Life in Dixie During the War, first published in 1892, ranks among the best first-person accounts of the American Civil War. Mary A. H. Gay eloquently recounts her wartime experiences in Georgia and bears witness to the "suffering and struggle, defeat and despair, triumph and hope that is human history". Mary Gay was not only a chronicler, but an active participant in wartime activities, old veterans described her as "unusually brave and fearless". While her book reads like a novel, it continues to be praised by modern scholars as an honest report of American history.