Diary of a Union Lady, 1861-1865

Rumour, gossip and innuendo are the weapons of the home front, and no one wieled them with quite the aplomb of Maria Lydig Daly. Her detailed comments on everything from inept Union generals to Dorothea Dix’s appearance provide lively memoir from a Northern non-combatant. Daly was the wife of a prominent New York City judge whose connections allowed her to meet many major figures involved in Northern military and diplomatic strategy. Despite catty comments about Mrs Lincoln and less-than-flattering appraisals of Union generalship, Daly could be sympathetic toward the suffering of the soldiers. She noted the fear with which many viewed the draft, seeing it as a terrible incursion on liberty, but she understood that the times called for severe measures.