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The Tenacious Nurse Nichols
The Tenacious Nurse Nichols: An Unsung African American Civil War Hero | Eileen Yanoviak
1 post | 1 read
From the horrors of slavery to the battlefields of the Civil War, Lucy Higgs Nichols has become a symbol of resilience and a trailblazer for justice and equality. There are only two known images of Lucy Higgs Nichols, a Civil War nurse who escaped enslavement to join the Indiana 23rd Regiment. In one captivating photograph dated to 1898, the elderly Lucy is the sole female and the only person of color. She stands stately in the middle of a large group of war veterans at a reunion that she diligently attended every year. Some of these soldiers were from the Indiana 23rd Regiment, the men whom she nursed and with whom she marched and fought. These soldiers fiercely advocated for her Civil War nurse's pension in the 1890s. Her story is remarkable—a journey from enslavement in Tennessee, to freedom and service among the ranks of the Union Army, and finally to independence and national recognition from the press, the Grand Army of the Republic, and even Congress. Despite harrowing obstacles and unimaginable pain, Lucy achieved notoriety, nobility, and self-sufficiency in a post-Civil War era that often denied Black Americans and women justice and opportunity.
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Born into enslavement in Tennessee, Lucy Higgs Nichols' early life was one of constant work & living with the threat of being torn away from her family & sold to another owner. As a young woman, Lucy managed to escape at the outset of the US Civil War & joined the Indiana 23rd Regiment of the Union Army as a nurse. Lucy cared for the men for 4 years before returning with them to Indiana to make a new life for herself. (continued)

OutsmartYourShelf In Indiana Lucy met & married John Nichols but as they became aged & infirm, Lucy needed the pay that she had been promised for her nursing work but never given. With the backing of the remaining soldiers from the regiment, Lucy applied for a Civil War pension but was repeatedly denied. It was only after years of petitioning carried through by Lucy's sheer determination that she finally received her due. 6h
OutsmartYourShelf Lucy seems to have been a formidable yet caring person who was determined that nothing was going to stand in the way of what was right. A task made doubly difficult by her status as a woman of colour & an ex-slave. Unfortunately much of Lucy's early life was not recorded & she was unable to read & write, so it has been extrapolated from the experiences of others.

This is a fascinating look at the US Civil War from a different angle though -
6h
OutsmartYourShelf I have mainly seen it discussed in the context of the abolition of slavery, however, the evidence here suggests that for many it was more about keeping together the Union & attitudes varied. For example, even after their contribution during the war, after it ended, regiments of black soldiers (i.e. the USCT) were not invited to take part in the victory parade - the Grand Review of 1865.

6h
OutsmartYourShelf There has obviously been a great deal of research carried out here & the inclusion of photographs, including the two only known photographs of Lucy herself. This is an interesting & informative read, particularly for anyone interested in the life of freedmen & women in America after the US Civil War. 4🌟

My thanks to #NetGalley & publishers, The Globe Pequot Publishing Group/Lyons Press, for the opportunity to read an ARC.
6h
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