Known as the "Poetess of the South" during and after the Civil War, Margaret Junkin Preston influenced a generation of Southerners with her writings on life in the Confederacy. Although primarily known as a poet, Preston also wrote a novel and other books in prose, as well as reviews, essays, columns, and letters, publishing them widely in journals and newspapers. At a time when literature from the South was discounted or ignored by Northerners, Preston argued for the recognition of Southern letters and the importance of their contribution to American literature. In part because she employed it to champion the literary cause of the South, her prose may well be more significant to modern readers than her poetry.

Margaret Junkin was the first of nine children born to George and Julia Miller Junkin. She was born on 19 May 1820 in Milton, Pennsylvania, where her father was minister of the...