Mary Boykin Miller was born on a plantation near Pleasant Hill, South Carolina. She attended private schools in South Carolina, where she studied history, literature, and science. In 1840 she married James Chesnut, who became a leading figure in South Carolina politics. Mary Chesnut kept a journal, but her notes were usually brief. About 1861, at the outset of the Civil War, she began to expand her notes into a diary to record her daily conversations, thoughts, and observations. She closed her diary on August 2, 1865, after writing some 400,000 words. The diary reveals Chesnut’s condemnation of slavery, as well as her fierce loyalty to the South and its traditions. The book also describes the southern aristocracy and Confederate politicians and military leaders. After the war she worked to turn her diary into a book manuscript. A Diary from Dixie was published in 1905, almost 10 years after Chesnut’s death.
