The War-Time Journal of a Georgia Girl, 1864-1865

Frances Andrews's War-time Journal of a Georgia Girl is a classic in the genre of non-combatant Civil War era diaries. With this 1997 release, the diary has been republished twice since the original 1908 edition.The War-time Journal is a graphic, first-person portrayal of the turmoil and tragedy of the Southern secession. The diary was written as a personal record not intended for publication. Its tone is honest, sometimes brutally so; and Fanny's observations reflect the social and cultural realities of the mid-nineteenth century. Also of significance is the journal's prologue and epilogue. Andrews added these elements in 1908, forty years after the events and opinions recorded in the 1864-1865 diary. The 1908 comments reflect wisdom gained through maturity and experience. Andrews was 25 when she wrote The War-time Journal. She was a matron of 68 when the diary and her commentary were published. Jean Berlin's foreword to the 1997 reprint of The War-Time Journal criticizes the young Fanny Andrews for what Berlin terms Andrews's class consciousness and her insensitivity to the plight of the Southern lower classes and Andrews's "unabashed racist beliefs." Berlin takes special note of Fanny's description and reaction to a "cracker" family written on February 13, 1865, when Andrews described her visit with another woman to recruit children for a Sunday School. Berlin writes in her introduction that Fanny's diary observations revealed Andrews's "complete insensitivity" towards white people less fortunate than herself. Fanny admitted to the correctness of the Berlin's criticism when, in her 1908 introduction to the journal she wrote: "To use a modern phrase, we were intensely 'class conscious' and this brought about a solidarity of feeling and sentiment almost comparable to that created by family ties..."Andrews's attitudes, her values, her beliefs recorded in the diary are those of the nineteenth century; and those views, and her honesty of opinion, make the diary valuable. The War-time Journal provides a window into the culture, the politics, and the society of the period. Together with the 1908 material, the 1864-1865 views and attitudes are tempered with the reflection and wisdom of time.Andrews's descriptions of the events surrounding the last days of the Southern Confederacy coupled with her reactions to the collapse of her aristocratic world make this diary valuable to anyone seeking first-person witness to a tragic time in the country's history.

What a wonderful account of the South during the War between the States. Eliza's Diary makes you feel you are there. The first thing to do when you get the book is to tear out the distorted introduction by Jean Berlin. If you want to know of the experiences of Southern people during this war, get this diary, written at the time by one who was there, Eliza Andrews. Also check out "The Children of Pride", another great first person account.

Eliza's diary is more cogent than any novel ever written about the Civil War. General Sherman laid a track, and ELiza had to follow his footsteps through Georgia as she sought respite in her relatives' home. Her insights into war and the havoc it wrought in the South are accompanied by her own editorial comments forty-four years later. In 1864, her heart burned with hatred for the Yankees who burned houses, appropriated food and horses, and stole jewelry; in 1908, she shudders at the thought of slavery and finally begins to understand the viewpoint of her abolitionist father.I started reading this book for information; but Eliza Frances Andrew had a captivating writing style, and I was moved along by her "big picture" observations as well as the small details, such as being out of brandy--their only medicine--and the Colonel's bride, who thought her silk parasol would protect her from the rain.I haven't read a better book about the end of the COnfederacy and the beginnings of the New SOuth.