The Civil War Diaries of Cassie Fennell: A Young Confederate Woman in North Alabama, 1859-1865

Born near Guntersville, Alabama, Catherine (Cassie) Fennell was nineteen when the Civil War began. Starting with her time at a female academy in Washington, DC, the diaries continue through the war’s end and discuss civilian experiences in Alabama and the Tennessee Valley. Fennell believed that by keeping a diary she made a small contribution to the war effort and history itself.

Fennell was fairly well off and highly educated, moving easily in very elite social circles. Most of her relative...