These two volumes comprise the diary of Musidora Ophelia Cartwright of Athens, Alabama, which she kept between November 1859 and July 1865. The volumes also contain her essays, poems, an address, and copies of correspondence with her classmates and family. These include letters to her brother Lieutenant Hezekiah J. Cartwright of the 9th Regiment, Alabama Infantry, who was captured at Gettysburg and held as a prisoner of war at Fort Delaware. Musidora Cartwright wrote about her life as teenager in Athens, school, farming, enslaved laborers, literary topics, and local effects the Civil War (including the Federal occupation of Huntsville, Athens, and Decatur).
Musie Cartwright began her diary around a month before turning 14 years old. She began school in September 1859 and stopped attending on June 19, 1861, on account of the war. Her diary entries in this time tended to regard the seasons, beauty, nature, contentment, and fashion. As the months passed, she wrote about the effects of the war on herself, family, and surroundings; an entry dated January 3, 1861, for example, reads: "Our currency is deranged. Couriers are sent from North to South and from South to North to adjust difficulties though many think it is too late. The North says the South had done the damage, the South retaliates, and Solomon with all his wisdom (were he alive) could hardly tell which is right or wrong."
In January 1864, she described the destruction of many towns and villages by the "heartless invaders" who have rendered the area "of the great Tennessee Bend . . . a barren waste, our servants are driven off at the point of the bayonet, and our stock and provisions are carried off." She continued, noting that the enslaved men, women, and children, "forming so large a part of the population of the South are wickedly seduced or barbarously forced at the point of the bayonet to leave their kind masters, give up their pleasant homes and all the comforts of life . . . All this is done by those who pretend to be their best friends, - the Abolitionists."
Cartwright began the second volume of her diary with an entry on July 4, 1864, and then frequently used it as a place to copy her correspondence. In letters to her former classmates, she wrote about how as women could choose to be clerks, school mistresses, governesses, or enter the field of literature instead of "taking in sewing and weaving." She also desired to return to school. In letters to her brother, Lieut. Hezekiah J. Cartwright (9th Regiment, Alabama Infantry), she described the occupation of Huntsville, Athens, and Decatur by Federal troops.
Both volumes contain essays and poetry. The first includes short essays and poetry penned by Cartwright, as well as quotes from poems by Milton, Pope, and Addison. She copied numerous extracts from the poem "Festus" by Philip James Bailey. Her essay titled "Virginia" mentions the May 1863 death of Stonewall Jackson. The second volume continues with essays on classical, literary, and other subjects. Musidora Cartwright wrote an "Address to the Young Ladies of Limestone" in January 1865, encouraging young women not to "weaken" in the face of the War, and arguing that the South should not rejoin the Union.
