A Yankee Scarlett O’Hara in Atlanta

Scarlett O’Hara dominates the world’s image of the American Civil War. But recent research has uncovered a real-life woman, Cyrena Bailey Stone, whose experiences offer a completely new perspective on wartime Atlanta.

 

Scarlett was a Confederate. Cyrena was a Unionist. Tempestuous, headstrong Scarlett had a conditional attachment to the Confederacy. Steady, courageous Cyrena possessed a principled allegiance to the Union. Scarlett fled Atlanta during the harrowing days of battle and siege. Cyrena stayed.‘This is my home’, she wrote on the eve of the great battle for the city in July 1864, ‘& I wish to protect it if possible.’

 

We know about Cyrena Stone because of the recent appearance of a diary, anonymously kept during the seven months leading up to the Battle of Atlanta. The document reflects the experience of Cyrena, who recorded the tumult that marked the beginning of the Confederacy’s death agony. Aware of the danger of keeping such a journal, she carefully protected her identity, and artfully obscured the identities of fellow members of a secret ‘Union Circle’ living in the rebel city.