Ellen Wallace Diary, 1861-1863
What Is It?
This is a diary kept by a Kentucky woman named Ellen
Wallace. She lived in Hopkinsville, Kentucky.
What’s the Story?
Ellen Wallace was born around 1820. She and her husband
Albert had four children, Julia, Alfred, Henry, and Howson. The Wallaces owned a plantation and farm, and at the
beginning of the Civil War they had 30 slaves.
Her diary began in 1861, before the war started. She wrote
about Abraham Lincoln’s election and her worries that
war might break out. Mrs. Wallace was pro-slavery, but
she also supported the Union and did not want Kentucky
to secede. But, as the war dragged on, she became angry
because of Lincoln’s war policies and his issuing the Emancipation Proclamation.
Wallace continued to write in her diaries for the remainder of the war and throughout the Reconstruction era.
Collections of the Kentucky Historical Society • Accession Number MSS 52
• 6” x 7 5/8” x 1 3/4”
When the war officially ended, she wrote, “…The Confederacy
has gone down. What will become of the fragments? Will they
be again united in one glorious bond that has been purified by fire and blood never more to be severed, forever
one and the same in prosperity and honour? Or shall the bayonet of a tryant [sic] pin them together in the bonds
of eternal revenge and hate.”
Did You Know?
A diary like Ellen Wallace’s gives historians important information about women’s experiences during the Civil
War. Very few women published books at that time, so diaries and letters are often the only sources for this information. Women’s Civil War diaries also provide information on how life on the home front was affected by the
war, including food and supply shortages, nearby battles, and troop movements through towns.