Col. Arthur J. L. Fremantle of the British Coldstream Guards toured the Confederacy. Mildly predisposed toward the Union side because of his dislike of slavery, he was soon awakened to the gallantry of Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee and his generals, ordinary Johnny Rebs, and the women left at home. From April to early July 1863—the critical period of campaigns at Vicksburg, Chancellorsville, and Gettysburg—Fremantle traveled from the Texas frontier to northern Virginia, recording in a diary his experience of the war. Three Months in the Southern States, published upon his return to England later in the year, has long been considered a classic of wartime writing, especially in its description of the Battle of Gettysburg. Filled with biographical vignettes of Lee, Davis, Stonewall Jackson, Sam Houston, and others, this book offers a kaleidoscopic view of the Confederacy at floodtide.

    In 1861 2 he visited America to report on the secession crisis that had followed Abraham Lincoln's campaign to abolish slavery, in which eleven southern states had withdrawn from the United States to form their own confederacy, resulting in the American Civil War. First published in 1863, this two-volume work recounts Russell's experiences there. Based on his interviews with Lincoln, other pivotal figures, and ordinary citizens, together with his diaries and his letters to The Times, it documents his impressions of both the northern and the opposing southern states as he travelled through them. His book, thought to have been compiled in response to accusations that he was biased towards the South, provides a revealing eyewitness account of life during a landmark period in America's history. Volume 1 focuses mainly on southern society and slavery.