“C” is for Chesnut, Mary Boykin Miller [1823-1886]. Diarist. Mary Chesnut began keeping a diary in February 1861 and later revised it for publication in the 1880s. Her husband’s prominent role in the new Confederacy carried her to the centers of action and allowed her to witness and record her impressions of those dramatic times. All the while she made her own perceptive observations of people and events, and the frustrations of a spirited woman in a world of men. No other southern writer of her era possessed the combination of literary cultivation, psychological perception, opportunity to observe closely the upper echelons of the Confederacy, and a willingness to write candidly about people, events, and issues—including slavery. The resulting publication, much revised and more appropriately labeled a memoir, secured Mary Boykin Miller Chesnut’s place in southern literary history.