Marginalia; Or, Gleanings from an Army Note-Book

Marginalia; Or, Gleanings From An Army Note-Book by Felix Gregory De Fontaine is a Civil War-era miscellany compiled from Confederate sympathies. The Introduction outlines three aims: to perpetuate the memory of Confederate outrages by the Union, to extol Southern virtues, and to preserve anecdotes and sketches illustrating various facets of the Southern War. The book gathers hundreds of short narratives—tales of gallant soldiers, heroic civilians, nursing women, and the fidelity of enslaved people—along with portraits of leaders such as Lee and Stonewall Jackson, and editorials praising piety, bravery, and sacrifice. The voice is manifestly propagandistic, celebrating Confederate resilience while denigrating the Union. This collection reads as both historical reminiscence and a Lost Cause treatise, mixing vignettes, sermons, battlefield recollections, and moral exhortations. This 1864 publication offers insight into 19th-century Confederate folklore and the rhetoric that shaped memory of the Civil War.