Ten Years on a Georgia Plantation Since the War

In 1866, Frances Butler Leigh returned to Georgia to help her father reclaim his family plantations on the Georgia coast, and she continued to manage them for ten years–a woman struggling to survive in a man’s world. Mrs. Leigh viewed her former slaves with mingled affection and exasperation and believed they were inferior as well as unprepared for full citizenship–opinions doubly interesting for having been written by a Yankee. The sadness of defeat, resentment toward military occupation and uncertain adjustment to a new economic, political and social system are all seen in this passionate description of Reconstruction Georgia.