Elizabeth Scott Neblett
Confederate Woman Writer

ELIZABETH SCOTT NEBLETT, (1833-1917). Elizabeth (Lizzie) Scott Neblett, diarist, was born in Raymond, Mississippi, to James and Sarah (Lane) Scott on January 17, 1833. In 1839, when she was six years old, the family moved to Houston, Texas. The following year they moved to Fanthorp Springs, three miles east of the site of present Anderson in Grimes County. The area was sparsely populated, and the first school Lizzie attended was held in a small log cabin. On May 25, 1852, she married William H. Neblett, a Texas farmer, planter, and aspiring attorney. The couple spent their first three years of married life in Anderson and moved to Corsicana in 1855. There William Neblett practiced law, edited the Navarro Express , and farmed property three miles outside of town. The family returned to Grimes County in December 1861.

Mrs. Neblett kept a diary from March 1852, two months before her marriage, until May 1863, shortly after her husband left to serve the Confederacy. She wrote, "I can never gain worldly honors. Fame can never be mine. I am a woman ! A woman! I can hardly teach my heart to be content with my lot." She found one of her greatest hardships to be childbirth; she had six children and asked her husband to let her use artificial birth control. She was an avid reader of literature and poetry and saved copies of favorite poems and stories in bulging scrapbooks. Her diary, combined with her letters, scrapbooks, and a memoir she wrote about her deceased husband, provide a picture of a mid-nineteenth-century Texas woman. Following her husband's death in 1871, she lived most of her remaining years in Anderson, where she died on September 28, 1917. Her diary and letters were published in 2001.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Irene Taylor Allen, Saga of Anderson-The Proud Story of a Historic Texas Community (New York: Greenwich, 1957). Kathryn G. Berger, The Diary of Lizzie Scott Neblett, March 16, 1852 to May 1, 1863 (Honors thesis, University of Texas at Austin, 1981). Erika L. Murr, ed., A Rebel Wife in Texas: The Diary and Letters of Elizabeth Scott Neblett, 1852-1864 (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2001). Lizzie Scott Neblett Papers, Barker Texas History Center, University of Texas at Austin.

June Melby Benowitz

 


A Rebel Wife in Texas: The Diary and Letters of Elizabeth Scott Neblett, 1852-1864
Elizabeth Neblett's observations on slave and class relations, regional politics, lynching, farm management, medical practices, mental illness, and the Civil War in Texas.

Civil War Women
Women Civil War Soldiers
Womens Sufferage
Civil War Music History
Colored Troop Pictures
Civil War Picture Album
Documents of the War
Kids Zone Causes of the War
Kids Zone Underground Railroad
Civil War Exhibits
Civil War Timeline
State Battle Maps
Civil War Store


American Civil War Book Titles

Record of the Actual Experiences of the Wife of a Confederate Officer
The author tells of her many travels across the war-torn South, capture behind enemy lines, encounter with Belle Boyd, friendship with General J. E. B. Stuart, and the devastation suffered by the citizens of Richmond in the last days of the Confederacy.
Rose O'Neale Greenhow Civil War Spy
Rose O'Neale Greenhow, Civil War Spy
Fearless spy for the Confederacy, glittering Washington hostess, legendary beauty and lover, Rose Greenhow risked everything for the cause she valued more than life itself

A Very Violent Rebel: The Civil War Diary of Ellen Renshaw House
The Siege of Knoxville (November 1863) is covered and Sutherland's footnotes make for good history

She Went to the Field:
Women Soldiers of the Civil War

Several substantiated cases of female soldiers during the American Civil War, including Sarah Rosetta Wakeman (aka Private Wakeman, Union); Sarah Emma Edmonds (aka Private Thompson, Union); Loreta Janeta Velazquez (aka Lieutenant Buford, Confederate); and Jennie Hodgers (aka Private Cashier, Union).

Alice Paul and the American Suffrage Campaign
An analysis of Paul's nonviolent and visual rhetorical strategies, Alice Paul and the American Suffrage Campaign narrates the remarkable story of the first person to picket the White House, the first to attempt a national political boycott, the first to burn the president in effigy, and the first to lead a successful campaign of nonviolence
Mary Livermore
A Strong-minded Woman
The Life of Mary Livermore

A leading figure in the struggle for woman's rights as well as in the temperance movement, she was as widely recognized during her lifetime as Susan B. Anthony, and for a time the most popular and highly paid female orator in the country

Memoirs of a Soldier, Nurse and Spy: A Woman's Adventures in the Union Army
On April 25, 1861, Sarah Emma Edmonds alias Frank Thompson became a male nurse in Company F, of the 2nd Michigan Volunteer Infantry Regiment. This is 'his' story

The Woman in Battle: The Civil War Narrative of Loreta Janeta Velazquez, Cuban Woman and Confederate Soldier
A Cuban woman fought in the Civil War for the Confederacy as the cross-dressing Harry T. Buford. As Buford, she organized an Arkansas regiment; participated in the historic battles of Bull Run, Balls Bluff, Fort Donelson, and Shiloh

Civil War History Documentary DVD Movie Titles

The Civil War - A Film by Ken Burns
Here is the saga of celebrated generals and ordinary soldiers, a heroic and transcendent president and a country that had to divide itself in two in order to become one

Uncle Toms Cabin
DVD also features a detailed and informative essay by historian David Pierce, an extensive collection of stills, promotional materials, and music cue sheets, and details of cuts made to the film, including two deleted scenes that are among the best moments the film has to offer

Women And The Civil War
The many contributions of women in both the North and South are presented in this program describing their roles on and near the momentous battles of the American Civil War

American Experience - Abraham and Mary Lincoln: A House Divided
Abraham Lincoln's legacy as the Great Emancipator reshaped the nation while his tragic death left Mary reclusive and forgotten.

The Last Confederate: The Story of Robert Adams
Great historically correct movie of a noble confederate and his undying love of a Yankee girl.

American Experience: The Massachusetts 54th Colored Infantry
After Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, the governor of Massachusetts was authorized to raise the first northern black regiment,  the Massachusetts 54th colored infantry.

Gettysburg / Gods and Generals
The tide of the war changes during three fierce days of combat at Gettysburg [Disc 1] the gripping saga of the tactics command errors and sacrifices behind the bloodiest battle ever fought on U.S. soil. Gods and Generals [Disc 2] reveals the spirited allegiances and fierce combat of earlier Civil War struggles

Horses of Gettysburg
Civil War Minutes

Filmed in high definition with charging horses, battlefield panoramas and no "talking heads," this cinematic documentary tells the story of the estimated 72,000 horses and mules that fought at the Battle of Gettysburg and uncovers the strategies employed to ensure that the millions of animals in service with the North and South remained healthy and well-trained for action.

 


Sources:
U.S. Library of Congress
U.S. National Park Service
Federal Citizen