Margaret Junkin Preston

Margaret Junkin Preston (1820–1897) was an American poet and writer from Virginia. Born in Milton, Pennsylvania, she was educated at her father’s school, the Virginia Literary, Scientific and Military Academy in Lexington. She married John Thomas Lewis Preston in 1857 and lived in Lexington, where she became a prominent literary voice. Preston is known for Civil War–era and postbellum Southern verse, as well as for essays and prose. Her books include the long narrative poem *Beechenbrook* (1866) and the poetry collection *Silverwood* (1889). She also wrote widely for magazines and helped shape the literary culture of the postwar South.