John manning civil war

Which of the following words most accurately describes the tone of chesnut’s diary in 1865?
Boykin family tree
Mary chesnut quotes

•

Written by: Barton A. Myers, Washington and Lee University

By the end of this section, you will:

Explain the various factors that contributed to the Union victory in the Civil War

Suggested Sequencing

Use this Narrative alongside the Women during the Civil War Narrative to allow students to analyze and compare women’s experiences during the Civil War.

Mary Boykin Chesnut was born Mary Boykin Miller on March 31, 1823, in South Carolina. Her father, Stephen Decatur Miller, was a politician who promoted states’ rights and argued in favor of the position – held by other southerners such as John Calhoun – that slavery was a “positive good.” Miller became governor of South Carolina in 1828 and a U.S. senator in 1830. As the daughter of an elite southerner, Chesnut was educated in Charleston, South Carolina, at Madame Talvande’s French School for Young Ladies. She was a celebrated beauty in Charleston society who traveled widely throughout the United States during the antebellum years, including to the American West and New Orleans.

•

Chesnut, Mary Boykin Miller1823-1886, Diarist and Author Mary Boykin Miller Chesnut was born 31 March 1823 in Stateboro[*], S.C., eldest child of Mary Boykin and Stephen Decatur Miller, who had served as U.S. congressman and senator and in 1826 was elected governor of South Carolina as a proponent of nullification. Educated first at home and in Camden schools, Mary Miller was sent at 13 to a French boarding school in Charleston, where she remained for two years broken by a six-month stay on her father's cotton plantation in frontier Mississippi. In 1838 Miller died and Mary returned to Camden. On 23 April 1840 she married James Chesnut, Jr. (1815-85), only surviving son of one of South Carolina's largest landowners.

Chesnut spent most of the next 20 years in Camden and at Mulberry, her husband's family plantation. When James was elected to the Senate in 1858, his wife accompanied him to Washington where friendships were begun with many politicians who would become the leading figures of the Confederacy, among them Varina and Jefferson Davis. Following Lincoln's election, James

•

Mary Boykin Chesnut (1823-1886)

Contributing Editor: Minrose C. Gwin

Classroom Issues and Strategies

It is important to consider Mary Chesnut and her work in context. Chesnut is well known for her criticism of slavery and patriarchy. Yet she is also very much a member of the wealthy planter class in her views on race. In addition, this is a massive work--close to 900 pages. It is, therefore, difficult to find "representative" sections that capture the breadth and sweep of the work as a whole.

In teaching Chesnut consider these strategies:

1. Provide historical context with attention to the intersections of race, class, and gender in southern culture. Consider especially the relative positions of white women and African American women in a patriarchal slave society. Students also need to understand the rise and fall of the Confederacy.

2. Require students to read and report on diverse sections of the work.

Students often ask questions related to Chesnut's "feminism" and her attitude toward race. For example, why does she blame African-American women for