Lucy Higgs Nichols | |
|---|---|
 Lucy Higgs Nichols (detail), in Indianapolis, 1898, with the G.A.R., where she celebrated her recent government pension approval. Stuart B. Wrege History Room, New Albany Floyd - County Public Library | |
| Born | April 10, 1838 |
| Died | January 25, 1915 Grays Creek, Tennessee |
| Burial place | West Haven Cemetery, New Albany, Indiana |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Nurse |
| Years active | American Civil War |
| Medical career | |
| Institutions | United States Army |
Lucy Higgs Nichols (April 10, 1838 – January 25, 1915) was an African American woman who escaped slavery. She served as a nurse for the Union Army during the American Civil War. Known affectionately as "Aunt Lucy", her sole photo shows her surrounded by veterans of the 23rd Indiana Volunteer Infantry Regiment, of the Army of the Tennessee. She was as devoted to the soldiers as they were to her and her daughter, Mona. She lost her daughter and husband during the Civil War, and after the war ended, settled in New Albany, Indiana, where she worked as a housekeeper to several officers and eventually married her second husband, John Nichols. She lived in New Albany with her husband for more than forty years, until her death on January 25, 1915, at the Floyd County Poor House.
The Grand Army of the Republic admitted her as their only honorary, female member, not only of Sanderson's Post, men's group, but of the United States. "Aunt Lucy" was treated as family, and loved by all the soldiers that knew her. Due to their sustained efforts, she was granted her government pension for diligent nursing and other services with them, in 28 battles, from June 1862 through the end of the war. She marched in victory with the troops in Washington, D.C., on May 23, and May 24, 1865, for the Grand Review of the Armies. Although her accomplishments were buried in archives for more than 100 years, in 1898, newspaper articles, about the special act of congress that granted her pension, spread her fame across the country. These newspapers included The Janesville Gazette, The Salem Democrat, Atlanta Constitution, The Logansport Journal, The Denver Post, The Freeman, and The New York Times.
Until recently, little was known about Lucy Higgs as a child, but local historians from New Albany, Indiana—Pamela R. Peters, Curtis H. Peters, Victor C. Megenity, and others—discovered documents regarding her being owned as a slave in Hardeman County, Tennessee. Pamela Peters wrote an article about their findings, which appeared, for Black History Month, in the Indiana Historical Society's Traces of Indiana and Midwestern History magazine (Winter 2010).
Rueben Higgs' heirs were allotted a portion of slaves and land in July 1855. An additional, earlier family record lists Lucy's birth as April 10, 1838, after which she was sent south with other slave property to Mississippi and allotted to Wineford Amanda Higgs, the only child of Rueben and his first wife Elizabeth, who both died in 1845, according to the Higgs family cemetery archives from Hardeman County.[1] The families went to court again, when Wineford died, and the slave children were sent back up to Grays Creek, Tennessee, to be allotted equally between his heirs. On Tuesday, January 8, 1861, court documents again list Lucy with four other slaves, and their value, to be divided between Willie and Prudence Higgs, after their second-eldest son, Marcus Higgs, died.
In late June 1862, Lucy, her daughter Mona, and some other slaves escaped from Grays Creek, Tennessee, crossed the Hatchie River, and eventually arrived at the Union lines that were at the fairgrounds near Bolivar, Tennessee, almost thirty miles away. Major Shadrack Hooper of the 23rd Indiana Infantry Regiment, who recorded all of their battles as adjutant, reported her joining their regiment, and described her character as someone having integrity, honesty, intelligence, always smiling, cheerful and kind, a willing washerwoman, seamstress, nurse, cook, and singer, as well as a "rattling good forager".[2][3] Other soldiers, and the regiment surgeon, Magnus Brucker, described her as a faithful nurse.[4]
Lucy's first husband came into the Union lines as a laborer under General Grant, or may have possibly served in a colored regiment that was formed; but it is not known what happened to him. Mona, Lucy's young daughter, died at the Siege of Vicksburg. Although the details of her death are not known, the Indiana 23rd Infantry offered her a funeral with flowers. In the middle of the war, when the regiment went on furlough to New Albany, Indiana, Lucy went with them and was employed as a servant by several officers, including General W. Q. Gresham. When the Indiana 23rd Infantry were re-deployed to the war in Mississippi, she returned to her nursing duties in service of the Union and was present at every siege. Lucy followed the army east under General Sherman, in The March to the Sea, and then north, where the 23rd Infantry was present in the Grand Review of the Armies.
After the Emancipation Proclamation, Lucy was a free citizen of the New Albany, Indiana, community and maintained herself with modest means. She still worked for officers, and nursed veterans back to health. So beloved was Lucy that five years after the war, when she contracted measles, she was cared for by the soldiers, until she was well; and, again, years later, when she had a stroke. When General Gresham's daughter was married, Lucy was an invited guest at Palmer House, in Chicago, and was considered a member of the family.
As the Grand Army of the Republic was forming posts all over the nation, Lucy was made an honorary member of Sanderson's Post. She attended every meeting and reunion with the soldiers. At the last meeting of more than seventy veterans the officers escorted her with much respect. Many volunteer nurses during the war were denied pensions, and Lucy was no exception; but the GAR rallied to her defense again. She was eventually granted $12 a month in a special act reported by The Committee on Pensions on July 1, 1898, which subsequently made her famous, through the many newspaper stories on the granting of the pension.[5]
On the University of Kentucky Libraries' Notable Kentucky African Americans Database (NKAA), John Nichols, Lucy's second husband, is described as residing in Tennessee and Indiana with his mother and father as free community members, according to the 1850 census of Washington County, Tennessee.[6] Indiana's 152nd Infantry listed John as a musician, but after the war, he joined the colored regiment before returning to New Albany after three years.[7] Floyd County, Indiana's index to marriage records, from 1845 to 1920, shows that Lucy and John married on April 13, 1870. They did not have any children together. The 1910 census still shows them living quietly on Naghel Street, New Albany. Lucy Nichols is listed on the ledger of the Floyd County Poor House as being admitted on January 1, 1915. Even though her birthplace is listed on the register as Kentucky, she is listed clearly on Rueben Higgs' court and family inventories as having been born in Halifax County, North Carolina, before moving to Grays Creek, Tennessee. The register shows her death as January 25, 1915. She is buried in an unmarked grave at West Haven Cemetery, New Albany.
