Myra Inman: A Diary of the Civil War in East Tennessee

Myra Inman began her diary in January 1859 and kept it until January 1866. As a thirteen-year-old girl in southeast Tennessee, her literary endeavor would lead to a more serious subject than mere recordings of the weather and the occasional visitor. While the tension between the South and the North was growing, Myra had only thoughts of her day-to-day life. But as the possibility of war grew and finally fell upon her and her family and their town of Cleveland, Tennessee, she became an astute observer of the war. In short, Myra Inman, a member of a prominent but not wealthy family, came of age in the greatest conflict America had yet seen. Myra records encounters with soldiers on both sides, yet her heart was faithful to her South. Cleveland was a hybrid town, harboring support for both sides of the conflict. As the War develops, her diary shifts from domestic issues to political reflections on the War between the States.

William R. Snell is professor of history at Lee University. His previous publications include Hard Times Remembered and From War to Peace, both in-depth studies of an East Tennessee county's history.