A Southern Girl in '61 is a book written in the early 1900s by a lady who devoted her life and energies to the honor and defense of the Southland. This book is a compilation of her memories combined with excerpts from letters between family members and correspondences with officials of the Confederacy. The book chronicles the family's involvement in the last two years of the original United States of America and all four years of the Confederate States of America. Within the lines of Mrs. Wright's memories you will find an obvious closeness between the family members even as they were separated by the hardships of the war years, and you will find a faith in and love for the South that cannot be doubted.
       Mrs. D. Giraud Wright was born Louise Sophie Wigfall in December of 1846 and was a true "daughter of the South." Her parents were native South Carolinians who were in the process of relocating to Texas at the time of her birth. Her father, Louis Trezevant Wigfall, was briefly a member of the Texas Legislature, was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1860 and stayed there until Texas seceded from the Union using every opportunity to serve as "eyes and ears" for his beloved South. He then served the Confederacy both as a military officer and as a Senator. Her mother, Charlotte Maria Cross Wigfall, was also a devoted child of the South with a rich heritage from her Charlestonian family.
       Louise was the middle child of three living children in the Wigfall family, two sons having died in their first year of life. The oldest child was Francis "Halsey" Wigfall, born in 1844, who was actively involved in all four years of the War Between the States. The youngest child was another daughter, Mary Frances (Fanny) Wigfall, a child of eight at the onset of the war. "Fanny" was also, I am proud to say, my Great-Grandmother.
       As my brother and I have sorted through the attic of our family home, we have been very fortunate in finding a variety of keepsakes and family correspondence that have allowed us to learn about the Wigfall family. Their papers and letters were preserved and passed down through the generations until they belonged to my Mom, who added to the family information by collecting copies of "Aunt Lou's" book and any genealogy books about which she learned. As a result, I have been able to learn enough details of the family to feel as if I might have actually known them. I would like to share some of this family history with you now, so that you might enjoy Aunt Lou's writings even more fully.
       As mentioned Louis T. Wigfall, the head of the family, was born in South Carolina in 1816. His father died when he was only two years old and his mother died when he was thirteen, but they had provided for his education prior to their deaths. He was a classical scholar and student of the law. He graduated from South Carolina College at a time when the students there had been influenced for decades by very staunch beliefs in the right of secession and the need for strong states' rights. Though he is described as an able lawyer, his interest in practicing law was apparently never quite as strong as his interest in political activity. He was a follower of John C Calhoun and a classmate and close friend of John L Manning, who would go on to be governor of South Carolina. L.T. Wigfall would serve as brigadier general of the Confederate Army, senator in the Confederate Congress and a signer of the Confederate Constitution. Aunt Lou speaks of her father's wonderful oratory skills, and describes him as having the heart of a woman. I wondered about that being simply adoration for a father until I saw his oratory skills praised in several other places. Mary Boykin Chesnut, in her Diary from Dixie, alluded to his kind heart when she spoke of his "defense of the weak" and described him as the "very best husband I know, and the kindest father," even as she spoke of "how aggravating he can be."
       After the close of the war, L.T. Wigfall took his family to England for several years to avoid imprisonment by the U.S. Government. He later returned to the Baltimore, Maryland area and tried to find ways to make a living for his family, including an attempt at gold mining in Idaho. On a visit to Galveston, Texas in 1874, Wigfall while visiting with friends and associates in the city, apparently gathering information about moving back to the area and returning to the practice of law, suffered a stroke and died on February 16, 1874. He is buried in the beautiful old cemetery there. We visited his grave and were pleased to see very nice markers that enumerate his service to his country as well as describing him as "brave, tender, true." I was very touched by the fact that Galveston reminded me so much of Charleston, South Carolina, and therefore must have felt like home to him It is comforting to feel that he rests in peace in his beloved South and the State that he chose as his home.
       Mrs. Wigfall (Charlotte Maria Cross) was the devoted wife and mother whose words you will read many times during the course of this book. She was the traditional wife and mother who was the central hub around which her family revolved. She was the author of a generous supply of letters to all members of the family, including her own mother who lived until March of 1879. Her spirit can be felt in the way she relates events to each of the other family members. One author who has researched this family made the comment that they were a family that is well documented because they were mobile during the decade including the war, they were often separated from one another, and they were constantly corresponding with each other. Much of this correspondence can be found in the "Wigfall Family Papers" that are housed in the Library of Congress.
       An interesting story about Mrs. Wigfall involves the sacrifice of her wedding dress to make flags for some Confederate regiments. Mrs. Wigfall made a Texas "Lonestar" flag which was presented to the 1st Texas Infantry by President Davis in July 1861. A battle flag was also presented by "Little Fanny" to the 5th Texas and another to the 4th Texas by Aunt Lou later in the same year. We have record of the letters of thanks received by the girls including one from John Bell Hood, commanding the 4th Texas, addressed to Aunt Lou. He writes, "Allow me to thank you for the beautiful flag you have been so kind to present to my Regiment…. May we cherish the fond hope of claiming Miss Louise as 'la fille de regiment.'" Dale Gallon, historic artist, has done a painting entitled "Mrs. Wigfall's Wedding Dress" which portrays the First Texas Regiment with their battleflag supposed to have been made from the silk of her wedding dress. This is just one example of the many patriotic gestures that the women of the South made. Presentations of flags by the "Wigfall women" are talked about in A Southern Girl in '61 and in Chesnut's Diary from Dixie.
       After the death of her husband, Mrs. Wigfall lived in Baltimore with, or near, her married daughter Louise. She lived until July of 1893, giving her the opportunity to be involved in twenty years of her grandson's life and twelve to fifteen years of her two granddaughters' lives. She is buried in Lorraine Park Cemetery in Baltimore, Maryland
       The eldest surviving child of the Wigfalls was their second born son, Francis Halsey Wigfall, born in South Carolina on July 19, 1844. When the war broke out, Halsey was a boy of sixteen and enrolled in a prep school in Virginia. In October of 1861 he was appointed a cadet under General Orders Number 173 and assigned to the Washington Artillery. He served as Lieutenant in Bachman's Battery as well as Breathed's Battery of Stuart's Horse Artillery, as aide-de-camp with the rank of Major on the staff of General John B. Hood and later with General Joseph E. Johnston. Much of the correspondence in this book is between Halsey and his family. Again, the closeness that this family felt is almost tangible in Aunt Lou's writings.
       After the war Halsey traveled to England with his family. He came back to America and tried his hand at banking and insurance. Halsey served as a Captain with the 7th Regiment, Maryland National Guard in the 1870's. In the 1880's he was appointed consul at Leeds, England by President Cleveland and continued in that capacity through most of Harrison's administration until his health began to fail. He married Genevieve Welling but they had no children. Halsey died on October 4, 1897 and is buried in Lorraine Park Cemetery with his mother and sister, Fanny.
       The youngest child of the Wigfalls was their daughter Mary Frances (Fanny) who was born September 29, 1852 in Marshall, Texas. It seems ironic that the town of Marshall was named for the Chief Justice John Marshall and that Fanny's elder daughter married one of John Marshall's great-great grandsons. Aunt Lou speaks of Little Fanny occasionally in her book, noting her spunk in standing up to the Northern girls when they were staying with relatives near Boston, and referencing their trip back across the lines after hostilities had begun. One of my favorite stories that I have learned from my exploration of this family is a quote again from Mary Boykin Chesnut in her Diary from Dixie. She tells of the girls' trip back across the lines from Massachusetts and that as they returned Fannie overheard someone say that they were on Virginia soil again. Chesnut says, "Little Fannie Wigfall, a mere mite of a thing, ...sprang to her feet and cried, 'And now I may be permitted to express my political sentiments.'" This quote reflects the love and dedication of the whole family for the Confederacy!
       Fanny was still a child of twelve at the close of the war when the family's unsettled postwar years began. By the early 1870s the Wigfall women were all more or less settled in Maryland, but my heart has been touched by all the stressful family situations that occurred in Fanny's life for the next couple of decades. Her father died in 1874, both a cousin and a family friend with whom she had close relationships died in 1875 and 1876 respectively. I believe a fiancée also died in 1876, and her grandmother died in 1879. In late 1877 she married Benjamin Jones Taylor of Worster County, Maryland, two daughters were born in 1879 and 1882 and then her husband died in 1888. Her mother died in 1893 and her beloved brother died in 1897. In spite of all this she earned the following praise and description from my uncle: "My grandmother, Mary Frances Wigfall Taylor, was a handsome charming woman. She did a masterful job of raising her two daughters after my grandfather died when my mother was only ten years old. She used to spend half of the year with us – the winters – and contributed mightily in the raising of the four of us children."
       Fanny Wigfall lived until 1924, a loving sister, aunt, mother and grandmother. She was active in the United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC) from its inception in 1895 until her death. She died on March 31, 1924 in the seventy-first year of her life. She is buried in Lorraine Park Cemetery in Baltimore.
       The author of this book, Louise Sophie Wigfall Wright was born December 08, 1846 in Rhode Island while Charlotte Wigfall was visiting her mother, Frances Maria Halsey Cross, before the family went to join L T Wigfall in Texas. The family then lived in Texas until the late 1850s from which time Aunt Lou will take you through the years of the war. At the end of the war Louise Wigfall, called Luly by her family, was a young lady of eighteen. She went to England with the family immediately after the war. She returned to Maryland with her mother and sister by 1870 while her father and brother were still exploring attempts to provide for the family. On November 8, 1871, Louise married a Confederate veteran from Maryland, Daniel Giraud Wright. Wright enlisted as a private in Co. H, 1st Maryland Regiment in May 1861. He was commissioned Second Lieutenant, Co. C, 1st Virginia Regiment in April 1862, and promoted to First Lieutenant, Co. D, in 1863. In December 1863, he resigned and then enlisted in Mosby's Regiment, Virginia Cavalry, Co. D. He was captured in April of 1864 in Loudon County, Virginia and spent the rest of the war in Federal prisons. Wright went on to become a member of the bar in 1866 and was made an associate judge of the supreme bench of Baltimore City in 1888. He became a member of the Army and the Navy of the Confederate States in Maryland in 1871, joined the John S. Mosby Camp, United Confederate Veterans, and also served as Captain in the 7th Regiment, Maryland National Guard.
       The Wrights had one child, a son, W. H. DeCourcy Wright who followed his father into the practice of law. DeCourcy was born on June 17, 1873. He lived until 1951 when he was injured in a fall from his horse during a fox hunt, a sportsman to the end. DeCourcy had a son who was killed in an automobile accident in 1914 when he was fourteen years old. He also had one daughter who is still living. There are several other descendants in the younger generations.
       Louise Wigfall Wright devoted herself heart and soul to the interests of the Confederacy during the war and afterward. She was a founder of the Baltimore #8 Chapter of the Daughters of the Confederacy in 1895 and served as its first president, an office which she held for eleven years. She was also the first president of the State UDC in Maryland and served in that capacity until 1906. She resigned from both presidencies in 1906. During her reign, the UDC erected the beautiful soldiers and sailors monument that still stands in Baltimore. Among the family papers found in our home were many speeches in Aunt Lou's own hand from her days with the UDC. There are also numerous news articles pertaining to activities of the organization and other souvenirs from these years in her life as well as a scrapbook about the publication of this book. Through all these writings you can feel her devotion to the preservation of the memories and honor of the Southern "Lost Cause."
       Excerpts from one of the obituaries written about Aunt Lou include the following statements: "She founded and was for many years president of the Baltimore Chapter and the State Division United Daughters of the Confederacy, members of which today profoundly mourn her decease. Mrs. Wright was a woman of exceptional mental ability, a strong character, quick to foresee and wise to counsel. She possessed great energy and unwavering purpose and as an executive was distinguished for the calm reasonableness the makes for unbiased judgment. Intellectually Mrs. Wright was brilliant beyond most women, a writer of strength and charm, while personally she possessed the warmth of heart that inspired others to seek her presence and the pleasant environment of her home."
       Louise Wigfall Wright was injured in the automobile accident which took the life of her grandson in 1914. Her health was declining at the time, and she died March 15, 1915. She is buried in the cemetery of St. Thomas Church, Garrison Forest, Maryland. Due to the research and efforts of Miss Carolyn Billups, there was a grave marking ceremony held on May 6, 2000 to honor Aunt Lou and her work for the UDC.
       In closing I would like to wish you great pleasure as you read Aunt Lou's story. She apparently wrote these words for her own use and for family history, was talked into sending the story to a publisher. She was truly surprised when it was accepted for publication, wishing that she would have had the opportunity for more editing and rewriting. I was touched by many of the words that Aunt Lou wrote in the papers that we were privileged to find, but two passages seem to show her heart so well that I would like to share them with you as you prepare to read her book. One is the first paragraph of a speech that she obviously made to a group of Daughters in late 1905, and the last statement is the closing of her speech to the UDC after she had resigned and came back to address them in a belated farewell. The speech begins, "It will be forty-one years on the 9th of next April since the flag of the Southern Confederacy was furled. That we are gathered here today, as a chapter of the Daughters of the Confederacy, proves that our love for that sacred banner, though hopeless, is as ardent as in the days of our youth when we watched its starry cross floating over our gallant hosts in grey; and the principles it embodies, and for which was shed the priceless blood of the men of the South, are today as true and as worthy of our faith and loyalty as then." And the closing comment of what was probably the last speech she made was, "The Cause of the South was the love of my youth and I shall love it to the end!"

– reviewed by Marty Rogers