Eliza Ripley

author

Eliza Ripley

1832–1912

A Southern memoirist with a sharp eye for place and character, this writer preserved vivid memories of plantation life, the Civil War, and old New Orleans. Her books remain valuable for the detail they offer about a world transformed by conflict and change.

2 Audiobooks

Social life in old New Orleans : $b Being recollections of my girlhood

Social life in old New Orleans : $b Being recollections of my girlhood

by Eliza Ripley

From flag to flag : $b A woman's adventures and experiences in the South during the war, in Mexico, and in Cuba

From flag to flag : $b A woman's adventures and experiences in the South during the war, in Mexico, and in Cuba

by Eliza Ripley

About the author

Born Elizabeth Chinn in 1832, she became known as Eliza McHatton Ripley and wrote from deep personal experience about life in the American South. She is remembered as an American author whose work drew on the upheavals she lived through as the Civil War changed her family’s world.

Her best-known writing reflects her memories of plantation life in Louisiana and the long, difficult flight her family made through New Orleans, Texas, Mexico, and Cuba as war spread. She also wrote Social Life in Old New Orleans, a book that helped preserve customs, social scenes, and everyday details from the city’s past.

Because her work blends personal recollection with social history, it still appeals to readers interested in the Civil War era, Southern life, and New Orleans history. She died in 1912, leaving behind books that are both memoir and record of a vanished time.