[2] She married Major John Thomas Lewis Preston in 1857,[6] a professor of Latin at Virginia 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.

[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.