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Her name was Lucy Nicholson and she lived in Cooper County located in the border state of Missouri during the Civil War. She had at least one brother and loved the Confederacy. We don't know how old she was, we only know of what she accomplished with grit and determination.
August of 1861: Confederate General Sterling Price occupies Springfield, Missouri. It's a tough time for there seems to be as many Yankees as there are Rebels and it is extremely difficult to tell them apart. Lucy and her fellow Missourians all live under Provost Marshals and their rules are absolute. To get around all these difficulties like-minded individuals worked together to form an underground communication system stretching from Jefferson City to Springfield and somewhere along the route was the home of Lucy.
And so it happened one day a knock came at the Nicholson home and Lucy opened the door to two men that would change her life. They had a message to give her from none other than General Price himself. She was eager to please and listened attentively as she was informed that morphine and quinine were desperately needed for their boys and if she could arrange some clothing it would be appreciated.
The underground was a mixture of many kinds of people with many different abilities and as it happened there was a brother of one of the operatives that owned a general/drug store in Boonville. As it turned out Boonville is located in Cooper County. She quickly makes her way to the store. He does not want to be seen giving her the supplies directly, (you never know who is watching) so he leaves the store declaring he needs to answer an emergency. She understands during his absence she is to take whatever is needed. She grabs the medications and is off and running to a dry goods store.
She is familiar with the owner and he apparently knows her and what she is doing for when she asked for some gray flannel and black velvet fabric he wraps it up and sends her on her way without charging her for the merchandise.
Now she has the goods but she needs to move them to where they will be needed. Lucy along with a friend decide they will do what many other ladies will do and have done many times in war; they will conceal the merchandise on Lucy. Lucy is able to hide twenty-two pairs of knitted socks in the fold of her gathered skirt.
Now how will she hide the morphine and quinine? Fortunately it is very fashionable at the time to wear rolls of velvet on their heads so Lucy will do likewise by placing a big roll on the back of her head and the other on her crown. Hopefully no one will think to check out what makes her hair so full.
Lucy along with her brother leave Boonville and it's not too long before they stumble upon some Federal soldiers. With a look that only a lady can give, she explains they are on there way to visit a sick aunt. It works and they let the couple pass.
She safely delivers the much needed supplies. However, on her way back home she discovers that she has been "discovered". The Yankees are on there way to find the little traitor and bring the brother and sister to justice. They make it home only to be told the Provost Marshall is on his way to arrest her. It turns out you really didn't know who were your friends or enemies in Missouri for they were turned in by a "friend" shortly after they left to deliver the goods.
She returns to Boonville but this time she is under arrest. Now she finds an old friend in the Union Army. He overrules the Provost Marshall and sets her free, although her freedom will be short lived.
She is now living in Boone County teaching at a local school when she is arrested by the Union Army. This time she is coming home from church. She dashes off a quick note to the lady at the boarding house where she lives, requesting she burn everything in her trunk. There is no "friend" to overrule her arrest now.
She is sent to St. Louis where she is interrogated by Provost Marshall Franklin Archibald Dick. She will not turn in any of the people that helped her transport the medicine nor will she divulge who requested she procure the drugs so she is sent to Gratiot Street Prison.
The prison was used not only to hold the usual suspects such as Confederate prisoners of war, spies and guerrilla, it also house a large population of civilians charged with disloyalty against the Federal government. Originally designed to hold twelve hundred people. When Lucy arrived it was said to hold as many as two thousand. The main objective was to take the Southern Loyalist, each one individually meets with the Provost Marshal and they could not leave until they signed an oath of allegiance to the United States.
At the time the prison was not designed to house females and proper female quarters were not constructed until April of 1863. To resolve this problem, Provost Marshal Dick announced that all women prisoners guilty of disloyalty were leaving Union territory. They were being shipped down to Memphis and back into Confederate territory. Sadly if the woman had children they were not permitted to make the journey with their mothers. When Lucy was given a cup of coffee from a Federal soldier he reportedly said to her; "It is dreadful; I have children of my own and I know what it is." {1}
One good thing that happened, that evening Lucy and the group of ladies stayed in a farmhouse and all were given their first good meal they had in a long time. Eventually the women arrived in Arkansas. Lucy Nicholson became Lucy Lindsey when she married a Major named Lindsey. They had met when the ladies had arrived at his post begging for food.
The story of Lucy Lindsey ends here with no record of what happened to her after Arkansas. The lady that risked everything to provide for Confederate soldiers in need is never heard from again.
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Source
1. https://www.womenhistoryblog.com/2006/08/lucy-nickolson-lindsey.html
2. https://www.mycivilwar.com/pow/mo-gatriot-street.html
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