Diary of a Union Lady, 1861-1865 [Paperback]

Maria Lydig Daly (Author), Harold Earl Hammond (Editor), Jean V. Berlin (Introduction)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 2000

Rumor, gossip, and innuendo are the weapons of the home front, and no one wielded them with quite the aplomb of Maria Lydig Daly. Her richly detailed comments on everything from inept Union generals to Dorothea Dix’s appearance provide the liveliest memoir to emerge from a Northern noncombatant. Daly was the wife of a prominent New York City judge whose connections allowed her to meet many major figures involved in Northern military and diplomatic strategy. Despite catty comments about Mrs. Lincoln and less-than-flattering appraisals of Union generalship, Daly could be sympathetic toward the suffering of the soldiers. She noted the fear with which many viewed the draft, seeing it as a terrible incursion on liberty, but she understood that the times called for severe measures.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Her diary, a notch better than history, is life—a minute, intimate, hilarious self-portrait. . . . [She is] irritable, querulous, censorious, self-centered, and idle, but not bad-hearted.”—New Yorker

(New Yorker )

"Her comments on friend and foe alike are frequently caustic and often biased, but she emerges from the pages of the diary as a very definite personality."—Library Journal

(Library Journal )

"An amusing and valuable social document."—Booklist

(Booklist )

About the Author

Introducer Jean V. Berlin is coeditor of Sherman’s Civil War: Selected Correspondence of William T. Sherman, 1860–1865.

Product Details

• Paperback: 396 pages
• Publisher: University of Nebraska Press (June 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0803266235
• ISBN-13: 978-0803266230
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,800,792 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Engaging book, preachy introduction, January 22, 2001

By 

Alexandra Griggs (Charlottesville, VA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Diary of a Union Lady, 1861-1865 (Paperback)

Maria Lydig Daly seems to have had an opinion about just about anything and did not hold back from sharing them in her diary. Sometimes she's just dead wrong, other times she issues a telling observation. We need all we can get about Northern women, and this diary testifies to their diversity of voices. However, as for the introduction, what's got Jean Berlin in a snit? The introduction is preachy and sanctimonious, and that's the good part. Maybe she had better go to Tiffany's and mingle with the people she mocks.