Long-Lost Diary Gives Glimpse of Civil War-Era Life

AUBURN, Me. —  A man renovating a farmhouse discovered a dusty leather-bound diary that offers a glimpse into a woman’s life during the Civil War era.

The unidentified author referred to Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee’s surrender and Abraham Lincoln’s assassination on the pages of the 3-by-5-inch journal.

A reference dated April 10, 1865, says: “It is raining this morn. good News from War. Lee has surrendered with his Army.”

And less than a week later: “Nice pleasant morn but verry bad News from War The President is Dead was killed by a (undistinguishable) There is great mourning all over (undistinguishable) land.”

Ramon Villani, who discovered the book while ripping out a wall in his dining room, suspects it was stored beneath an attic floorboard and slipped through a crack into the wall below. The house was built in 1862.

The author left few clues to her identity on the diary’s blue-lined pages, and her gender is revealed by references to her employment as a housekeeper.