uur enemys are luriang m every crevice hole, or

uur enemys are luriang m every crevice hole, or corner so that I cannot peep my head out, let alone myself,” Ann writes in her first entry on June 30,1862.

Despite being amid one of the most fought-over areas of the South, the home was not close to any combat and escaped significant damage. The mansion still looks mostly untouched from the time it was built, and includes original floors, mantles and moldings. However, the house’s location made it a convenient target for looters.

Some Union soldiers broke into the Gardners’ smokehouse; others pulled fruits and vegetables from the family’s garden.

Some soldiers tried to use counterfeit money to buy goods from the family. Some troops even stole Ann’s pony. “I would I think rather see her shot down than for them to have her,” she wrote.

None of the white men wanted to go to Front Royal to try to reclaim the animal, because they would have to take an oath of loyalty to the United States if caught by Union forces. But a black man, who was not considered a U.S. or Confederate citizen and therefore would not have to take an oath, offered to attempt to retrieve Ann’s pony.

Days when no Union soldiers appeared at the house seemed to be notable. Ann always wrote an entry on such occasions.

On a Wednesday in August, she wrote, “There have been no Yankees up this way for some time, at least not many, they seem to keep pretty close to town. I expect they are expecting an attack. 1 hope they will get it.”

She wrote about “good news” on July 3, 1862, when Confederate forces had driven the Union Army back 25 miles from Richmond, killing or wounding 16,000 men while sustaining 11,000 Southern casualties.

When her cousin Willie died in Williamsburg on the same day, she expressed her sorrow, saying, “such is. the fate of war.”

On July 7, Ann wrote of , three soldiers who were staying at the house, eating the family’s food and “doing every