Emilie Davis’s Civil War: The Diaries of a Free Black Woman in Philadelphia, 1863–1865

Davis records news of Gettysburg and Lincoln’s assassination in the same brief daily form she uses for the social life of her Philadelphia community. The scale is part of the value. A seamstress and student makes room for church, friends, and the war in a few lines at a time. Judith Giesberg’s introduction and the project’s notes help orient you when a name or a local reference comes up.