Margaret Junkin Preston (May 19, 1820 – March 28, 1897) was an American poet and author.[1]
Margaret Junkin Preston
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| Born | (1820-05-19)May 19, 1820
Milton, Pennsylvania, U.S.
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| Died | March 28, 1897(1897-03-28) (aged 76)
Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.
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| Resting place | Oak Grove Cemetery, Lexington, Virginia |
| Occupation(s) | Poet, author |
| Spouse | John Thomas Lewis Preston (1857–1890; his death) |
| Parent(s) | George Junkin Julia Rush (Miller) Junkin |
| Relatives | Elinor Jackson (sister) |
She was born in Milton, Pennsylvania, in 1820.[2][3] Her father was George Junkin, a Presbyterian minister and college president.[1][2][3][4][5] She learned Latin and Ancient Greek at the age of twelve.[2] She married Major John Thomas Lewis Preston in 1857,[6] a professor of LatinatVirginia Military Institute.[1][2][3][4][5] Her sister, Elinor (Ellie), had in 1853 married Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson, a colleague of Preston's at VMI.[7] Major Preston served on the staff of Stonewall Jackson during the Civil War.[8]
She wrote many volumes of prose and poetry, and published some of her writing in the Southern Literary Messenger and Graham's Magazine.[9] She also published a few articles in Harper's Magazine.[10] Preston's 1856 novel Silverwood is a subtle exploration of the clash between traditional values of honor and family and the new market economy that was sweeping through the United States and the Shenandoah Valley.[11] She is remembered for espousing the Confederacy in her poems,[5] and she was known informally as the Poet Laureate of the Confederacy.[12]
She became blind in the late 1880s, and died in Baltimore in 1897.[2][4]
