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Cabbages and Caissons:

The Hackberry Diary- A Record of Daily Life and the Civil War at Huffs Ferry

• On Sunday, January 1, 1860, 20-year-old Lizzie Anderson began writing a diary from a place called Hackberry Bend, in Roane County, East Tennessee-a lost community in what is now a part of Loudon County. Lizzie’s father Joseph Anderson owned a warehouse and ran a dry goods store, boarding house, and post office in the little community of roughly 300 people across the river from the Town of Loudon. In 1863, the Anderson Farm would become ground zero for the skirmish at Huff’s Ferry located in Hackberry Bend between Confederate and Union forces on their way to Knoxville. Lizzie had no way of knowing the chaos her family – and the entire country – was about to endure. In just over a year, brother would be pitted against brother and neighbor against neighbor in a Civil War no one was prepared for. And although the war itself came as no real surprise, no one was prepared for the length and intensity of the conflict. But even in the worst of times, life still goes on. People need to be fed, gardens need to be tended, cabbages planted, and goods bought and sold. Interspersed between Lizzie’s entries on the routine of everyday life are battle summaries, historical notes, explanations, thought expansions, and other clarifications. This is not a book about the Civil War. It is a book with the Civil War as a backdrop to the day-to-day life of a family in the “last in, first out” State of Tennessee.
  This book is based on a real Civil War diary written by a young woman living in Loudon County, East Tennessee. It contains an account of the Battle at Huff’s Ferry, which was a part of the Knoxville Campaign leading up to the Battle at Fort Sanders. You can purchase Cabbages and Caissons directly from the Author at the Loudon Public Library, Amazon or by contacting [email protected]