My Diary North and South

A British journalist's eyewitness description of American society at the start of the Civil War, published in 1863.

William Howard Russell (Author)

9781108041232, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 15 December 2011

460 pages
21.6 x 14 x 2.6 cm, 0.58 kg

William Howard Russell (1820–1907) was a nineteenth-century war correspondent for The Times. In 1861–2 he visited America to report on the secession crisis that had followed Abraham Lincoln's campaign to abolish slavery, in which eleven southern states had withdrawn from the United States to form their own confederacy, resulting in the American Civil War. First published in 1863, this two-volume work recounts Russell's experiences there. Based on his interviews with Lincoln, other pivotal figures, and ordinary citizens, together with his diaries and his letters to The Times, it documents his impressions of both the northern and the opposing southern states as he travelled through them. His book, thought to have been compiled in response to accusations that he was biased towards the South, provides a revealing eyewitness account of life during a landmark period in America's history. Volume 2 focuses on the horrors of the unfolding war.

1. Down the Mississippi
2. Camp Randolph
3. Heavy Bill
4. Camp at Cairo
5. Impending battle
6. Progress of events
7. Niagara
8. Departure for Washington
9. Interview with Mr. Seward
10. Arlington Heights and the Potomac
11. Fortress Monroe
12. The 'State House' at Annapolis
13. Skirmish at Bull's Run
14. To the scene of action
15. A runaway crowd at Washington
16. Attack of illness
17. Return to Baltimore
18. A tour of inspection round the camp
19. Personal unpopularity
20. A Crimean acquaintance
21. Another Crimean acquaintance
22. General Scott's resignation
23. A captain under arrest
24. News of the death of the Prince Consort.

Subject Areas: History of the Americas [HBJK]