Customer Reviews

Brokenburn: The Journal of Kate Stone, 1861-1868 (Library of Southern Civilization)

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Kate Stone is one of my favorite Civil War diarists. She is an admixture of a great privilege, passionate beliefs, lover of literature, keen social observations and amazing fortitude. Her Civil War was dangerous, turbulent and life changing.

Brokenburn was a large plantation containing over 150 slaves in Madison Parish, LA. From 1862 on, it was in the center of the Union Army's fierce assault to gain control of the Mississippi River and divide the Confederacy in half. Plantations were commandeered and slaves were encouraged to revolt. The civilian population was helpless before the demands of military control. Madison Parish had a population of approximately 9,000 of whom 7,000 were slaves. After 1861, the Parish was emptied of able-bodied white men, most of whom had been sent to far-off Virginia and Tennessee, leaving none to protect the civilians.

In 1861, Kate was 20 years old, her immediate future being beaus, courtship, and a gay social life before she settled down to become a proper southern matron. She was unsure whether this route was ideal, as she remarked, "women grew significantly uglier in wedlock and ignored and abandoned their former female friends." This comfortable world was turned upside down, never to reappear again. With great enthusiasm and some trepidation, she watched her three older brothers go off to war. Her widowed mother made it clear that 14-year-old James was now in charge of the running of the plantation and the protection of the rest of the family. I was amazed at the serene assumption that a young teenager was thrust in this role, but it seems that was the custom of the times. If you had to grow up fast, you did. Yellow fever was a constant in the area, and longevity was not a norm. Both Generals Grant and Lee wanted their troops out of these areas during "the seasons of pestilence." This was not to be, and both armies suffered devastating losses to disease. Kate treated the "fever season" as a fact of life, and planned around it with remarkable briskness.

By 1862, the Stone family was desperate. The Federal leadership demanded that they stay on their property; yet there were serious slave insurrections that threatened the lives of the plantation holders. Those slaves who were not hostile were running off, and there was no labor to farm the crops. Many southerners could not believe that their "loyal" slaves would run away. Kate was not among them, saying, "If I were in their place, I'd do the same." She was by no means sympathetic, just practical.

The family finally escaped through the bayous in a rickety canoe with nothing, not even underwear, and finally made it across the border into Texas. They were refugees along with many other prominent Louisiana families. Kate was convinced they had arrived at "a dark corner of the Confederacy." Upon noting the barefoot but hoop skirted frontier ladies, she sniffed "there must be something in the air of Texas fatal to beauty."

Kate agonized over the increasingly bad war news and was devastated by Lee's surrender. Kate is one of the most vivid, perceptive diarists of the Civil War. Her diary is one of social history, a time of calamitous change and invaluable for understanding this crucial time in American history. Kate is a natural writer and observer. A highly enjoyable read.

Like Mary Boykin Chesnut, Kate Stone wrote her diary during the Civil War. They were both members of the slaveholding planter class and at the start of the war both were surrounded by servants who met their every need. But twenty year old Kate Stone's life would be more directly affected by the war. Her young uncles and brothers went to join up at the onset and before the war ended several were dead of injuries or disease. Kate Stone's Louisiana home was occupied by the Yankees forcing the family to flee to Texas. Both describe the deprivations of the war years, lack of shoe leather, lack of cloth and the unavailability of new books, and both were at times cheered by false reports of great southern victories. The two diaries complement each other.

Kate Stone was 20yrs old when the war began. She was a very well educated young woman living on a plantation called Brokenburn in NE Louisiana with her widowed mother, younger sister and five brothers. Their fortune lay in 1260 acres of land, a large cotton crop and about 150 slaves. Kate began her journal in May 1861, when many young men were rushing to join the fighting before the war was over and they might "miss all the fightin". In the beginning, Kate's life was little affected by the war. It was not until fabric for her fancy dresses and things like tea, coffee and sugar became scarce that she was personally affected. But, life would become much harder than Kate could ever imagine. Not only were she and her family forced to leave the plantation, they were faced with having almost all of their slaves "running North", but they stole everything they could get their hands on from the old family home. ONE faithful old Negro servant knew where the family silver was buried and he guarded as much as he could and remained with the old homeplace until the end. On the run, Kate and her family went west - passing through Minden, La., my childhood home, and then on to Texas. It was in Texas that the real hardships were endured. Kate's writings are plain, honest and true. She freely expresses her feelings about the war and about slavery. Like many Christians, Kate was forced to taken an honest look at slavery as opposed to what she reads in the Bible - the two just did not mesh. Brokenburn is a great read. I found it difficult to put down and I couldn't wait to get right back to it. Kate is another journaler who should have been a "real" writer. Thankfully, the editors resisted the urge to change Kate's diary. It is presented as close to its original form as possible. I, personally, hate it when editors change grammar, spelling, etc., with the idea of making it easier for the reader. As "the reader" I much prefer the original text whenever possible. A GREAT READ!!!

The Journal of Kate Stone records the Civil War experiences of a sensitive, well educated, patriotic Southern girl who was 20 years old when war began and was living with her widowed mother, five brothers, and younger sister at Brokenburn, their plantation home in northeast Louisiana. Beginning in May 1861, the Journal contains regular entries up to November 1865, with briefer sketches written In 1867 and 1868.
In many ways the Journal is an apparently a civilian history during the great struggle. It discloses the rosy optimism at the beginning: the dogged determination as war brought shortages and news of defeats and deaths: the hazardous flight of Kate and her family to Texas before the invading armies and their plight their as refugees: the bitter acknowledgment of final defeat and the return to a home devastated by floods and ravaged by occupation troops: and lastly, the battle to stave off poverty after the war.

Great chance to experience important events in American history through the unique viewpoint of a southern woman of the time.

I found this book a very good read. I am very interested in the Civil War and seeing the war through the eyes of 1)a civilian and 2)a southern woman has add greatly to my knowledge base of this topic. I am currently reading non-fiction women's journals/diaries to do a comparison between how they are being presented to the reader in comparison to Lillian's Diaries: Whispers From Galena's Past which I had transcribed and had published through BookSurge earlier this year. I have several more years of diaries to transcribed and am looking for different ways to do that. I really liked the way Brokenburn took a grouping of days and combined them into a "short story" format. I don't know if Kate Stone actually wrote her journals that way, or if editor John Q. Anderson has just presented them that way but it t is a very good way to take out the repetitious statements that appear in almost all diaries such as "No news today." or "The weather is warm." which can take up so much space and usually are not of interest to the everyday reader. I also liked the footnotes added to Kate's journals which clarified a name, an event or a word that is no longer used today. This is a technique that I found very educating, make the journals an educational experience as well as an entertaining read. Despite the differences in time periods - 1861-1868{Kate's journals} and 1913-1919 {Lillian's diaries} I found the writing personalities and even some of the experiences of the two women similar. Brokenburn was easy and enjoyable to read....but leaves you with an desire to find her next journals.

One of the best Civil War diaries that I have read. You feel like you are there with the family. Highly recommended.

I could not put this book down. Did not want it to end. Very interesting and full of history.

I bought this book before a trip to New Orleans/south and took a chance on her story. WOW - it's now a favorite of mine! I soaked in every moment of her journey. She was a wonderful writer and the booked flowed well - I learned SO much about what life was like in that era. This is the best way to improve your knowledge of history.

This diary is a page turner; it is interesting to hear how people actually lived back then,and their thoughts on the war and slavery. On one page she describes the slaves sitting in the gallery in church in their gaudy finery and laments how the Civil War is going to put an end to such a delightful way of life. Later on she is incredulous at how she could have ever thought such a thing! Her consciousness is finally raised to the point where she realizes how grueling daily life was for the slaves, who weren't there for her entertainment (although in fact, they were) and not at all "delightful" for the slaves. Her mother was a widow who ran the plantation alone into substantial profits; there is an uncle who never worked (these people are quite wealthy) - an interesting peek into people who lived in a real "Gone With the Wind" existence. However the book plunges into panic and "survival mode" as the Union soldiers run them out of their plantations into Texas where they live in relative poverty. Very good book for people interested in how people thought and lived in other times.