When a young Bowling Green woman’s diary was published as a book in 2009, it gave a glimpse of life in Kentucky during the Civil War.
But those entries weren’t the end of Josie Underwood’s story.
A Louisville woman was browsing a bookstore when she picked up a copy of the diary.
“[She] realized that she was related to the Underwoods and that she had some family papers and decided to go looking through her closet and lo and behold discovered that she had the second volume of Josie Underwood’s diary, ” said David Turpie, editor of the Register, a publication of the Kentucky Historical Society which has published Volume 2 of Underwood’s diary. It mainly covers the years 1862-66
“It also helps us to understand the thoughts and feelings of one individual, one young woman from Kentucky and that life went on for her,” said Turpie.
Underwood’s family was well-to-do before the war, but it was loyal to the Union, leaving it in a precarious spot when Confederate forces occupied Bowling Green. Underwood spent a year in Europe during the war when her father was working for the U.S. government in Scotland. Josie was in her 20s when the diary entries were made.
“Josie’s father had an important position as a U.S. consul in Glasgow,” said Turpie. “He did some important work in preventing Confederate ships from being built in Scotland that were destined for the Confederacy. He helped prevent that. So he played a critical role.”
Turpie says the family returned to Kentucky but never regained the wealth it had before the war.
Copies of the Register quarterly journal can be purchased by e-mailing the Kentucky Historical Society or calling them at 502-564-1792, ext. 4421.
The physical copy of the diary is housed at the WKU Special Collections library.
