The Uncompromising Diary of Sallie McNeill, 1858-1867 (Volume 109)

Centennial Series of the Association of Former Students

by Ginny McNeill Raska (Editor), Mary Lynn Gasaway Hill (Editor)

In this annotated diary, Sallie McNeill chronicles thoughts, observations, and details of her daily life during the Civil War and Reconstruction eras. This remarkably well-preserved document tells McNeill's story from her days as a student in the female department of Baylor College at Independence until her death in 1867. McNeill's story—common to the era and place and still intensely personal—lets readers glimpse the numbing expectations of a young woman's proper behavior, moral referencing of those living under the influence of the second Great Awakening, intellectual questions posed by the education of the day, and the lifestyle of the planter class at the margins of its geographical reach.

Genres: Diary, Nonfiction, History

216 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 2009

Reviews

[Deb (Readerbuzz) Nance]

The diary of Sallie McNeill, a member of the household at the Levi Jordan Plantation in Brazoria County, Texas, during the 1800s, has been transcribed and annotated in this book. McNeill kept the diary from the end of her last year at university until the month before her death, and she writes her thoughts about the war, slavery, and life on the plantation.

McNeill writes frankly, "I never had a confidant; never told my inmost thoughts & feelings to anyone. They have never found utterance---perhaps, are not worth it, and even if I could find words, would shrink from writing them here. It matters little however...Am not remarkable for anything, least of all for personal beauty. Have what is called a good education; possessed of no accomplishments. And am generally considered a plain, matter-of-fact young lady, already looked for an old maid; that despised title, to so many. It is well this lot in Life does not disturb my equanimity."

And later: "I like good company...but solitude better I believe. But I wish I could live in a city awhile or see more of the world, than here. I am not learned. I feel keenly my deficiencies away from home, though here literary subjects are entirely put aside. I must keep all thoughts to myself. This is one great reason, why I stay so much a la maison."

Such sadness in this diary.

[Sally]

1.25 stars.

[Ollie]

Interesting historical document that combines both primary and secondary sources in this diary.