author

Susan R. (Susan Ravenel) Jervey

b. 1840

Best known for a vivid Civil War diary from South Carolina, this writer left behind an intimate record of plantation life in the war’s final months. Her surviving work offers readers a personal, ground-level view of a world in upheaval.

1 Audiobook

Two diaries From Middle St. John's, Berkeley, South Carolina, February-May, 1865 Journals kept by Miss Susan R. Jervey and Miss Charlotte St. J. Ravenel, at Northampton and Pooshee plantations, and reminiscences of Mrs. (Waring) Henagan; with two contemporary reports from federal officials.

Two diaries From Middle St. John's, Berkeley, South Carolina, February-May, 1865 Journals kept by Miss Susan R. Jervey and Miss Charlotte St. J. Ravenel, at Northampton and Pooshee plantations, and reminiscences of Mrs. (Waring) Henagan; with two contemporary reports from federal officials.

by Susan R. (Susan Ravenel) Jervey, Mary Rhodes Waring Henagan, Charlotte St. J. (Charlotte St. Julien) Ravenel

About the author

Born in Charleston, South Carolina, in 1840, Susan Ravenel Jervey is remembered for the journal she kept in 1865 at Northampton Plantation in Berkeley County. That diary was later published as part of Two Diaries from Middle St. John's, Berkeley, South Carolina, February-May, 1865, alongside the writings of Charlotte St. Julien Ravenel and reminiscences by Mary Rhodes Waring Henagan.

Her writing matters less as polished literature than as firsthand testimony. The diary captures everyday concerns, local conditions, and the emotional strain of the Civil War’s closing months, making it a useful and absorbing document for readers interested in Southern history and women’s personal narratives.

Some catalog records list her as Susan R. Jervey or Susan Ravenel Jervey, and biographical details beyond her South Carolina background are limited in the sources readily available here. What is clear is that her surviving work has endured because it preserves a personal voice from a turbulent moment in American history.