Queen of the Confederacy: The Innocent Deceits of Lucy Holcombe Pickens"Submissiveness is not my role, but certain platitudes on certain occasions are among the innocent deceits of the sex." A strong character with a fervent belief in woman's changing place, Lucy Holcombe Pickens (1832-1899) was not content to live the life of a typical nineteenth-century Southern belle. Wife of Francis Wilkinson Pickens, the secessionist governor of South Carolina on the eve of the Civil War, Lucy was determined to make her mark in the world. She married "the right man," feeling that "a woman with wealth or prestige garnered from her husband's position could attain great power." Lucy urged Pickens to accept a diplomatic mission to the court of Tsar Alexander II of Russia, and in St. Petersburg Lucy captivated the Tsar and his retinue with her beauty and charm. Upon returning to the states, she became First Lady of South Carolina just in time to encourage a Confederate unit named in her honor (The Holcombe Legion) off to war. The only woman to have her image engraved on Confederacy paper currency. Heralded as the uncrowned "Queen of the Confederacy". |
Contents
| 1 | |
| 8 | |
CHAPTER THREE 18461849 If she wears blue stockings she contrives to let her petticoats hide them | 18 |
CHAPTER FOUR 1850 A stranger in a strange land | 27 |
CHAPTER FIVE 1851 My spirit is restless and longs for activity | 36 |
CHAPTER SIX 1851 The only kindred blood I ever knew stains the green shore of Cuba | 43 |
CHAPTER SEVEN 18521857 My home is in the prairied West and God is nearer us than fashion | 49 |
CHAPTER EIGHT 1857 The Marriage Mart of the South | 62 |
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN 1861 It was grandit was awful | 134 |
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN 1861 Submissiveness is not my role | 141 |
CHAPTER NINETEEN 18611863 The only comfort in all this misery is a little good talk now and then | 148 |
CHAPTER TWENTY 18631865 A volcano under that exterior of stillness and glitter | 158 |
CHAPTER TWENTYONE 18651869 Out of the dead cold ashes life again | 165 |
CHAPTER TWENTYTWO 18691875 Rouse yourself from the sweet sad dream and face the battle of life | 177 |
CHAPTER TWENTYTHREE 18761893 The Joan of Arc of Carolina | 184 |
CHAPTER TWENTYFOUR 18941899 We do not forget | 192 |
CHAPTER NINE 1858 The heart hath reason which reason knows nothing of | 73 |
CHAPTER TEN 1858 talking of elevated and mighty themes | 79 |
CHAPTER ELEVEN 1858 The confused sound of an unknown language made me feel my isolation | 87 |
CHAPTER TWELVE 1858 It was very marked and not known to happen before to a foreigner | 92 |
photo gallery | 100 |
CHAPTER THIRTEEN 18591860 I suspect it will look more like a Moscovite Don Cossack than an honest American child | 101 |
CHAPTER FOURTEEN 1860 There is nothing real about European society but its hollowness | 108 |
CHAPTER FIFTEEN 1860 I find myself going up the hill to Wyalusing | 116 |
CHAPTER SIXTEEN 1861 I am where duty honor demand me | 126 |
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Common terms and phrases
Alexander Anna Eliza beautiful Beverly Holcombe Beverly Lafayette Buchanan Charleston Chesnut child church circa Clara Victoria Dargan Colonel Columbia Confederacy Confederate court daughter Davis/Little Collection dear Douschka dress Dugas Duke University Edgefield Edgewood Elkanah father Flag of Cuba Fleming Gardner Fort Sumter Francis Pickens Francis Wilkinson Pickens Free Flag friends FWP to LPH girls Governor Pickens Grange Greer Harrison County heart husband Ibid James Buchanan Jeannie Jefferson Davis John La Grange ladies Leaves letter Lopez LPHP to AEHG LPHP to EDH Lucinda Lucy and Francis Lucy Holcombe Pickens Lucy Petway Holcombe Lucy’s Maria marriage Marshall Mary Mary Chesnut Miss Mississippi mistress Moravian mother Mount Vernon Orleans Petersburg Philemon Pickens Papers Pickens-Dugas Papers plantation political President Russia SCL-USC servants SHC-UNC Simkins sister slaves South Carolina Southern Sumter sweet Tennessee Texas Theodore tion took Tsar Virginia wife woman women Wyalusing York young