her former life of splendor, luxury and comfort was devastated by the war. Also like many other women, she reveals her dismay over the turning of the wheel of fate which would make her and her family very, very poor. Once the Civil War erupted, there was little hope or chance or returning to the former gentility and comfort of her past life on a Southern plantation:
I was for many years the only daughter and, in consequence, was much petted and indulged. My dear father’s fortunes have been sadly varied. My first recollection is of a sufficiency, every comfort. Then came wealth. When I reached womanhood all of life’s choicest gifts were mine, but the wheels turned, and we were poor, very poor. Father labored day and night, and could barely make both ends meet. I was young, hopeful, and energetic. I set to work and by doing various kinds of fancy work, at which I was adept, I earned enough to clothe myself, except shoes, without calling on father.
The Journal of Mrs. Eugenia Levy Phillips (1861-1862) focuses more on the destruction of civil order and political motives than the daily lifestyle concerns of Eleanor Cohen Seixas in her journal. In Levy Phillips’ journal we are privy to the strong pro-Southern sympathies of Mrs. Phillips, sympathies that would put her life in danger when Yankee troops determined she was a significant member of the rebellion in the South. Like the storm-troopers would do a century later in Eastern Europe, the Northern troops stormed Mrs. Phillips house and confiscated many of her possessions they felt were detrimental to Northern sympathies . After searching her secretary that had once belonged to Mrs. Jefferson Davis, they attacked other articles in her home finding nothing in the secretary of an incriminating nature. The spirit with which Mrs. Levy Phillips handles this encounter demonstrates much about the character of Jewish women who remained loyal to the South “In the midst of ...