(b. March 31, 1823; d. November 22, 1886) Author of an important Civil War diary.

Mary Boykin Chesnut penned one of the most significant Civil War diaries ever written. Born to a wealthy planter family in Statesburg, South Carolina, on March 31, 1823, Chesnut enjoyed all the advantages of privilege. Her father, Stephen Decatur Miller, was governor of South Carolina and a leading "nullifier," a states' rights advocate, in the 1820s, so she also received a formidable education in politics. Outgoing, vivacious, and mature beyond her seventeen years, she married James Chesnut, Jr., scion of another prominent South Carolina family, in 1840. Their marriage led them to the center of American and Confederate politics from 1840 until James's death in 1885. Mary Chesnut outlived her husband by one year, succumbing to heart disease on November 22, 1886.

Mary Boykin's marriage to James Chesnut had unanticipated consequences. James Chesnut rose through the ranks of South Carolina...