Reviews for The Civil War diary of Sarah Morgan

The average rating for The Civil War diary of Sarah Morgan based on 2 reviews is 4.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2010-08-04 00:00:00 Matthew Ahearn Considering that it’s a diary, not to mention a diary by an upper-middle-class Southern woman, I had mixed hopes regarding the book. I found it, for the most part, well-written, with several interesting anecdotes, and occasional mention of how specific battles affected the Morgan family’s life. That said, Sarah herself seemed to be a particularly self-absorbed, whiny, egotistical teenager, despite being 19 when she began her diaries. She constantly describes herself as unattractive and unpleasant, while in the next sentence brags about the number of men who call on her- married men, in many cases. She accuses several of the wives of these married men as being mentally unstable due to their jealousy at the attention paid to Sarah by their husbands… while she then goes on to proclaim that no one could ever take her flirting seriously- and states that she will continue flirting. Throughout the course of the book she knowingly leads on several young men, only to write about her shock when they announce their intentions. At one point during the book, Sarah suffered what appears to be a bruised or cracked tailbone- which is painful (I couldn’t sit for a week after I bruised mine), but not life-threatening- and spends the next few months bemoaning her state, claiming she will die (this, after she has already frequently wailed over how she would be the least missed of all her siblings, were she to die) from her terrible injury. The medical treatments she is subjected to surely only prolonged her invalid state- bleeding and blistering, administration of strychnine, forced bed rest when she actually would have been better off walking around, rather than losing muscle mass for months… If I could have been spoiled so every time I so much as bruised myself, I would have turned into the biggest brat that ever was. In the introduction, Sarah is described as a feminist- I can’t think where they would have gotten this impression! She does repeatedly state that she wishes she could be a man, so as to help fight the war (and because men are naturally smarter), and that she does not intend to marry unless she can find a man who is her intellectual better (of which she believes there are none besides her brothers and the aforementioned married men), but those statements, no matter how vehement, do not a feminist make. I should think that denigrating one’s own sex would actually make one an anti-feminist… What irritated me the most was her slavish devotion to class circles. While glorifying the noble Confederate army, she still considers it the greatest of impertinence when one of the common soldiers so much as doffs his cap or bows to her. She refuses to associate with those she considers “beneath” her, which is nearly everyone- her father was a judge, and thus she believes herself a cut above the rest. At one point, an officer with whom she had previously been friendly revealed himself as the son of Baton Rouge’s brewer, at which point she cut him from her society- and reasoned that the cut was acceptable because he should have known better than to aspire to her acquaintance. Sarah also expresses her surprise and horror at the gossip that surrounds her family- gossip that is based on their desire to associate as little as possible with the lower classes. The little details regarding daily life in the Confederate South were fascinating, and Sarah’s lack of political discussion was refreshing- she knew that her knowledge of the political situation was lacking, and thus only maintained opinions on those things with which she was familiar- very rare, no matter the time period. I am glad to have read it, but Sarah is exactly the kind of person who would drive me mad if I knew her… transparently self-serving, but with a firm belief that everything she does is for the benefit of others. She did have quite a gift for eloquence, though.

Review # 2 was written on 2010-09-23 00:00:00 Yolonda Du Bose Sarah Morgan was a young woman when the Civil War broke out. This is her actual diary from Jan. of 1862 to June 1865. She details her sentiments about the politics of the era, her hatred of Yankees and loyalty to the Confederacy. She relates her sadness at the loss of family members to the war and other means. She and her mother and other family members flee their home due to the war. She is from Louisiana and is a well educated, well bred young woman. If you like Civil War history and would like to hear it from her perspective, you will enjoy this book. I did get distracted during parts of it but overall, it was a great book to help you understand the mindset and behavior of the Southern woman during the late 1800's.