What do you think?
Rate this book
Women's Diaries and Letters of the South
Lucy Breckinridge of Grove Hill: The Journal of a Virginia Girl, 1862-1864
Begun to alleviate the "boredom of wartime," Lucy Breckinridge's journal quickly became this intelligent young woman's confidante as she came of age in war-torn Virginia. Nineteen-year-old Breckinridge offers candid views of life on the homefront as she chronicles the war that killed three of her brothers and debates such universal issues as war, peace, religion, love, marriage, and the role of women in society.
While Breckinridge vents frustration over the passive role forced upon women during the Civil War, she writes enthusiastically about social events, friends, and suitors. In her passionate and sometimes irreverent style, Breckinridge offers an honest portrait of life on the family plantation.
While Breckinridge vents frustration over the passive role forced upon women during the Civil War, she writes enthusiastically about social events, friends, and suitors. In her passionate and sometimes irreverent style, Breckinridge offers an honest portrait of life on the family plantation.
267 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 1981
3 people are currently reading
90 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
November 17, 2019
Lucy Breckinridge's diary makes for tedious reading, which isn't really surprising, as she never intended it for public viewing.
Written as a teenage girl's confidante and escape during long idle days of visits and cloistered time with her friends and family as she waited for the Civil War to end, the diary is a curious and revealing source, but it is also replete with repetitious and vapid entries. Many are the days when Lucy offers little more than a list of visitors, and recounts going from place to place, dancing, reading sermons or novels, etc. Occasionally she describes knitting a sock. The more meaningful entries detail her concerns about marriage, her frustrations over the lot in life for a 19th century woman, her frustrations and seemingly immature flippancy about the nature of slavery. One of the most amazing things about the book is how little perspective she seems to have on the war itself—how she never reflects on its cause or implications and how little the war seems to disrupt her social life.
Lucy Breckinridge's diary strikes me as a decent primary source, especially in light of its unrevised state, but a relatively poor piece of writing, and a very drab book for anyone to read outside of historical/academic studies.
Written as a teenage girl's confidante and escape during long idle days of visits and cloistered time with her friends and family as she waited for the Civil War to end, the diary is a curious and revealing source, but it is also replete with repetitious and vapid entries. Many are the days when Lucy offers little more than a list of visitors, and recounts going from place to place, dancing, reading sermons or novels, etc. Occasionally she describes knitting a sock. The more meaningful entries detail her concerns about marriage, her frustrations over the lot in life for a 19th century woman, her frustrations and seemingly immature flippancy about the nature of slavery. One of the most amazing things about the book is how little perspective she seems to have on the war itself—how she never reflects on its cause or implications and how little the war seems to disrupt her social life.
Lucy Breckinridge's diary strikes me as a decent primary source, especially in light of its unrevised state, but a relatively poor piece of writing, and a very drab book for anyone to read outside of historical/academic studies.
July 8, 2022
While much of what Lucy writes is mundane and undetailed, I loved it when she would record her thoughts and feelings, especially on love and marriage but also on grief and the passage of time. A lovely glimpse into daily life during the Civil War.
March 31, 2012
This Civil War diary comes not from a soldier’s point of view, but from that of a teenage girl living on a large slave-holding estate in Virginia. She watches as her brothers and male friends go off to the war:
"I wish the women could fight.. I would gladly shoulder my pistol to shoot some Yankees if it were allowable."
Unfortunately, being a only a girl, her prospects were limited to staying home reading novels, tending to the wounded, mourning lost friends & family, and writing in her trusty diary.
Lucy had a bright and inquisitive mind. She wrote about her frustrations with her lot as a woman in a man’s world (she wasn’t keen on the idea of marriage), religion, love, and other social issues of the day. She intended to destroy her diary someday, but she never got around to it (she died far too young). I wonder what she'd think if she knew her words would still be read almost 150 years after her death?
"I wish the women could fight.. I would gladly shoulder my pistol to shoot some Yankees if it were allowable."
Unfortunately, being a only a girl, her prospects were limited to staying home reading novels, tending to the wounded, mourning lost friends & family, and writing in her trusty diary.
Lucy had a bright and inquisitive mind. She wrote about her frustrations with her lot as a woman in a man’s world (she wasn’t keen on the idea of marriage), religion, love, and other social issues of the day. She intended to destroy her diary someday, but she never got around to it (she died far too young). I wonder what she'd think if she knew her words would still be read almost 150 years after her death?
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews