Published in The Atlanta Constitution January 5th, 1896.
“LIFE IN DIXIE DURING THE WAR,
is the title of one of the best series of sketches that has been written about the ‘late unpleasantness.’ It contains the record of one woman’s experience during the five years of warfare between the North and the South. The author, Miss Mary A. H. Gay, of Decatur, Georgia, one of the most graceful writers in the South, has handled the subject in a masterful manner. ‘Truth is stranger than fiction,’ and the work abounds in truth. The volume ought to be on sale at every news-stand in the South. The book has been described as containing ‘a living picture of those trying times—not to stir up bitter feelings and hatred, but a history, and such history as cannot be obtained in any other form.’ Miss Gay was in the thick of the strife, ‘and in a modest way shows herself a heroine worthy of any romance.’ Her pen describes scenes that bring tears for the pain and suffering, and laughter at the ‘makeshifts’ resorted to by those noble people in the hour of actual need. ‘Some parts of the narrative may be judged as rather bitter towards the enemy by those who know not the horrors of that war. But let such critics put themselves in the wake of Sherman’s army and suffer as the writer, and they will feel more charitable towards her who, in recalling those experiences, finds it hard to love all her enemies. There is only a touch of this old-time bitterness, however; most of the book is simply historic, and Miss Gay does not hesitate to record many kindnesses received at the hands of Federal officers.’ Such a valuable contribution to the history of the war should be prized. It is a vivid chronicle, and the rising generation should learn of those stirring events. They will read with unflagging interest to the end of the narrative. We wish for it a wide circulation.”—The Arkansas Gazette, March 10th, 1896.
LIFE IN DIXIE DURING THE WAR.
BY MARY A. H. GAY, DECATUR, GA.
We endorse most heartily the praise bestowed on this modest volume by the general press. Within the same scope we do not believe a truer or more sympathetic picture of the ghastly war time has ever been written. It is not fiction, but a faithful presentation of one woman’s experience during the five years that bounded the war between the States.
The writer was in the very thick of the strife, and while with admirable modesty she has endeavored to keep herself out of her book, it is clear that she was one of the heroic and indefatigable women who brought into scenes of suffering the ministry of tenderness. The recital of events as they were, brings humor into the book, whose tenor in the main, however, is necessarily sad.
By those to whom the war is simply a tale that is told, there are parts of the book in which the writer will be accused of undue bitterness. However, no such critics, we think, will be found among the people to whom the war was a reality. Miss Gay records, without hesitation, many kindnesses received at the hands of the Federal officers.
Texas soldiers of Granbury’s brigade, Cleburne’s division, and Hood’s corps, figure conspicuously and by name in the book. Miss Gay visited Hood’s headquarters twice while the brigade was encamped in Georgia, the last time just before they left Georgia for the fatal march into Tennessee. The night-scene she describes near Jonesboro, where they were encamped, is most graphic and pathetic. Miss Gay is the woman who collected the money to have the soldiers who fell at Franklin, Tennessee, reburied, when she heard that the owners of the battlefield said their graves should be ploughed over. She collected $7,000, and her name is engraved on the silver plate on the entrance gate at the McGavock cemetery, which she so largely helped to build.—The Richmond Times, Feb. 16, 1896.