Reminiscences of Peace and War

President Pierce's Inauguration—The New Cabinet—Mr. Marcy prescribes Court Dress with Varying Results—Jefferson Davis—Sam Houston—General Scott—Washington Irving—Adelina Patti a...

Mr. Buchanan and his Cabinet—Roger A. Pryor's Mission to Greece—The Court of Athens—The Maid of Athens—The Ball at the Hotel de Ville—Queen Victoria's Dress and Dancing—The Coun...

The President at Church—Levee at the White House—A Dinner Party at the White House—Miss Harriet Lane—Lord and Lady Napier—Ball in their Honor—Baron and Madame Stoëckle—Madame Bo...

Great Names on the Rolls of the Supreme Court, Senate, and House of Representatives—Pen Picture of Stephen A. Douglas—Incident at a Ball—Mrs. Douglas—Vanity Fair, "Caps, Gowns,...

Beautiful Women in Washington during Mr. Buchanan's Administration—Influence of Southern Women in Society—Conversational Talent—Over the _Demi-tasse_ after Dinner—Over the Low T...

The Thirty-sixth Congress—Stormy Scenes in the House of Representatives—Abusive and Insulting Language—Rupture of Social Relations—Visit from General Cass at Midnight—The Midnig...

Memorable Days in the History of the Country—A Torch-light Procession in Virginia—An Uninvited Listener to a Midnight Speech—Wedding of Miss Parker and Mr. Bouligny—The Presiden...

Battle of Bull Run—Life at Smithfield—General Pemberton—First Sight of the Enemy—A Sudden Change of Base—Battle of Williamsburg—General McClellan—General Joseph E. Johnston—Batt...

The Seven Days' Battles around Richmond—Pryor's Brigade ordered to the Front—Finding a Wounded Soldier—Midnight Watch after the Fight—Work in the Hospital—Ministrations of Virgi...

Campaign in Maryland and Northern Virginia—Battles of Manassas, South Mountain, and Sharpsburg (Antietam)—Winter Quarters in Culpeper—Stories around the Campfire—Devotion to Gen...

The Foraging Party on the Blackwater—Incidents of Camp Life—A Hazardous Experiment in "Blockade Running"—Letter from "Agnes"—A Colored Man's Views of his own Place in Time of Wa...

The Bread Riot at Richmond, described by "Agnes"—Correspondence between the President, General Lee, and General Pryor—A Great Victory at Chancellorsville—General Lee's Order upo...

The Winter of 1863-1864—Personal Experiences—Patrick Henry's Granddaughter—The Spring and Summer in Petersburg—Famine, and Some of the Women who endured it—John tells of the Ave...

Siege of Petersburg—Fight at Petersburg, June 9—General Lee arrives at Petersburg—General Grant shells the City—Conference of Pierre Soulé, General D. H. Hill, General Longstree...

August in the Besieged City—The Dead Soldier—Return to Cottage Farm—General Lee makes his Headquarters near Cottage Farm—General Wilcox encamps in Yard and Garden—Picket Firing...

Christmas at Cottage Farm—Dark Days of Famine and Desertion in the Army—The Psalm of Life—A _Déjeuner à la Fourchette_—"Starvation Parties"—The Peace Commission—The Irish M.P. f...

General Pryor's Return from Captivity—Story of his Release from Prison and Interview with Mr. Lincoln—April 2—Defeat at Cottage Farm—Surrender of Petersburg—Entrance of Federal...

Arrival of Southern Prisoners of War—General Sheridan "knows how to make the terms for a house that suits him"—"We've caught Jeff Davis"—General Sheridan's Visit—Frank Expressio...

Incidents and Events—Loyalty of Domestic Servants—The First Army Ration to Destitute Women—Mrs. Hartsuff—Return to Cottage Farm—A Scene of Desolation—The Lonely Vigil—Kindness o...

Tourists—The Reverend Brother and the Young People—The Army of Norway Rats—The "Met Bullets"—General Grant—The Destruction of Fortifications and Change of Base—In the Garden at...

APPOMATTOX, RESIDENCE OF THE EPPES FAMILY. This estate at City Point on James River has been in the Eppes family since it was first patented, through a grant from Charles First...

The Washington that I knew in the fifties was not the Washington of Dickens, Mrs. Trollope, and Laurence Oliphant. When I knew the capital of our country, it was not "a howling...

On the 4th of March, 1853, Franklin Pierce was inaugurated President of the United States. This was an exciting day for me. My husband had written articles for a Virginia paper...

Two days after Mr. Buchanan's inauguration, the nominations for the Cabinet were sent to the Senate. The venerable Lewis Cass, with many years of honorable service behind him, w...

We attended Dr. Gurley's church and found that the President also had taken a seat in that church. Our own was near the door, and for many Sundays before I knew him, I was inter...

The rolls of the Supreme Court, Senate, and House of Representatives presented a list of great names in 1854-1860. It would seem that our country, knowing herself to be in morta...

Mrs. Cyrus McCormick, recently married to the inventor of the great reaping machine, was one of these. Mr. McCormick, then a young man, was destined to be decorated by many Euro...

When the famous Thirty-sixth Congress met for its long session, December 5, 1859, the whole country was in ferment over the execution of John Brown. "An indiscreet move in any d...

A momentous day in the history of this country was November 6, 1860—on that day the extreme party of the North elected its candidate, with a Vice-President, making the Executive...

When it was disclosed that a majority of the Virginia Convention opposed taking the state out of the Union, the secessionists became greatly alarmed; for they knew that without...

The day came at last when our regiments were to march. They were to rendezvous at the head of Sycamore Street, and march down to the lower depot. Every old man and boy, matron,...

The month of July, 1861, found me with my little boys at "The Oaks"—the residence of Dr. Izard Bacon Rice, in Charlotte County, seventy miles from Richmond, and miles away from...

Then came the details of the first great battle of the war. "Glorious news!" everybody said. A glorious triumph for the South,—an utter rout of the enemy; but my heart sank with...

The intense heat of June 26th has been noted in many of the diaries and records of the day. I remember it because I had feared its unfavorable effect upon my husband, not yet di...

But I found myself thoroughly reinstated—with surgeons, matron, and Miss Deborah—when I appeared a few days later, accompanied by a man bearing a basket of clean, well-rolled ba...

The privilege of nursing in the hospital had been bought at a dear price, for it was decided positively that I was to surrender, for the present, my dream of following the army....

General Pryor's brigade had been composed of regiments from Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, North Carolina, and Virginia. Congress having recommended that regiments should be enl...

"MY DEAR: I hope you appreciate the fact that you are herewith honored with a letter written in royal-red ink upon sumptuous gilt-edged paper. There is not, at the present writi...

Having no longer a home of my own, it was decided that I should go to my people in Charlotte County. One of my sons, Theo, and two of my little daughters were already there, and...

three miles distant, and fetch me Dr. Withers. I was dreadfully ill when he arrived—and as he stood at the foot of my bed I said to him: "It doesn't matter much for me, Doctor!...

June 9 will always be a sacred day to the citizens of Petersburg. Every man capable of bearing arms had enlisted early in the service of the Southern Confederacy. They felt that...

The month of August in the besieged city passed like a dream of terror. The weather was intensely hot and dry, varied by storms of thunder and lightning—when the very heavens se...

My husband's duties kept him from home several days at a time during the early autumn, but now that the lines were drawn so closely together, he could usually return to us after...

I resolved to give my family a Christmas dinner. John invented a method of making a perfectly satisfactory pie out of sorghum molasses, thickened with a little flour, mixed with...

I never inquired the source from which John drew his materials for a festival; but, a day or two before my husband was to arrive, he appeared with a small duck! This he roasted...

"_My dear:_—I am not at all sure you will ever receive this letter, but I shall risk it. _First_, I join you in humble thanks to God for the great mercy accorded both of us. You...

Such alarming rumors reached us from the neighboring counties, of marauding parties plundering private houses and frightening defenceless women, that my husband obtained an exte...

Immediately after General Lee's surrender, the United States Circuit Court held a session at Norfolk, Virginia, and made haste to indict for treason Robert E. Lee, John C. Breck...

We suffered terribly during the ensuing months for want of something in which we might occupy ourselves. We sat silently, looking out on a landscape marked here and there by chi...

It was in May of this year 1866 that we inaugurated, in Petersburg, the custom, now universal, of decorating the graves of those who fell in the Civil War. Our intention was sim...

The result of the war was to leave the state of Virginia prostrate. It seemed it would require generations for the commonwealth to recover from the effects of the strife upon he...