Last week, while sewing up one of my civil war quilt blocks and thinking about my own family's history in the war, I discovered that my great-great grandfather and his father served together in the Georgia Infantry. I managed to find records of their having taking Oaths of Allegiance to the Confederacy in 1861 and of their being prisoners of war after the Siege of Vicksburg in 1863. This week, I began making quilt blocks from Rosemary Youngs' wonderful book, The Civil War Diary Quilt, which includes excerpts from diaries kept by a variety of women during the war along with quilt blocks inspired by their stories. Among the 121 blocks in the book I found, "Oath of Allegiance" and "Surrender at Vicksburg". I decided to make these two blocks first, since I could trace a little bit of my great-great grandfather's story in them.

In the diary entry associated with this block, a Missouri woman, originally from North Carolina, records that she has refused to take the Oath of Allegiance required by the Federal commander of all Union citizens and must now fear leaving her own home, for danger of being arrested. "Those who do not swear are not allowed to follow any business whatever and are prisoners at home. This oath compels thousands to swear against their own conscience or have their families to perish."

News of the Surrender at Vicksburg is recorded with amazing detail by a 14 year-old girl from Kentucky: "Pemberton has surrendered at Vicksburg but I do not believe it.... [He] surrended the northern papers say on the following conditions-he was to have all of his men paroled and given 10 days rations...Officers to keep their private property, sidearms and mounted officers one horse each."

When I first noticed this book, I thought that 121 blocks might even be too much sampler quilting for me, but I take it all back. These stories and these blocks are so fascinating that I know I'll be making blocks from this book for a while.