A Diary from Dixie (Classic Reprint) Book

INTRODUCTION cles, yet he is over eighty. lie is a typical Southern planter. From the beginning he has been one of the most intelligent patrons of the Wateree Mission to the Negroes, taking a personal interest in them, attending the mission church and worshiping with his own people. May his children see to it that this holy charity is continued to their servants forever! " James Chesnut, 'Jr., was the son and heir of Colonel James Chesnut, whose wife was Mary Coxe, of Philadelphia. Mary Coxe's sister married Horace Binney, the eminent Philadelphia lawyer. James Chesnut, Jr., was born in 1815 and graduated from Princeton. For fourteen years he served in the legislature of South Carolina, and in January, 1859, was appointed to fill a vacancy in the United States Senate. In November, 1860, when South Carolina was about to secede, he resigned from the Senate and thenceforth was active in the Southern cause, first as an aide to General Beauregard, then as an aide to President Davis, anTable of Contents CONTENTS; PAGE; INTRODUCTION: The Author and Her Book siii; Chapter I-CHARLESTON, S 0-, November 8, 1860- December 27, 1860; The news of Lincoln's election-Raising the Palmetto flag - The author's husband resigns as United States Senator-The Ordinance of Secession-Anderson takes possession of Fort Sumter1; Chapter II-MONTGOMERY, Ala, February 19, 1861-March 11, 1861; Making the Confederate Constitution-Robert Toombs -Anecdote of General Scott-Lincoln's trip through Baltimore-Howell Cobb and Benjamin HHill-Hoisting the Confederate flag-Mrs Lincoln's economy in the White House-Hopes for peace-Despondent talk with anti-secession leaders-The South unprepared- Fort Sumter6; Chapter III-CHARLESTON, S C, March 26, 1861 -April 15, 1861; A soft-hearted slave-owner-Social gaiety in the midst of war talk-Beauregard a hero and a demigod-The first shot of the war-Anderson refuses to capitulate-The bombardment of Fort Sumter asRead More