Prison Pens: Gender, Memory, and Imprisonment in the Writings of Mollie Scollay and Wash Nelson, 1863-1866
Department
History
Document Type
Book
Files
Description
Prison Pens presents the memoir of a captured Confederate soldier in northern Virginia and the letters he exchanged with his fiancée during the Civil War. Wash Nelson and Mollie Scollay's letters, as well as Nelson's own manuscript memoir, provide rare insight into a world of intimacy, despair, loss, and reunion in the Civil War South. The tender voices in the letters combined with Nelson's account of his time as a prisoner of war provide a story that is personal and political, revealing the daily life of those living in the Confederacy and the harsh realities of being an imprisoned soldier. Ultimately, through the juxtaposition of the letters and memoir, Prison Pens provides an opportunity for students and scholars to consider the role of memory and incarceration in retelling the Confederate past and incubating Lost Cause mythology. This book will be accompanied by a digital component: a website that allows students and scholars to interact with the volume's content and sources via an interactive map, digitized letters, and special lesson plans.
Call number in WMU's library
E467 .P93 2018 (Waldo Library WMU Authors Collection, First Floor)
ISBN
9780820351933
Publication Date
2018
Disciplines
Military History | United States History
Recommended Citation
Kutzler, Evan and Williams, Timothy, "Prison Pens: Gender, Memory, and Imprisonment in the Writings of Mollie Scollay and Wash Nelson, 1863-1866" (2018). All Books and Monographs by WMU Authors. 843.
https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/books/843
Comments
Timothy J Williams (Timothy Joseph), editor.; Evan Kutzler editor.