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Book Reviews These are some reviews from a recent issue of
The Civil War News:
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A Maryland Bride in the Deep South: The Civil War Diary of Priscilla Bond
Edited by Kimberly Harrison
Illustrated, maps, introduction with character identification, genealogy trees, footnotes, bibliographic references, index, 384 pp., 2006. Louisiana State University Press, P.O. Box 25053, Baton Rouge, LA 70803. $45 plus shipping.
Have you ever had an experience where you have asked yourself what on earth have I gotten myself into? If so, you can certainly empathize with Priscilla “Mittie” Bond, the subject of A Maryland Bride in the Deep South: The Civil War Diary of Priscilla Bond. Kimberly Harrison, Assistant Professor of English and the Director of Undergraduate Writing at Florida International University, has done an excellent job in editing this complete diary. The diary starts in 1858, when Mittie was 18 years old. It chronicles her move from a safe and loving family in Maryland to a new start in the Deep South backwoods of Louisiana. The story continues through the American Civil War and details how she adapted to new family relationships, changing gender roles and new societal demands. Mittie’s upbringing in Maryland was that of a typical white free labor society family. She led a life influenced by her strong spiritual faith and love of her family. However, much of this would change as she assumed the new role of wife and plantation mistress when she and her husband moved to Louisiana. Terrebone, La., was a relatively new plantation society, which retained the characteristics of the frontier South. Her marriage to Howard Bond, an extended family member, propelled her to the higher-level planter class of the South. The Priscilla Munnikhuysen Bond Papers, located in the Louisiana State University Library, formed the basis of the diary collection used in this book. Each day‘s thoughts, concerns, ideas and/or feelings were carefully recorded in two volumes that cover the time from May 21, 1858, to around July 8, 1865. This record provides a valuable insight not only into Mittie’s journey through the Civil War, but also to the Southern home front experience as a whole. Mittie struggled to keep her family together. She did not have good relations with her in-laws, and the new woes of being a wife and plantation mistress must have been overwhelming. Plantation life was far different from her free-labor societal upbringing. Her life was complicated by the fact that Mittie suffered from tuberculosis. The diary portrays the heart and soul of a real human, with real dreams, concerns and problems. Some readers will regard the occasional emotional diatribe as unnecessary, but it does help show that Mittie was genuine and real. This edited diary provides valuable insight into how Mittie regarded the issues of slavery, war service, social life in the South, in-law problems and falling in and out of love with her husband, all the while battling a debilitating disease. Her bouts with tuberculosis would frequently require her to be bedridden for days and would ultimately take her life at the tender age of 28. The diary has been carefully edited and has many additional features that bring the whole story together. Harrison has effectively used maps, illustrations, character descriptions of the major players mentioned in the diary and genealogical information to provide the reader with a complete picture of Mittie’s life. The painstaking research involved in this process yielded a work that is definitely worth the $45 hardbound edition price. This reviewer strongly recommends the book for anyone wishing to gain a better understanding of life in the Southern home front or of the contributions women made during the Civil War.
Richard J. Blumberg
Richard J. Blumberg has a master’s degree with honors in Civil War studies. He is past president of the Houston Civil War Round Table and is a speaker for that group and the Society of Women in the Civil War. He also reviews books for the Blue and Gray Education Society.
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