Robert Henry Cartmell (1828-1915) was a young man on his own for the first time, making his start as a cotton planter in West Tennessee in the 1850s. What began simply as a means to account for his farming activities ultimately evolved into a personal diary of thirty-three (likely thirty-four) volumes through the mid to late nineteenth century and into the first quarter of the twentieth century. Each book chronicled not only his life, but the lives of his family and neighbors, as well as incidents, events, and deaths that took place in Jackson and Madison County, Tennessee. He shared his daily trials and triumphs on the farm, interactions with his enslaved people, his personal life, interest in politics, and opinions about the escalating tensions between North and South over the institution of slavery. This is the first volume of Robert Cartmell's transcribed and annotated diaries. Kevin D. McCann is a native of Jackson, Tennessee, and graduated with a B.S. Degree in History from Union University. He is the author of several books on West Tennessee history and baseball, including Hurst's Wurst: Colonel Fielding Hurst and the Sixth Tennessee Cavalry, The Peg Leg Politician: Adam Huntsman of Tennessee, The Kitty League (with Joshua Maxwell), and The Jackson Generals: Minor League Baseball in Jackson, Tennessee. McCann co-founded BrayBree Publishing Company LLC with John E. Talbott, J.D., in 2012. He lives in Dickson, Tennessee.
