Mary Boykin Chesnut

Mary Chesnut's Civil War diaries were published in several inaccurate editions under the title A Diary from Dixie. A corrected version appeared under the title Mary Chesnut's Civil War. The diaries, filled with personal revelations, have been a rich source of material for historians. Chesnut was born in 1823 near Stateburg, South Carolina. She lived in Mississippi for several years, then returned to Camden where, in 1840, at the age of 17, she married James Chesnut and went to live at Mulberry, the Chetnut plantation south of Camden. In February 1861, she began keeping a diary of events in South Carolina and Montgomery, Alabama, where her husband attended the Confederate Provisional Congress. She died in 1886 in Camden, South Carolina.