Manuscript Database
Creator/Title
Van Meter, Mary Elizabeth Shrewsbury, 1826-1893. Diary, 1862-1863. 44 pp.
Call No.
Mss. C V
Content
The wife of William Steele Van Meter, who with his brother Charles owned the pro-Southern firm of Van Meter & Brother, Mary E. Van Meter describes the evacuation of Bowling Green, Kentucky by Confederate forces in early 1862. She records the destruction to the town due to the fires set by withdrawing troops. (pp. 1-3) After months of exile in the South she returns to Kentucky in early 1863. She describes a verbal altercation with a pro-Union family near Woodbury while traveling to her home. She also describes further wartime destuction in Bowling Green as well as the presence of "abolition soldiers clad in the hateful blue uniform." (pp. 42-43)