A Woman's Civil War: A Diary with Reminiscences of the War, from March 1862 (Wisconsin Studies in Autobiography) - Softcover

McDonald, Cornelia Peake

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0299132641 ISBN 13: 9780299132644

Publisher: University of Wisconsin Press, 1992

Synopsis

     On the night of March 11, 1862, as the heavy tramp of Confederate marching troops died away in the distance—her husband’s regiment among them—Cornelia Peake McDonald began her diary of events in war-torn Winchester, Virginia.
     McDonald’s story of the Civil War records a personal and distinctly female battle of her own—a southern woman’s lonely struggle in the midst of chaos to provide safety and shelter for herself and her children. For McDonald, history is what happens “inside the house.” She relates the trauma that occurs when the safety of the home is disrupted and destroyed by the forces of war—when women and children are put out of their houses and have nowhere to go.
     Whether she is describing a Union soldier’s theft of her Christmas cakes, the discovery of a human foot in her garden, or the death of her baby daughter, McDonald’s story of the Civil War at home is compelling and disturbing. Her tremendous determination and unyielding spirit in the face of the final collapse of her world is testimony to a woman’s will to preserve her family and her own sense of purpose as a “rebel” against all that she regarded as tyrannical and brutal in war itself.

About this title

From the Inside Flap:

Cornelia Peake McDonald's story of the Civil War records a personal and distinctly female battle: a southern woman's lonely struggle in the midst of chaos to provide safety and shelter for herself and her nine children as their home is destroyed by the forces of war. Whether describing a Union soldier's theft of her Christmas cakes, the discovery of a human foot in her garden, or the death of her daughter, her story of the Civil War at home is compelling and disturbing. Her tremendous determination and unyielding spirit is a testimony to a woman's will to preserve her family.

About the Author:

Born in 1822 in Alexandria, Virginia, Cornelia Peake McDonald lived in Winchester, Virginia, with her nine children during the Civil War. Her record of events was first published in a volume of family history in 1935 from one of the eight handwritten copies made for each of her surviving children before her death in 1909. Minrose C. Gwin is professor of English at the University of New Mexico.

About this edition

• Publisher: University of Wisconsin Press
• Publication date: 1992
• ISBN 10: 0299132641
• ISBN 13: 9780299132644
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 314
• Editor: Gwin Minrose C.