feel like shrinking into his boots before such high-toned Southern ladies as we?"
"Harper's Weekly" -
Letters from Addie Prescott to John Moore
Despite considering the confederacy's defeat "a national disaster," Addie Prescott found hope in her faith, as she writes her grandfather Judge John Moore of St. Martin Parish:
"No doubt you were made aware of our great national disaster at an early date. To me it was startling, terrible! My thoughtful and hopeful nature could not form an idea so horrible until the fell stroke was laid on us. There are consolations left to all the children of men." -
Industry of Ladies in Clothing the Soldiers, and zeal in urging their beux to go to war
