A plantation mistress on the eve of the Civil War

"The diary of Keziah Brevard documents one plantation mistress's personal reflections on the events that were to shape both her world and her Southern homeland for years to come : the election of Abraham Lincoln, South Carolina's session convention, and the attack on Fort Sumter. In 1860, Keziah Brevard was a fifty-seven-year-old widow living nine miles from Columbia, South Carolina, with her slaves as her only companions. She kept a diary to record thoughts and a great variety of matters -- from dramatic events of national importance to her management of three plantations and a grist mill ... Her diary reveals a competent, no-nonsense woman capable of successfully leading a large house-hold as well as several business enterprises"--Jacket.