Cornelia Peake McDonald

A resident of Winchester, Virginia, at the northern end of the Shenandoah Valley, Cornelia Peake McDonald lived in one of the Confederacy's most fought-over regions, a place occupied, attacked, defended, and abandoned by Union and Confederate forces throughout most of the war. Of her book, A Woman's Civil War, editor Minrose C. Gwin says McDonald "records a distinctly female battle of her own: the struggle for survival and the care of nine children . . . a gripping record of a white Southern woman's struggle in the midst of chaos to provide nurturance and shelter—a safe place—for herself and her family."

In March 1862, the Civil War came directly to McDonald's doorstep as the opposing armies fought for position in and around Winchester.

12 th—The battle raged all day in sight of town, shells screaming through the air so...