Heroines of Dixie

The harder part of war is the woman's part. True of all wars, this was particularly true of the war of the Sixties in the South. For a few women, some of whom left memoirs which have become famous, there were the excitement and sustaining sense of accomplishment to be derived from contact with stirring events and association with notable personalities. For the great majority, however, there was more of strain and anxiety, of fear and loneliness, and of hardship and privation than there was of glamour and excitement. To all these were added, in large sections of the South, the aggravation and frus- tration of invasion and occupation by Federal troops or, even worse, the depredations of the lawless freebooters of either side, or neither, in those areas which were strongly held by neither army. The story of the life of women in these years is scattered through diaries and letters written without thought of publication, as well as through the comparatively small number of published memoirs. Of the latter, even, not many are well known and readily available. Searching out the facts about the lives of Confederate women, there- fore, calls for diligence and patience, while presentation of the facts found requires judgment in selection and skill in organization. Miss Jones has brought to her work the qualities requisite for producing what is, in effect, a composite autobiography of Confederate women.