A very violent rebel
Subtitle: the Civil War diary of Ellen Renshaw House
By: edited by Daniel E. Sutherland.
Contributors: Sutherland, Daniel E.
Edition: 1st ed.
Series: Voices of the Civil War; Voices of the Civil War series.
Publisher: University of Tennessee Press
Published: 1996
Place of publication: Knoxville
Language: eng
Number of pages: 285
Subjects: House, Ellen Renshaw, 1843-1907 -- Diaries.; Women -- Tennessee, East -- Diaries.; Tennessee, East -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865.; United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Personal narratives, Confederate.
Description: Ellen Renshaw House was only nineteen years old in 1863 when she began a detailed journal of her experiences in Knoxville, Tennessee, amid the turmoil of the Civil War. Her diary, now published for the first time, is a remarkable document of the divided loyalties that were so pronounced in that part of the state and of the daily effects the war had on civilians.

A member of a middle-class family that had moved to Knoxville in 1860 from Georgia, Ellen House became, like her parents and siblings, a fervent Confederate - or, as she called herself, "a very violent Rebel." When the city fell to Federal forces in September 1863, Ellen's resentments ran deep, and she filled her diary with scornful words for the occupying Yankees.

She eagerly followed the news of military actions that might mean the recapture of the city and became an eyewitness to the war's dangers when Confederate General James Longstreet launched an ill-fated attack on Knoxville late in 1863. Despite her own privations, Ellen gave much of her time to providing relief to Confederate prisoners of war in the city.

Since she made no secret of where her sympathies lay, Federal military authorities eventually suspected her of spying and expelled her to Georgia, where she continued to record her impressions and observations. Only recently brought to light by the diarist's descendants, this compelling personal record has been meticulously edited and annotated by Daniel Sutherland. The resulting volume adds a spirited and articulate voice to the chorus of available firsthand testimony on America's bloodiest conflict.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. [261]-267) and index.
Table of contents: title: The Yankees are here; title: A leaden cloud hangs over our spirits; title: I am determined not to be blue; title: I am ordered to leave on Monday; title: Cut off from Knoxville; title: I thought my heart would burst; title: Epilogue : patriotism will not save the soul.