Mary Montgomery Rebel Author:Helen F. Daringer This is a true story of the Civil War as experienced by Mary Montgomery who was fourteen when it began. With great creative skill Miss Daringer has pictured vividly the gaiety and charm of prewar plantation life, the grim days of a struggle, and finally the beginnings of a new way of life. — Young readers will find a new friend in Mary--a spirit... more »ed girl who was forced by circumstance to carry a heavy burden of responsibility. There are scenes of high spirits and good fun here--Mary and her best friend Candace reading a forbidden novel in bed, or Mary attending her first grown-up party at the Rittenhouse plantation. There are grimmer scenes during the siege of Atlanta. When the Northern troops marched into the city, a Union soldier collapsed on Mary's doorstep. Then only the fact that a human being was in distress mattered--and Mary learned that there is generosity and kindness, good and bad, on both sides of a conflict. There are interesting glimpses of Harriet Beecher Stowe's son, of General Sherman. On the slow, dangerous trip North by freight train to a school in Indiana for Orphans of the Confederacy, the loss of her cherished belongings was a bitter blow to Mary. But later, after a brief period of teaching the younger children, Mary's dream of attending Miss Emma Willard's new seminary where she could learn more than conventional flower painting and similar "ladylike" accomplishments was fulfilled. And finally there is a hint of romance which promised a happier future for Mary.« less