Mary Boykin Chesnut (nee Miller, 1823-86) was an American author noted for her Civil War diary in which she described the war from within the upper-class circles of Southern planter society she inhabited.
She was married to a lawyer who served as a US senator and Confederate officer, and the Chesnuts were family friends of President Jefferson Davis and his wife Varina Howell.
They had close ties to the Confederate government, with generals John Bell Hood and Wade Hampton III among their acquaint.
Echo Library A diary from dixie (illustrated edition), paperback/mary boykin miller chesnut
