The Uncompromising Diary of Sallie McNeill, 1858-1867 (review)

540Southwestern Historical QuarterlyApril cause. He largely ignored the first year of the war, choosing instead to focus on his business interests. In 1862, however, he grudginglyjoined Spaight's Eleventh Battalion, which later became the 21st Texas Infantry. Duncan, a natural leader and widely respected among the men in his unit, was eventually elected an officer. The vast majority of the book covers Duncan's Civil War years and highlights many important themes central to Civil War history: the uncertainty of enlistment and service, morale, national identification, defeat, and life after the conflict. The lengthy depiction of Duncan's Civil War experience presents a refreshing departure from the many narratives that tend to emphasize glory won on large batdefields, grand campaigns, and larger-than-life leaders. Rather, the reader is offered a glimpse into the war's often-forgotten underside: messy camps, miserable garrison duty, monotonous drills, and general distaste for war. More importandy, though, Duncan's service along the Texas Gulf Coast and in southwestern Louisiana reflects the book's central theme. He endured severe bouts of low morale and thus wavered constandy in his dedication to the Confederate cause. The lack ofmilitary activity, in addition to feelings ofuselessness and time boringly wasted, sapped any energy Duncan might have directed toward the war effort. Civil War historiography rarely highlights these emotions as central elements of the Confederate experience. Caudill, however, embraces the opportunity to reveal the deep-seated and negative sentiments expressed so candidly in Duncan's diaries. Caudill's contribution is undoubtedly welcome, yet he seems to translate Duncan's brand of sour morale into an answer for the Confederacy's defeat. By adopting the outmoded "loss-of-will" thesis, seemingly based on the sentiments of one individual's diary entries, Caudill concludes that "Southern unity in support of the Confederacy was in widespread disintegration by 1863" (44). Moreover, he maintains that a "consensus" exists among Civil War historians who argue that Confederate morale peaked at the beginning of the conflict and diminished consistently thereafter until the surrender. These interpretations neglect the significance of recent scholarship from William A. Blair, Aaron Sheehan-Dean, Gary W. Gallagher, James M. McPherson, and Jason Phillips who collectively submit that Confederates possessed the will to win despite low morale, disgust widi the Confederate government, or battlefield reverses. Duncan's instantaneous and war-wearied sentiments were clearly sincere and exposed the nature of service in a Trans-Mississippi backwater. However, they hardly reflected the totality of the Confederate military experience and did not accurately reveal the causes for Confederate defeat. Thus it is questionable to use an individual who was not necessarily representative of the Southern war effort in order to endorse a mode of analysis that has been successfully displaced by recent literature. Rice UniversityAndrew F. Lang The UncompromisingDiary ofSallieMcNeill, 1858-186·]. Edited with an introduction by Ginny McNeill Raska and Mary Lynne Gasaway Hill. (College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 2009. Pp. 214. Illustrations, appendices, notes, bibliography , index. ISBN 9781603440875, $32.50 cloth.) 2?? o Book Reviews541 By revealing the inner world of Sallie McNeill, a young woman of the planter class living in Brazoria County, Texas, this diary provides rich insights into life in south central Texas in the turbulent years surrounding the Civil War. This watershed event and the South's ultimate defeat prompted Sallie to write, "Slowly, we are awakening from die feeling of utter despair, which overwhelmed all classes, upon receipt of the 'news' of the fall of the Confederacy" (125). For the South (and Texas specifically) , in the span of a few short years, everything had changed. In addition to insights on the war and its aftermath, this diary is especially valuable in exposing the often-unexplored world, or "terra incognita," of a young woman who described herself as "not remarkable for anything" (1). On the contrary, Sallie 's diary is an indispensible resource for those interested in the gender and class dynamics present in the Old South, including both the opportunities and limitations afforded young elite woman during this period. In their brief introduction, Raska and Hill describe Sallie as both a typical and atypical Southern lady. According to the editors, Sallie held typical attitudes on slavery...