Melissa Russell was a native of Springfield, Massachusetts; she traveled to Alabama with her brother, Henry, who was an Indian agent near Tallassee. In the diary she describes fellow travelers, accommodations, social activities, and towns she...
Sally was living on her plantation in Dallas County, Alabama, at the time she kept the diary. Her husband, John Perry, was killed at the Battle of Sharpsburg.
The diary includes detailed descriptions and lists of wildlife, especially birds, seen on the trip. Harris also gives accounts of the animals hunted and killed by the men on the expedition.
The first few entries were written before the war; they discuss Wilson's work as a clerk in a cotton house and his social life in Mobile. Most of the diary, however, focuses on his military service during the Civil War. He describes camp life and...