Iowa's Forgotten General Book

Of the many Civil War memoirs by Confederate ladies, no one is likely the choose Parthenia's book as the most dramatic: she had the good fortune not to encounter the horrors of war at first hand, and only a brief visit near the end to the ruins of Columbus, GA takes her into the territory explored by Mary A.H. Gay and many others.

Parthenia spent most of the war teaching school in a small town in Alabama, and her narrative dwells heavily on everyday domestic life, with particular emphasis on how ordinary people coped with shortages resulting from the Federal blockade. There is exhaustive detail about manufacturing clothing, most of which went over my head: prior knowledge of the craft of weaving is necessary to grasp what is going on (and it is precisely this kind of unique, homely detail which is lacking in most memoirs of this kind, making this one of particular value to historical specialists). Other matters, such as the creation of coffee substitutes and the manufacture of sugar are accessible even to those of us accustomed to buying everything in plastic wrap.

Despite its relative tranquility, the book has memorable moments. Parthenia had a gift for evoking a scene, and several linger in the reader's memory: a bridal party under the moon for a household slave ("a vision of fairy-land"); glimpses through a carriage window of bucolic scenes not yet touched by war ("Now an open field of corn, green of blade, gently billowed by the wind, an old gray-haired farmer plowing, seemingly oblivious to all surrounding objects, and singing, as if from the fullness of a glad soul, the refrain, 'I have some friends in glory'"); and, most memorable of all, the serio-comic episode in which the invading Yankees do not come tramping into her village.

As usual with these memoirs, there is an inclination to romanticize the antebellum world, and Parthenia is unashamed of her racism. Elizabeth Fox-Genovese's introduction provides useful context.