A very violent rebel : the Civil War diary of Ellen Renshaw House / edited by Daniel E. Sutherland.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

House, Ellen Renshaw, 1843-1907.

Contributor:

Sutherland, Daniel E.

Series:

Voices of the Civil War series

Voices of the Civil War

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

House, Ellen Renshaw, 1843-1907--Diaries.

House, Ellen Renshaw.

House, Ellen Renshaw, 1843-1907.

Women.

Diaries.

Tennessee, East--History--Civil War, 1861-1865.

Tennessee, East.

East Tennessee.

History.

United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Personal narratives, Confederate.

United States.

Women--Tennessee, East--Diaries.

Genre:

Personal narratives -- Confederate.

Autobiographies.

Physical Description:

xxv, 285 pages : illustrations, map ; 24 cm.

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Knoxville : University of Tennessee Press, [1996]

Summary:

Ellen Renshaw House was only nineteen years old in 1863 when she began a detailed journal of her experiences in Knoxville, Tennessee, amid the turmoil of the Civil War. Her diary, now published for the first time, is a remarkable document of the divided loyalties that were so pronounced in that part of the state and of the daily effects the war had on civilians. A member of a middle-class family that had moved to Knoxville in 1860 from Georgia, Ellen House became, like her parents and siblings, a fervent Confederate - or, as she called herself, "a very violent Rebel". When the city fell to Federal forces in September 1863, Ellen's resentments ran deep, and she filled her diary with scornful words for the occupying Yankees. She eagerly followed the news of military actions that might mean the recapture of the city and became an eyewitness to the war's dangers when Confederate General James Longstreet launched an ill-fated attack on Knoxville late in 1863. Despite her own privations, Ellen gave much of her time to providing relief to Confederate prisoners of war in the city. Since she made no secret of where her sympathies lay, Federal military authorities eventually suspected her of spying and expelled her to Georgia, where she continued to record her impressions and observations. Only recently brought to light by the diarist's descendants, this compelling personal record has been meticulously edited and annotated by Daniel Sutherland. The resulting volume adds a spirited and articulate voice to the chorus of available firsthand testimony on America's bloodiest conflict.

Contents:

The Yankees are here

A leaden cloud hangs over our spirits

I am determined not to be blue

I am ordered to leave on Monday

Cut off from Knoxville

I thought my heart would burst

Epilogue : patriotism will not save the soul.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [261]-267) and index.

ISBN:

0870499440

OCLC:

34190676