Documenting the period between 1861 and 1865, Mary Chesnut's Diary is widely considered to be one of the most compelling personal narratives of the Civil War. As the daughter of a wealthy plantation owner and the wife of an aide to the Confederate President, Jefferson Davis, Chesnut was well acquainted with the Confederacy's prominent players and--from the very first shots in Charleston, South Carolina--diligently recorded her impressions of the conflict's most significant moments.