Lucy Holcombe Pickens

donna

Brev. Brig. Gen'l
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Lucy Petway Holocombe was born in 1832 in Fayette County, Tennessee. She was educated at a Quaker Scool in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. She was known for her classic beauty and being gracious and intelligent.

In 1856 while her family was on vacation at White Sulphur Springs, Virginia, she met Colonel Francis Wilkerson Pickens, who was twice=widowed and twice her age.

They married in 1858 and sailed for Russia, as he had been appointed ambassador to Russia. They were especially popular in Russia. Actually, Lucy became the favorite of the Czar and Czarina. The Pickens child, Eugenia Frances Dorothea was born in 1859 in the royal palace and the Czar and Czarina became her godparents. She was christened Olga Neva and was called "Douschka" meaning "little darling".

Colonel Pickens and his wife returned home in 1860. He was elected governor of South Carolina. While in Russia, Lucy had been given jewels from the royal family, To support the Confederate war effort, she sold the jewels to supply the "Lucy Holcombe Legion" of soldiers. She became known as "Lady Lucy".

After the war, Francis Pickens died in 1869 at his Edgewood Plantation in South Carolina. Lucy never remarried and died in 1899 at the Plantation.

It is legend that Lucy invented iced tea. It is said that in trying" to imitate the Southern gentleman's mint julep, Lucy put mint into sugar-laced tea. In order to cool the beverage, she used ice imported by steamboat from Jefferson, Texas, to New Orleans."

Lucy Pickens is one of the few women whose image has appeared on national currency. She was pictured on the Confederate one dollar bills and one hundred dollar bills. It was said that "because most nations only picture heads of state on currency, Lucy Pickens has sometimes been called the "uncrowned Queen of the Confederacy."

From"The Civil War Reader, Facts, Trivia, Legends, and Lore" by E.J. Patrick pages 230-231.
 
Another interesting fact about Lucy was that she wrote a historical romance novel about the exploits of General Narciso Lopez titled "The Free Flag of Cuba, or the Martyrdom of Lopez:A Tale of the Liberating Expedition of 1851".
 
Thanks for sharing. I had known some of that information about her but not all of it. Learn something new every day. :smile:
 
I wonder who now has that jewelry she sold to support the Confederacy. Imagine what it would be worth, in that it was a gift from the Czar and Czarina of Russia?
 
Edgewood.jpg
pickens+and+legare+004.jpg
 
Donna, thanks for posting. I've not heard of her. Interesting reading.
3d01911u.jpg

Review of the volunteer troops in Fort Moultrie, on Sullivan's Island, Charleston Harbor, S.C., in the presence of Mrs. Pickens and Miss Pickens, the wife and daughter of the governor of South Carolina. LoC #3d01911

I hope someone can explain the flags!
 
Donna, thanks for posting. I've not heard of her. Interesting reading.
View attachment 21037
Review of the volunteer troops in Fort Moultrie, on Sullivan's Island, Charleston Harbor, S.C., in the presence of Mrs. Pickens and Miss Pickens, the wife and daughter of the governor of South Carolina. LoC #3d01911

I hope someone can explain the flags!
The one in the foreground is clearly a company flag.
 
Donna, I keep seeing articles or Google book items on women who had some kind of connection to the Civil War, some a little legendary, like this Lucy Pickens. I'll come back to the forum and sure enough, no need to start a new thread, one of you has one already in place. Frequently, looking for information on a name, there's a list of information on Google, you'll choose one of the promising looking sites and there it is: CivilWarTalk! Funny.

One thing I do dislike about a lot of these women, however, or at least about how they are portrayed in their bios is that FREQUENTLY, the bio goes on to state how the second half of their life was so, so dreary and awful.Like Lucy here- her hard times sound unremitting until she died- after the ' Glory Days ', there was just no moment of joy or peace for her. I can name quite a few women whose bios read this way. I'm not saying it was all sunshine and rainbows- I'm sure it was dreadful, but do we know she was terribly unhappy all the time? Or that any of the women were? It presupposes that because someone was poor, or lost most things, or had poor health, etc., their entire life was miserable, is the thing, like a tragedy. Not sure I'd like that, if it were me. What if some really bore up well, made the best of things, had a nice life regardless?
 
Ohhhh, thank you Paddy! What a super photograph! So many, you can't really make out the baby's features ( and I once saved one I thought was SO dear, blew it up to a larger size, researched it and discovered- OUCH - it was a post-mortum photo of mother and dead baby. Made me cry. ) but on Lucy's photo here, you can see that her baby is SO cute!

" Francis Eugenia Olga Neva, who was also known as Douschka Pickens in the Winter Palace. The tsar and tsaritsa became Godparents of the Pickens' daughter and the tsar gave her the nickname of Douschka, meaning Darling in Russian. " From Wiki, on her daughter's name(s).


From: Edgewood, Stage for Southern History

" Douschka Pickens Dugar

Her given name was Francis Eugenia Olga Neva Pickens, and she was the only child of Francis and Lucy Pickens. Born in Russia in 1859, some speculate, although history cannot confirm, that her biological father was actually Tzar Alexander II of Russia, with whom Doschka’s mother spent a great deal of time while her husband was serving as U.S. ambassador to Russia. The family’s stay was cut short, however, by news that South Carolina was inching closer to secession. They returned home to Edgewood in August of 1860.

Francis Pickens became governor on Dec. 17, just three days before South Carolina seceded from the Union.

The Pickens’ daughter was affectionately called “Douschka,” Russian for “little darling.” The Tzarina added Olga and Neva to the infant’s name during her christening.

After her return home to America, Alexander II, wrote to Douschka once a year letters that would be saved for her future. When the Tsar died in an explosion in the dining room of his winter palace, his son, who succeeded him to the throne, continued contact with Doushka. When she married George Dugar he sent her a beautiful set of diamonds. He would also continue the annual letters until her death from a fever.

After the American Civil War, Douschka led Edgefield County’s Red Shirt movement, riding horseback in a red cape and matching feather in her hair. At the time, red symbolized pride and continued resistance for white Democrats of South Carolina. Women sewed red flannel shirts and other garments of red. It became fashionable for women to wear red ribbons in their hair and around their waists. For young men, to wear a red shirt was to come of age and compensate for their inability to contribute to the Southern cause of the Civil War.

The Red Shirts fought openly to defeat Republican political candidates and limit the civil rights of newly freed slaves. That now seems a bit ironic, since Douschka’s godfather, Alexander II, liberated the serfs in Russia, and Lucinda, a loyal maidservant of the family, helped to raise Douschka.

The Red Shirts blocked the polls to override freed slaves’ votes in South Carolina, a tactic that helped elect General Wade Hampton III governor in 1876. In Edgefield, Douschka, although she was only 17, rode ahead of armed men who seized control of the county courthouse, outnumbering federal troops and preventing blacks from voting. She was nicknamed “Joan of Arc of Carolina” for her leadership in the elections. Douschka died in 1893. She was 35.

Her mother Lucy died five years later on August 8, 1899, leaving Edgewood, the family home, to Douschka’s two daughters. "



DouschkaPickens.jpg
 
I meant to write a heading for that photo, she's of course Lucy's daughter, Douschka Pickens, Francis Eugenia Olga Neva "Douschka" Pickens Dugas. I think she's as pretty as her mother, isn't she?
 
Yes, as I read her story, made me wonder if she felt torn in loyalties- the Russian connection must have been terribly strong. Even though the politics of the time over there were still pretty bad, peasants still living in poverty, there still was a recognition that serfs and servants had been liberated. She was a symbol for kind of the opposite here in her part of the United States, seems to have taken up that cause. I hadn't realized how strongly the Red Shirts worked to oppose and block the freedoms gained by the war for our black citizens- it's another one of those ' Wiki ' definitions which can be all over the place. Anyway, just wonder where her ' line ' was, in her head, her love for her Russian background and what they stood for v her work with the Red Shirt cause.
 
I thought I would bring up this thread, since their was question on particular women on Confederacy money. Lucy Holcombe Pickens, known as the " uncrowned Queen of the Confederacy". She was known as a classic beauty and gracious and intelligent woman.
 
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