June 19, 2025 • 36 mins
This week, Karen and Georgia cover the story of heroic Civil War nurse, Lucy Nichols.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:16):
Hello and welcome.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
It's my favorite murder.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
That's roge a Heart Start.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
That's Karen Kiligariff, And we're here to.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
Just do a super quick little episode for you, just
a little solo. Just get this, Let's get it out there,
let's get it done.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Yeah, it's officially summer. We're enjoying the heat. Hope you
are too. I don't know what's going on.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
Oh I had food poisoning last night and didn't sleep
at all, couldn't stop barfing.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
What was it? I always want to know, but I
know you don't. No one knows, right.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
I'm trying to backtime it. And if it is the
restaurant that my dad and I ate at together, it
will break my heart because we eather all the time
and I love it. And I was just like as
it was starting, I was just like, no, because I've
had bad food poisoning once before, and sorry but remember that.
(01:12):
Well maybe I shouldn't name names, but I don't think
these stores exist anymore. I remember that Fresh Choice in highwork.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
Yeah. It was like a yeah, it was like a
little grocery, like pre made package stuff.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
Yeah, right, which when you first go into it, you're like,
this is a dream come truth, the carson that can't
cook and doesn't cook and right, so I got a
Chinese chicken salad from there, but this salad part wasn't lettuce.
It was all cut up cabbage. And then like twenty
four hours later, I literally thought I was gonna have
to go the hospital. And since that time, and that
(01:42):
was twenty ten's yeah, literally the word cabbage bums me out,
like I can't even think about it. So as I
was trying to figure out where this came from, I
was like, but when you find out, there's gonna be
a whole realm of things ed forever for you.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
But I think that in general, lettuces and cabbages and
that kind of thing, it is just like dangerous and
way more than we think we realize. So it doesn't
mean the restaurant gave it to you because they that's
true or bad. It's like just like one unwashed let
us sleep can like ruin everything.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
Also in these days, it's just such a you know,
as we all talk about this dystopian nightmare we're sliding into,
when those like the stories of recalls they keep on happening,
Oh my god, because everything has just been like deregulated
and like, yeah, do everybody just do what you want?
It's just like, yeah, my god.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
Pick your level. Yeah, it's absurd. So I feel like
that it's not I always want someone to the it
was this thing that I ate at this place, so
I can always avoid it, right, same with true crime,
where it's like this thing happened, and this thing happened,
now I can avoid it.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
You know, we all wish if only.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
If only, it's life isn't like that, unfortunately, So I
think you don't have to worry about the restaurant.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
And also, I don't know if this has ever happened
to you when you're sick, but you watch a certain thing
on TV and then the things seems worse than like
you were trying to enjoy it, but you're like, this
represents all of my suffering.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
I can't hear the theme song to Orange is the
New Black without getting depressed because I watched it in
this really deep depression of my life back in the
old apartment.
Speaker 1 (03:15):
Yep.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
And so what's that that beautiful song that the opring
is I love?
Speaker 1 (03:20):
Is that a Regena Spector song?
Speaker 2 (03:21):
Yes, Yes You've Got Time by Regina Spector. I will cry.
I will fucking just go into a deep depression if
I hear that song, because I watched that show, yes,
while I was.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
Depressed, and also that show you go through that show, Yeah, yeah,
I mean that is such an experience of a show.
It's not like, you know, you're just kind of like, oh,
this whole thing, You're just like, oh my god, Noah,
I'm also in prison now. I'm also trying to survive whatever.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
So it's so sad. Okay, it's a lot. Well, I'm
sorry about your food poisoning. Let's hey, let's make this quick. Hey,
we can do this.
Speaker 1 (03:56):
Look, I'm blessed to have food poisoning in this goddamn Danny.
Here's kind of a cute thing, which is somebody wrote
an email after the Harper Lee episode that I did
if you want to hear it, because I said, if
anybody out there, the whole thing was about how Harper
Lee was down in that town where Reverend Willie Maxwell
was killing people, and people think that she may have
(04:17):
been writing a book. Nothing ever came of it. And
then there was a part where somebody years later had
found a note that she had put into a encyclopedia.
I think at the local library. So I asked for
if anybody a secret Harper Lee treasure oh that they
want to share with us, to please do that. So
(04:38):
we got an email, Oh my god, and the subject
line is Harper Lee tresure it just starts now. I
wasn't able to search a dusty attic as Karen instructed
in Alexander City for the missing Willie Maxwell manuscript. My apologies.
Would you settle for a retired educator's basement safe in
rural Missouri?
Speaker 2 (04:55):
Always?
Speaker 1 (04:55):
I mean, the idea of a basement safe is on
par with safe deposit box at the.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
Right A safe? Like what?
Speaker 1 (05:02):
Who?
Speaker 2 (05:02):
A personal safe has a fucking safe? That's so cool.
Speaker 1 (05:07):
I walked into my sister's garage when I was home
and there was a safe in her garage, and I
was like, what the hell she was a safe for?
Speaker 2 (05:13):
Did she rob a bank or it was.
Speaker 1 (05:15):
The previous owner. It's just sitting out there because no
one can move it.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
Did I tell you that? When Vincent and I way
back we were looking at houses to buy and one
of them had a fur safe. That's how old the
house was. It was like a climate controlled, huge safe
just for like this society lady's furs back in the twenties.
Holy shit, right now. And I was like, Okay, I
(05:39):
just want this. That is amazing.
Speaker 1 (05:41):
Yep, go in there, lock yourself in. Watch Orange is
the new Black. Get it taken care of. Okay. So
we're still in this email. So basically they're apologizing. But
would we settle for this abasement safe in rural Missouri.
What we're saying to you right now, writer is that yes.
The answer is yes. Back in the email. If so,
(06:02):
your search will uncover the typewritten note of advice Harper
Lee sent to my parents after my birth. Then it says,
backing up a bit, when my two educator parents chose
to name their perfect firstborn me, they chose the name Harper.
In nineteen ninety three, when I was almost five years old,
my father, the English teacher, wrote to Harper Lee, with
(06:22):
no expectation of hearing back, as she lived a notoriously
quiet life. To their surprise, she wrote back the following
address to me. They actually sent a picture of this,
and it says, dear Harper, you are beginning a life
in a world quite different from the world I know
as a child. The only thing I can say is
in your reading if there are any books left to
(06:43):
read instead of watch, always keep the best company. That way,
you can't go wrong with all good wishes Harper Lee.
Speaker 2 (06:51):
Oh my god.
Speaker 1 (06:53):
And then back into the rest of it, they say,
I've done my best to live up to this advice
for the last forty years, and now get to foster
are the same passion for literary works with my own child.
My namesake was right books, make the best company, stay sexy,
protect the written word and libraries, and make harperly proud
all the best harper Z.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
Wow, what a like coincidence? Like, what if that was
I was harper listening? Oh my god, beautiful. I know
I'd be like, I have an email.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
I know here, here you go, I'm harper Z. You
want this And it's a beautifully typewritten little note, gorgeous
signed by Harper Lee at the bottom. So it also
wouldn't you just love your dad for being that kind.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
Of forward thinking? Yeah? Oh it's beautiful.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
Nice job.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
Cool.
Speaker 1 (07:39):
Should we do some highlights?
Speaker 2 (07:40):
Yeah, we have a podcast network. It's called Exactly Right Media.
Here are some highlights before we begin over on.
Speaker 1 (07:47):
Our podcast The Knife. I cannot wait to listen to
this episode. They're telling the heroin story of Jackie Flug
who survived the hijacking of egypt Air Flight six forty
eight in nineteen eighty five.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
Credible. And then we have an exactly right crossover for
the Ages. Ros welcomes that's messed Up host Lisa Traeger
back to Ghosted. They talk about ghosts, psychics and one
very dramatic haunting and the two of them together man
get right on.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
Also this week, over on Bananas Curtain, Scott he asked
the eternal question, did you know that Andre the Giant
let out a sixteen second fart on the set of
Princess Bride? What a great news podcast?
Speaker 2 (08:29):
Sixteen seconds?
Speaker 1 (08:30):
And then yeah, count it out.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
That's a long one.
Speaker 1 (08:33):
Hold your breath that long. See what happens? Oh my god,
I can't wait to hear that whole thing.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
And then this is really exciting. So we have brand
new merch based on the hit episode of MFM animated
Look for a Goth. You guys loved it, We love it.
So you can get a lady's muscle tea or a
unisex te featuring the gorgeous goth girl drawn by the
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So it's kind of perfect for people who aren't goth
(09:00):
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Yeah, it's perfect. You don't like all those piercings and
the makeup, you don't have to do any of that.
You can just wear a goth on your shirt.
Speaker 2 (09:09):
Yeah. There's also a decal that says look for a
Goth that's designed by our inhouse graphic designer, Vanessa Lylac.
Speaker 1 (09:16):
It's so good. It's like a little baby on board
look for a Goth triangle. It looks very official and
it's basically like helping people out.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
So go to my favorite murder dot com to check
out the store. We have a lot of great march
in there, including that.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
So today this episode comes out on juneteenth, the day
that marks the ending of slavery in the United States.
And so I saw a TikTok on an incredible woman.
So today's story is about a remarkable woman born into
slavery in eighteen thirties North Carolina. And because of this
(09:53):
and the erasure of black accomplishment by a racist establishment,
there are gaps in what we know about her life.
But luckily, in recent years, historians have worked very hard
to change that, searching archives and pouring over old documents
to find information and basically piece her life story together.
So because of that reporting, I am able to tell
(10:15):
you today the amazing story of heroic Civil War nurse
Lucy Nichols. So the sources for the story that Maren
used are the research of Pamela Peters, Curtis Peters, and
Victor mcgenty, and the reporting of doctor Eileen Yanoviak, who
published a book about Lucy called The Tenacious Nurse Nichols,
(10:36):
And the rest of the sources are in our show notes.
Lucy's life begins in April of eighteen thirty eight, when
she's born into slavery in Halifax County, North Carolina. She's
owned by Jacob and Sally Higgs, and because that's the
way it worked back then, she is forced to take
their last name as her own, so technically her legal
(10:58):
name is Lucy Higgs. We don't know the names of
Lucy's parents or the details of what her day to
day life was like. Much of what historians of cobble
together comes from the Higgs's legal documents, and those legal
documents purely speak of the people that they owned as inventory.
So it is how many of them the cost the names,
(11:22):
and they track her movements to the different households within
the family, or they name her in legal disputes over
which family member owns her.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
That's so crazy, awful.
Speaker 1 (11:34):
It's so horrible. But here is what we do now.
In eighteen thirty nine, when Lucy is an infant, Jacob
and Sally Higgs's twenty nine year old son Reuben, claims
legal ownership of her, Lucy's seven year old brother Aaron
and her four year old sister Angeline, So before she's
a year old, Reuben takes Lucy and her two siblings
in a small group of other enslaved workers from the
(11:57):
Higgs North Carolina property to his new home home in Tennessee.
It's unclear if Lucy's parents go with this group, but
under slavery, families are constantly and very commonly torn apart,
So when Lucy's eight years old, she and her sister
Angeline are forcibly moved again after Reuben's wife, Eliza divorces
(12:18):
him and moves to Mississippi, and Maren makes the note.
She says, sort of an aside, but divorce would have
been extremely atypical in the South in this era, which
is the first thing I thought of where I was like,
oh my god, this woman was like goodbye. Yeah, I mean,
it wasn't done. But we don't know why the marriage ended.
(12:38):
We do know that Reuben ended up marrying his first
cousin not long after. So then when Eliza dies, Lucy
and Angeline are moved again to another Higgs property back
in Tennessee, in a town called Bolivar, not far from
the Tennessee Mississippi border, and here Angeline and their brother
Aaron are reunite. By eighteen sixty, Lucy is in her
(13:02):
early twenties and now married to a man who is
also enslaved by the Higgs family. They have a baby
girl that they name Mona, and we know Mona's age
because the Higgs eighteen sixty property inventory list she appears
there listed as infant. That same document reduces Lucy and
(13:23):
Mona's lives to a dollar amount. Together they are valued
at fourteen hundred dollars. Wow, so it's presumed Lucy's husband
is Mona's father. But of course, very dark side of
slavery is that there's always the disturbing possibility that Lucy
was sexually assaulted by her white owner and became pregnant
(13:44):
because of that. What we do know is that Mona's
birth marks a very pivotal moment in Lucy's life. This
is what historian Aileen Yanoviak writes. She says, quote, the
birth of Mona was undoubtedly steeped with mixed emotions, the
pride and joy of a new mother and the fear
and sorrow of a life bound into slave labor. It
offered Lucy the opportunity to love and be loved unconditionally.
(14:07):
She experienced the instinct to protect her child. So it's
kind of cool. It's like that driving force behind what
the rest of the story becomes. So in eighteen sixty one,
the Civil War begins, and a year later in July,
in Kentucky, which is directly north of Tennessee, they're mostly
under Union control and the Higgs family, as enslavers, probably
(14:31):
are starting to feel the walls closing in, so they
start talking about trafficking their enslaved laborers further south, where
they can be sold for tens of thousands of dollars each.
Lucy knows what this means she will wind up deeper
in Confederate territory and farther away from the possibility of
freedom if she would ever want to try to flee
(14:52):
to a Union state. And because of that, it's almost
guaranteed she'll be separated from her loved ones, including her
baby daughter. So Lucy and a few of the other
people enslaved by the Higgs family plan their escape and
bravely set out at night in the summer of eighteen
sixty two. So we can assume the group is very small.
(15:13):
Lucy's thought to be the only adult woman in it,
which means her sister Angeline did not go with them.
But historians believe Lucy's husband is a part of the group,
and we know for sure Lucy is carrying Mona with
her on this So how frightening to be an escaping
slave with a baby? Totally I mean, and Eileen Yanoviak
(15:35):
writes this. She says, quote, Mona was only two or
three years of age, then, a bright eyed and merry
child whose sweet chatter or loud wails of fear could
jeopardize their escape. But in the sweltering heat of a
Tennessee summer, Lucy swallowed Mona in her gown and snuck
away in the cover of night.
Speaker 2 (15:52):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (15:53):
So, like many escaping slaves, the group almost certainly uses
the stars to navigate north, clear if they have a
more specific destination in mind other than just going north.
But they would be making their way through briers and
bushes a lot of the time barefoot, which is the
thing I didn't really think of until now. We're just
(16:14):
like getting out with what you have. It's not like
they had a bunch of stuff that they could take
with them or totally. It's worst case scenario, of course,
in every way they're trying to keep hidden in wooded areas,
A lot of it would be unfamiliar, definitely hostile territory,
and it'd be easier for them to get turned around
or lost, which could of course lead to them being
(16:35):
recaptured and then brutally punished. Of course, so this group
makes it three miles when they arrive outside a Union
Army camp. This camp houses hundreds of soldiers making up
Indiana's twenty third Volunteer Regiment. The soldiers come from a
town called New Albany, Indiana, more than three hundred miles
(16:58):
from their current post in Tennessee. Major will later describe
Lucy and her group as quote, dusty and footsore from
the long and hurried journey. Some sources say the group
traveled thirty miles, but experts on her life say it
was more likely three miles either way, in the middle
(17:18):
of the night, just trying to get away.
Speaker 2 (17:20):
No shoes, my god, I mean all the things.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
It's like all one hundred miles. Yeah. So of course
the Higgses know immediately when the slaves escape, so they're
already in pursuit of this group. So now Lucy and
the group are in the horrible position of having to
beg these white Union soldiers to help protect them from
their enslavers, because even a Union camp is a threat
(17:45):
to freedom seekers like Lucy. Escape slaves risk assault and
sexual violence or being taken captive under the Fugitive Slave Act,
and this is a federal law requiring but escaped enslaved
people be returned to their quote owners and often resulted
in a monetary reward.
Speaker 2 (18:03):
Yeah, it's a reality of it, right.
Speaker 1 (18:05):
Yeah, if you're being seen as less than human any way,
then no matter what side you're on, it's you know,
it's that. But also the Union soldiers could just turn
them away and basically say we can't help you.
Speaker 2 (18:18):
I think people think that just because it's like the Union,
they're not racist, and it's like they're still racist, it's
just I mean, it's a different flavor, that's right.
Speaker 1 (18:27):
Fortunately, though, these Union soldiers do the right thing.
Speaker 2 (18:31):
Great.
Speaker 1 (18:31):
When someone from the Higgs home does show up to
twenty third Regiment's camp, the men of the twenty third
refuse to turn Lucy into her group over. There are
theories that that's because of Baby Mona. Even these hardened
soldiers wouldn't want to throw a small child to the
wolves that way. And there are laws known as confiscation
(18:52):
acts where Union forces are technically allowed to seize any
property being used to support the Confederacy. Because enslaved people
are seen as and treated like property, these freedom seekers
can arguably be considered contraband of war. So the Higgs
family are furious and there's a standoff, but the soldiers
(19:13):
don't back down, and so the Higgs have no choice
but to leave. I mean it's a camp of soldiers
all armed, you know. So Lucy then decides to stay
at the camp, presumably because she doesn't have other options.
They didn't have a final destination, and at least here
she can feed and care for Mona, who immediately becomes
(19:34):
a rare source of joy for the regiment soldiers. Eileen
Yanoviak writes, quote, the soldiers would lovingly croon to the
little girl to earn her giggles and glean what I know.
But of course nothing's free, so Lucy and her husband
have to work very hard for basic necessities if they're
going to stay at this camp. Lucy's immediately put to
(19:56):
work as a laundress and a cook, while her husband
would have likely been assigned to manual labor jobs or
even could be enlisted in black volunteer regiments. Aileen Ninoviek says, quote,
it was essentially a different type of bondage that required
work in exchange for protection provisions and the promise of
freedom end quote. Within weeks that Indiana twenty third is
(20:17):
instructed to pack up and move on to the next battle,
they set up camp in southern towns where the fighting
requires them, so Lucy's responsibilities begin to evolve. Within a
year of her arrival at the regiment, she becomes known
for how good she is at soothing the sick and
treating minor injuries, which are the things she's learned as
an enslaved domestic worker, so big part of her job
(20:42):
and skills that she's basically already earned and learned. Lucy's
caregiving skills eventually catch the attention of the regiment's surgeon,
doctor Magnus Brucker, and he chooses her to serve as
his right hand. This is a critical and high stakes
job that most doctors at the time would only consider
another white man to be able to do.
Speaker 2 (21:01):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (21:02):
Wow, this story keeps making me think of The Nick.
Do you know that series? The Nick? Definitely looking at history.
We just have no idea unless we study it, the
details of that kind of stuff. Of like, it's the
accomplishment alone. She must have been incredible to have this
white surgeon be like, no, it's got to be you
either one that's going to come and help me. But
(21:25):
because war demands it out of sheer need, more and
more women take on nursing roles, often with no real training,
and Lucy already has experience, has done it. So these
women include Harriet Tubman and the founder of the Red
Cross Clara Barton, who were forced to learn everything in
real time in wartime. Doctor Brooker then offers Lucy the
(21:48):
unofficial title of nurse and promises she will eventually be
compensated for her service. So that promise really matters to
Lucy because even though, of course her immediate world is
consumed by the war, she's trying to make plants and
prepare for her and Mona's future as free women. So
(22:10):
Lucy takes the job. She immediately begins tending to grow
some injuries. The soldiers are torn apart by grape shot,
which are clusters of small cannonballs as well as musket
fire that can easily shred muscle and obliterate bone. Lucy's
right in the middle of the action. Later, a fellow
soldier will describe her as quote fearlessly going to the
(22:33):
front to seek out wounded soldiers and officers, all equal
in her mind to administer water to thirsty mouths, pull
away wounded soldiers, and gently care for them. She witnessed
men gasping their last breaths, whispering comforts to them as
their angel of mercy. Wow end quote. How horrifying She's
(22:54):
just immediately a full time war medic at the front.
Lucy also cares for the regiment through relentless waves of illness,
and she shepherds many sick men to their death. Two
hundred and seventeen members of the twenty third Regiment died
during this war, one hundred and forty five of them
dying of diseases like dysentery, malaria, and typhoid fever.
Speaker 2 (23:15):
Holy shit, that's yeah, big percentage.
Speaker 1 (23:17):
Yeah. So Lucy's constantly surrounded by death and chaos, as
well as dwindling food rations, filthy living conditions, and she
still has Mona to take care of and worry about.
But she keeps marching forward with the twenty third Regiment,
and she's there around thirty battles. Oh my god, she
did thirty times.
Speaker 2 (23:38):
Can you imagine having the food poison that you have
right now, but in a war on the front with no.
Speaker 1 (23:44):
Yeah, but people are just like, can you push this
bone back into my arm so I can go keep fighting.
It's like, really, can you give me two seconds? I
just have to wretch, okay. So the Louisville Career Journal
later reports quote she was sometimes at the rear, sometimes
at the front, and often in the thickest of the battle,
as much a soldier as her male companions, except that
(24:07):
she did not carry arms. She never received a scratch. Wow,
isn't that wild? Yeah, So, Lucy's a nurse during the
Battle of Atlanta, where Union forces capture one of the
South's most critical cities, as well as Sherman's March to
the Sea, which is the brutal push to the Georgia
coast that helps turn the tide of the war in
(24:28):
the Union's favor. So she's there for all the big ones.
Speaker 2 (24:32):
Yeah, damn, that's amazing.
Speaker 1 (24:34):
She's also present at the Battle of Vicksburg in eighteen
sixty three, where, following a relentless forty seven day siege,
the Union finally wins. It's seen as a turning point
in the Civil War, but it comes with an enormous
loss for Lucy because this is when Mona, who is
now around three or four years old dies.
Speaker 2 (24:53):
No, we don't know why we needn't warn us.
Speaker 1 (24:57):
I know, I'm sorry, but this is a story of
slavery war, so it's as bad as.
Speaker 2 (25:03):
The warning comes with the territory.
Speaker 1 (25:06):
But it's also like putting perspective on this life. This
woman led under the greatest oppression and in the worst circumstances,
like going from slavery to the Civil War front lines.
My god, So we don't know how or why Mona dies.
It is another detail of Lucy's life that is lost
(25:29):
to time and to indifference. Given how rampant and lethal
disease is during the war, is very possible Mona just
gets one of these diseases doesn't recover. It's also possible
she was killed, like nearly every other aspect of her life.
We don't have Lucy's perspective on her daughter's death, but
a member of the twenty third Regiment will report that quote.
(25:52):
In the siege of Vicksburg, after the city had been captured,
our regiment was one of the first to go in
and receive surrender. Aunt Lucy followed in our wake a
short time after her child died. It almost broke the
mother's heart. The men too had grown to be so
fond of Mona, and it was a severe pain that
went through the entire twenty third.
Speaker 2 (26:13):
Oh, my god, that's a touching.
Speaker 1 (26:16):
It's so sad. The soldiers collect flowers from Mona's grave,
and she's buried in Vicksburg alongside members of the regiment
who were killed in that battle. It's believed that this
is when Lucy's husband enlists in the war. Yanoviak writes, quote,
perhaps he was compelled to fight in honor of his
fallen daughter, unable to bear the burden of her death
(26:38):
as a passive bysander of the war effort. But after
his enlistment, Lucy will never see her husband again. Yanoviak adds, quote,
while the war brought Lucy opportunity in the prospect of freedom,
it also delivered intense personal tragedy. She left behind her siblings,
lost her husband, and watched her beloved child die. In
(26:59):
contrast to the perceptions that enslaved people were passive recipients
of freedom bestowed upon them by Yankees, Lucy's story, like
so many others, illustrates the intense self sacrifice made by
black men and women to attain freedom. They too, went
deep into the war zones, working to survive bloody battles
in a brutal civil war that tore the nation apart
(27:21):
to reconcile its brutal past. That just makes me think
of the movie Glory. If you haven't seen the movie Glory,
you absolutely have to see that movie. It's so good.
So about a year later, in eighteen sixty four, the
twenty third Regiment is granted a sixty day furlough and
heads home to New Albany, Indiana for the first time
in years, and Lucy goes with them. In Indiana, she's
(27:45):
on free soil and she could leave the war behind,
But when that furlough ends, she decides to return to
the front, perhaps because the regiment gives her something to
focus on in her grief, or maybe out of loyalty
to the soldiers who've become.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
Like family to her.
Speaker 1 (28:01):
So she has a chance. She makes it to freedom,
and she goes back. Either way, The twenty third Regiment
is active through the final days of the Civil War,
which ends with Union victory in eighteen sixty five. When
the troops march through Washington, d c. And the Union's
victory parade, which is known as the Grand Review, it's
clear how much the men of the twenty third Regiment
(28:22):
respect Lucy because she marches right beside them as one
of them.
Speaker 2 (28:27):
Oh my god, stop.
Speaker 1 (28:29):
I know. After the war, the men urge Lucy, who
is still only in her twenties, to settle in New Albany,
and she does it. Here she becomes one of the
few female members of the Grand Army of the Republic,
which is an organization for Union veterans, and she stays
very close with her fellow soldiers. While getting back on
her feet, she earns a living as a domestic worker
(28:50):
and a nurse in some of their houses. Then, when
Lucy is around thirty two years old, she marries a
man named John Nichols. Like Lucy, he is a black
veteran of the Civil War. Their wedding is held at
the Second Baptist Church in New Albany, which is a
known stop on the underground railroad, and then they buy
a house together. Lucy finally seems to have some long
(29:12):
overdue happiness and stability, but one thing is missing. She
has not been paid for all of the work that
she did during the war, and her pension claim is
denied shit at this point. The US pension system is massive,
actively paying out over nine hundred and fifty thousand veterans
in their families, some going all the way back to
(29:33):
the Revolutionary War. The payments eat up around forty percent
of our federal budget, and it's a commendable progressive system
in many ways, but it's also very flawed. More than
eighteen thousand women who serve the union as hospital nurses, laundresses,
and cooks are left out entirely, mostly because they don't
have the official records that are required to actually get
(29:55):
the government to sign off on their pension right chat.
But remember Lucy was hired by doctor Brooker, so she
is one of those thousands of women without formal paperwork
outlining her service. But her bravery and determination isn't going anywhere.
So in the eighteen nineties, after her pension claim is denied,
(30:17):
she starts a battle with the US government.
Speaker 2 (30:19):
Damn.
Speaker 1 (30:20):
She starts by filing a petition, which is one of
the few documents we have actually written by Lucy herself
and in her voice, so it says, quote, I served
as a nurse for about three years. I cooked for
the soldiers, dressed their wounds, gave them medicine, and washed
for them, and did anything I was called to do.
I never received a nickel from my services as a nurse.
(30:43):
Doctor Brucker told me I would get paid, and I
worked on the hope of getting paid. So Lucy's initial
appeals are all rejected, and for most women this would
be the end of the road and they just wouldn't
get a pension. But Lucy keeps on fighting. She even
strategically enlists her fellow soldiers to back her up. Dozens
(31:03):
of men from the twenty third Regiment step up, including
doctor Brucker himself, testifying that he could not have done
his job without Lucy.
Speaker 2 (31:12):
Wow, that's so incredible.
Speaker 1 (31:14):
Six seven years, fifty five testimonials, and an avalanche of paperwork. Yes,
she's just got to get everybody basically who was left
from the regiment rough that she could get a hold of,
and all that paperwork, paperwork, But she does it, and
she wins. In December of eighteen ninety eight, when Lucy
(31:34):
is in her mid fifties, she has finally granted a
pension through a special Act of Congress. Now it isn't much.
She's going to be paid twelve dollars a month, which
is roughly around four hundred and eighty dollars in today's money.
Speaker 2 (31:47):
Yeah, that's not nothing.
Speaker 1 (31:48):
It's not nothing, and it's a hard won victory that
helps pave the way for others. A few years later,
in nineteen oh one, Congress formally recognizes the role of
nurse as an official military post, making all civil war
nurses eligible for pensions. So interesting, and that's because of
Lucy fighting that hard and never giving up. So Lucy
(32:12):
is a trailblazer in more ways than one. The work
she and other women did during the war transforms nursing
from a male dominated job into one predominantly female, and
by the year nineteen hundred, ninety one percent of American
nurses are women.
Speaker 2 (32:27):
That's so cool.
Speaker 1 (32:30):
Lucy stays close friends with the men of the twenty
third Regiment for the rest of her life. She's at
every reunion with them, she marches in every Memorial Day
parade alongside them, and she's even on the invite list
as their children grow up and get married. I know
in turn, the men are also there for her, like
when she gets the measles and years later when she
(32:53):
has a stroke. Lucy never fully recovers from the latter,
and she passes away in January of nineteen fifteen, at
the age age of sixty nine. She's buried next to
her husband John at the Second Baptist Church where they'd
been married decades earlier. Lucy's buried with full military.
Speaker 2 (33:10):
Honors, my God.
Speaker 1 (33:12):
In an elaborate ceremony, with her obituary noting that quote
Lucy was known to almost everyone in the city, and
everyone honored her for her loyalty end quote. A century later,
in twenty nineteen, a statue is put up at this
church depicting Lucy holding her baby Moana.
Speaker 2 (33:31):
Oh my God, stop.
Speaker 1 (33:34):
Finally returning Lucy with the child she loves so much.
And Lucy Nichols is now the subject of a permanent
exhibition at the Cartegie Center for Art and History in
New Albany, where Eileen Yanoviak serves as executive director, and
quoting a historian named A. Glenn Crothers, Eileen says, quote
(33:57):
Lucy's story is indeed an important example of determination, grit, service,
and loyalty. But more importantly, her battle to build a
life beyond enslavement, to serve, to work, to secure a
pension and receive legitimization is a testament to the lingering
effects of inequality well after the war was won, and
(34:18):
to Lucy's triumphant spirit. And that is the story of
boundary breaking Civil War Nurse Lucy Nichols.
Speaker 2 (34:26):
Wow, I mean, I mean, the timing couldn't be. It's
so relevant, It's so relevant. Imagine that, Imagine just wanting
the chance to live and work and be independent and
having to fight so hard for that.
Speaker 1 (34:44):
Fight literally on the front lines of the one of
the worst wars this country has ever seen. And then
they're like, no, I don't think we're going to pay you.
Speaker 2 (34:53):
Yeah, just like yes you will, Yes, you will. So inspiring,
isn't it great? Yeah, I'm so glad you did that.
That's yeah, it's a nice one.
Speaker 1 (35:01):
I'm glad I found it because that of course, her
story is kind of just lost to time, and you know,
it's the kind of story people really really need to hear.
Speaker 2 (35:10):
I think definitely. Well, that was a great story for Juneteenth.
Speaker 1 (35:16):
Thank you. I'm gonna go put one of those old
fashioned cartoon ice packs on my head and lay on
the couch. How about you?
Speaker 2 (35:23):
Should, you poor thing? Go to bed? That sucks. We're
back to normal next week. We'll tell you two great stories.
We'll both be so healthy and well, it's just you're
gonna you're gonna believe it.
Speaker 1 (35:35):
Well, I don't believe the return we're about to make.
Speaker 2 (35:38):
Yeah, but thank you guys so much for listening, for
being here.
Speaker 1 (35:42):
Yeah, and for staying strong through all of this, all
of the things going on these days, chaos chaos, and
yet man, those no Kings parades. There were little tiny towns.
I kept seeing them on TikTok, just like the town
has five thousand people and two thousand are standing on
(36:02):
their main street. It's just a beautiful thanks firing. I
think it's what everybody needed right now.
Speaker 2 (36:06):
Absolutely, we're the majority. Stay sexy and don't get murdered. Goodbye, Elvis,
Do you want a cookie?
Speaker 3 (36:22):
This has been an Exactly Right production.
Speaker 2 (36:24):
Our senior producers are Alejandra Keck and Molly Smith.
Speaker 1 (36:27):
Our editor is Aristotle os Veto.
Speaker 2 (36:29):
This episode was mixed by Leona Squalacci.
Speaker 3 (36:31):
Our researchers are Maaron McGlashan and Ali Elkin.
Speaker 2 (36:34):
Email your hometowns to My Favorite Murder at gmail dot com.
Speaker 3 (36:37):
Follow the show on Instagram at my Favorite Murder.
Speaker 2 (36:40):
Listen to My Favorite Murder on the iHeartRadio app, Apple
Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts and now.
Speaker 3 (36:45):
You can watch us on exactly Right's YouTube page. While
you're there, please like and subscribe. Goodbyebye
Hello and welcome.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
It's my favorite murder.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
That's roge a Heart Start.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
That's Karen Kiligariff, And we're here to.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
Just do a super quick little episode for you, just
a little solo. Just get this, Let's get it out there,
let's get it done.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Yeah, it's officially summer. We're enjoying the heat. Hope you
are too. I don't know what's going on.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
Oh I had food poisoning last night and didn't sleep
at all, couldn't stop barfing.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
What was it? I always want to know, but I
know you don't. No one knows, right.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
I'm trying to backtime it. And if it is the
restaurant that my dad and I ate at together, it
will break my heart because we eather all the time
and I love it. And I was just like as
it was starting, I was just like, no, because I've
had bad food poisoning once before, and sorry but remember that.
(01:12):
Well maybe I shouldn't name names, but I don't think
these stores exist anymore. I remember that Fresh Choice in highwork.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
Yeah. It was like a yeah, it was like a
little grocery, like pre made package stuff.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
Yeah, right, which when you first go into it, you're like,
this is a dream come truth, the carson that can't
cook and doesn't cook and right, so I got a
Chinese chicken salad from there, but this salad part wasn't lettuce.
It was all cut up cabbage. And then like twenty
four hours later, I literally thought I was gonna have
to go the hospital. And since that time, and that
(01:42):
was twenty ten's yeah, literally the word cabbage bums me out,
like I can't even think about it. So as I
was trying to figure out where this came from, I
was like, but when you find out, there's gonna be
a whole realm of things ed forever for you.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
But I think that in general, lettuces and cabbages and
that kind of thing, it is just like dangerous and
way more than we think we realize. So it doesn't
mean the restaurant gave it to you because they that's
true or bad. It's like just like one unwashed let
us sleep can like ruin everything.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
Also in these days, it's just such a you know,
as we all talk about this dystopian nightmare we're sliding into,
when those like the stories of recalls they keep on happening,
Oh my god, because everything has just been like deregulated
and like, yeah, do everybody just do what you want?
It's just like, yeah, my god.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
Pick your level. Yeah, it's absurd. So I feel like
that it's not I always want someone to the it
was this thing that I ate at this place, so
I can always avoid it, right, same with true crime,
where it's like this thing happened, and this thing happened,
now I can avoid it.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
You know, we all wish if only.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
If only, it's life isn't like that, unfortunately, So I
think you don't have to worry about the restaurant.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
And also, I don't know if this has ever happened
to you when you're sick, but you watch a certain thing
on TV and then the things seems worse than like
you were trying to enjoy it, but you're like, this
represents all of my suffering.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
I can't hear the theme song to Orange is the
New Black without getting depressed because I watched it in
this really deep depression of my life back in the
old apartment.
Speaker 1 (03:15):
Yep.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
And so what's that that beautiful song that the opring
is I love?
Speaker 1 (03:20):
Is that a Regena Spector song?
Speaker 2 (03:21):
Yes, Yes You've Got Time by Regina Spector. I will cry.
I will fucking just go into a deep depression if
I hear that song, because I watched that show, yes,
while I was.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
Depressed, and also that show you go through that show, Yeah, yeah,
I mean that is such an experience of a show.
It's not like, you know, you're just kind of like, oh,
this whole thing, You're just like, oh my god, Noah,
I'm also in prison now. I'm also trying to survive whatever.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
So it's so sad. Okay, it's a lot. Well, I'm
sorry about your food poisoning. Let's hey, let's make this quick. Hey,
we can do this.
Speaker 1 (03:56):
Look, I'm blessed to have food poisoning in this goddamn Danny.
Here's kind of a cute thing, which is somebody wrote
an email after the Harper Lee episode that I did
if you want to hear it, because I said, if
anybody out there, the whole thing was about how Harper
Lee was down in that town where Reverend Willie Maxwell
was killing people, and people think that she may have
(04:17):
been writing a book. Nothing ever came of it. And
then there was a part where somebody years later had
found a note that she had put into a encyclopedia.
I think at the local library. So I asked for
if anybody a secret Harper Lee treasure oh that they
want to share with us, to please do that. So
(04:38):
we got an email, Oh my god, and the subject
line is Harper Lee tresure it just starts now. I
wasn't able to search a dusty attic as Karen instructed
in Alexander City for the missing Willie Maxwell manuscript. My apologies.
Would you settle for a retired educator's basement safe in
rural Missouri?
Speaker 2 (04:55):
Always?
Speaker 1 (04:55):
I mean, the idea of a basement safe is on
par with safe deposit box at the.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
Right A safe? Like what?
Speaker 1 (05:02):
Who?
Speaker 2 (05:02):
A personal safe has a fucking safe? That's so cool.
Speaker 1 (05:07):
I walked into my sister's garage when I was home
and there was a safe in her garage, and I
was like, what the hell she was a safe for?
Speaker 2 (05:13):
Did she rob a bank or it was.
Speaker 1 (05:15):
The previous owner. It's just sitting out there because no
one can move it.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
Did I tell you that? When Vincent and I way
back we were looking at houses to buy and one
of them had a fur safe. That's how old the
house was. It was like a climate controlled, huge safe
just for like this society lady's furs back in the twenties.
Holy shit, right now. And I was like, Okay, I
(05:39):
just want this. That is amazing.
Speaker 1 (05:41):
Yep, go in there, lock yourself in. Watch Orange is
the new Black. Get it taken care of. Okay. So
we're still in this email. So basically they're apologizing. But
would we settle for this abasement safe in rural Missouri.
What we're saying to you right now, writer is that yes.
The answer is yes. Back in the email. If so,
(06:02):
your search will uncover the typewritten note of advice Harper
Lee sent to my parents after my birth. Then it says,
backing up a bit, when my two educator parents chose
to name their perfect firstborn me, they chose the name Harper.
In nineteen ninety three, when I was almost five years old,
my father, the English teacher, wrote to Harper Lee, with
(06:22):
no expectation of hearing back, as she lived a notoriously
quiet life. To their surprise, she wrote back the following
address to me. They actually sent a picture of this,
and it says, dear Harper, you are beginning a life
in a world quite different from the world I know
as a child. The only thing I can say is
in your reading if there are any books left to
(06:43):
read instead of watch, always keep the best company. That way,
you can't go wrong with all good wishes Harper Lee.
Speaker 2 (06:51):
Oh my god.
Speaker 1 (06:53):
And then back into the rest of it, they say,
I've done my best to live up to this advice
for the last forty years, and now get to foster
are the same passion for literary works with my own child.
My namesake was right books, make the best company, stay sexy,
protect the written word and libraries, and make harperly proud
all the best harper Z.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
Wow, what a like coincidence? Like, what if that was
I was harper listening? Oh my god, beautiful. I know
I'd be like, I have an email.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
I know here, here you go, I'm harper Z. You
want this And it's a beautifully typewritten little note, gorgeous
signed by Harper Lee at the bottom. So it also
wouldn't you just love your dad for being that kind.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
Of forward thinking? Yeah? Oh it's beautiful.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
Nice job.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
Cool.
Speaker 1 (07:39):
Should we do some highlights?
Speaker 2 (07:40):
Yeah, we have a podcast network. It's called Exactly Right Media.
Here are some highlights before we begin over on.
Speaker 1 (07:47):
Our podcast The Knife. I cannot wait to listen to
this episode. They're telling the heroin story of Jackie Flug
who survived the hijacking of egypt Air Flight six forty
eight in nineteen eighty five.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
Credible. And then we have an exactly right crossover for
the Ages. Ros welcomes that's messed Up host Lisa Traeger
back to Ghosted. They talk about ghosts, psychics and one
very dramatic haunting and the two of them together man
get right on.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
Also this week, over on Bananas Curtain, Scott he asked
the eternal question, did you know that Andre the Giant
let out a sixteen second fart on the set of
Princess Bride? What a great news podcast?
Speaker 2 (08:29):
Sixteen seconds?
Speaker 1 (08:30):
And then yeah, count it out.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
That's a long one.
Speaker 1 (08:33):
Hold your breath that long. See what happens? Oh my god,
I can't wait to hear that whole thing.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
And then this is really exciting. So we have brand
new merch based on the hit episode of MFM animated
Look for a Goth. You guys loved it, We love it.
So you can get a lady's muscle tea or a
unisex te featuring the gorgeous goth girl drawn by the
great Nick terry and it says look for a Goth.
So it's kind of perfect for people who aren't goth
(09:00):
but want to support the goth community.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
Yeah, it's perfect. You don't like all those piercings and
the makeup, you don't have to do any of that.
You can just wear a goth on your shirt.
Speaker 2 (09:09):
Yeah. There's also a decal that says look for a
Goth that's designed by our inhouse graphic designer, Vanessa Lylac.
Speaker 1 (09:16):
It's so good. It's like a little baby on board
look for a Goth triangle. It looks very official and
it's basically like helping people out.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
So go to my favorite murder dot com to check
out the store. We have a lot of great march
in there, including that.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
So today this episode comes out on juneteenth, the day
that marks the ending of slavery in the United States.
And so I saw a TikTok on an incredible woman.
So today's story is about a remarkable woman born into
slavery in eighteen thirties North Carolina. And because of this
(09:53):
and the erasure of black accomplishment by a racist establishment,
there are gaps in what we know about her life.
But luckily, in recent years, historians have worked very hard
to change that, searching archives and pouring over old documents
to find information and basically piece her life story together.
So because of that reporting, I am able to tell
(10:15):
you today the amazing story of heroic Civil War nurse
Lucy Nichols. So the sources for the story that Maren
used are the research of Pamela Peters, Curtis Peters, and
Victor mcgenty, and the reporting of doctor Eileen Yanoviak, who
published a book about Lucy called The Tenacious Nurse Nichols,
(10:36):
And the rest of the sources are in our show notes.
Lucy's life begins in April of eighteen thirty eight, when
she's born into slavery in Halifax County, North Carolina. She's
owned by Jacob and Sally Higgs, and because that's the
way it worked back then, she is forced to take
their last name as her own, so technically her legal
(10:58):
name is Lucy Higgs. We don't know the names of
Lucy's parents or the details of what her day to
day life was like. Much of what historians of cobble
together comes from the Higgs's legal documents, and those legal
documents purely speak of the people that they owned as inventory.
So it is how many of them the cost the names,
(11:22):
and they track her movements to the different households within
the family, or they name her in legal disputes over
which family member owns her.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
That's so crazy, awful.
Speaker 1 (11:34):
It's so horrible. But here is what we do now.
In eighteen thirty nine, when Lucy is an infant, Jacob
and Sally Higgs's twenty nine year old son Reuben, claims
legal ownership of her, Lucy's seven year old brother Aaron
and her four year old sister Angeline, So before she's
a year old, Reuben takes Lucy and her two siblings
in a small group of other enslaved workers from the
(11:57):
Higgs North Carolina property to his new home home in Tennessee.
It's unclear if Lucy's parents go with this group, but
under slavery, families are constantly and very commonly torn apart,
So when Lucy's eight years old, she and her sister
Angeline are forcibly moved again after Reuben's wife, Eliza divorces
(12:18):
him and moves to Mississippi, and Maren makes the note.
She says, sort of an aside, but divorce would have
been extremely atypical in the South in this era, which
is the first thing I thought of where I was like,
oh my god, this woman was like goodbye. Yeah, I mean,
it wasn't done. But we don't know why the marriage ended.
(12:38):
We do know that Reuben ended up marrying his first
cousin not long after. So then when Eliza dies, Lucy
and Angeline are moved again to another Higgs property back
in Tennessee, in a town called Bolivar, not far from
the Tennessee Mississippi border, and here Angeline and their brother
Aaron are reunite. By eighteen sixty, Lucy is in her
(13:02):
early twenties and now married to a man who is
also enslaved by the Higgs family. They have a baby
girl that they name Mona, and we know Mona's age
because the Higgs eighteen sixty property inventory list she appears
there listed as infant. That same document reduces Lucy and
(13:23):
Mona's lives to a dollar amount. Together they are valued
at fourteen hundred dollars. Wow, so it's presumed Lucy's husband
is Mona's father. But of course, very dark side of
slavery is that there's always the disturbing possibility that Lucy
was sexually assaulted by her white owner and became pregnant
(13:44):
because of that. What we do know is that Mona's
birth marks a very pivotal moment in Lucy's life. This
is what historian Aileen Yanoviak writes. She says, quote, the
birth of Mona was undoubtedly steeped with mixed emotions, the
pride and joy of a new mother and the fear
and sorrow of a life bound into slave labor. It
offered Lucy the opportunity to love and be loved unconditionally.
(14:07):
She experienced the instinct to protect her child. So it's
kind of cool. It's like that driving force behind what
the rest of the story becomes. So in eighteen sixty one,
the Civil War begins, and a year later in July,
in Kentucky, which is directly north of Tennessee, they're mostly
under Union control and the Higgs family, as enslavers, probably
(14:31):
are starting to feel the walls closing in, so they
start talking about trafficking their enslaved laborers further south, where
they can be sold for tens of thousands of dollars each.
Lucy knows what this means she will wind up deeper
in Confederate territory and farther away from the possibility of
freedom if she would ever want to try to flee
(14:52):
to a Union state. And because of that, it's almost
guaranteed she'll be separated from her loved ones, including her
baby daughter. So Lucy and a few of the other
people enslaved by the Higgs family plan their escape and
bravely set out at night in the summer of eighteen
sixty two. So we can assume the group is very small.
(15:13):
Lucy's thought to be the only adult woman in it,
which means her sister Angeline did not go with them.
But historians believe Lucy's husband is a part of the group,
and we know for sure Lucy is carrying Mona with
her on this So how frightening to be an escaping
slave with a baby? Totally I mean, and Eileen Yanoviak
(15:35):
writes this. She says, quote, Mona was only two or
three years of age, then, a bright eyed and merry
child whose sweet chatter or loud wails of fear could
jeopardize their escape. But in the sweltering heat of a
Tennessee summer, Lucy swallowed Mona in her gown and snuck
away in the cover of night.
Speaker 2 (15:52):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (15:53):
So, like many escaping slaves, the group almost certainly uses
the stars to navigate north, clear if they have a
more specific destination in mind other than just going north.
But they would be making their way through briers and
bushes a lot of the time barefoot, which is the
thing I didn't really think of until now. We're just
(16:14):
like getting out with what you have. It's not like
they had a bunch of stuff that they could take
with them or totally. It's worst case scenario, of course,
in every way they're trying to keep hidden in wooded areas,
A lot of it would be unfamiliar, definitely hostile territory,
and it'd be easier for them to get turned around
or lost, which could of course lead to them being
(16:35):
recaptured and then brutally punished. Of course, so this group
makes it three miles when they arrive outside a Union
Army camp. This camp houses hundreds of soldiers making up
Indiana's twenty third Volunteer Regiment. The soldiers come from a
town called New Albany, Indiana, more than three hundred miles
(16:58):
from their current post in Tennessee. Major will later describe
Lucy and her group as quote, dusty and footsore from
the long and hurried journey. Some sources say the group
traveled thirty miles, but experts on her life say it
was more likely three miles either way, in the middle
(17:18):
of the night, just trying to get away.
Speaker 2 (17:20):
No shoes, my god, I mean all the things.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
It's like all one hundred miles. Yeah. So of course
the Higgses know immediately when the slaves escape, so they're
already in pursuit of this group. So now Lucy and
the group are in the horrible position of having to
beg these white Union soldiers to help protect them from
their enslavers, because even a Union camp is a threat
(17:45):
to freedom seekers like Lucy. Escape slaves risk assault and
sexual violence or being taken captive under the Fugitive Slave Act,
and this is a federal law requiring but escaped enslaved
people be returned to their quote owners and often resulted
in a monetary reward.
Speaker 2 (18:03):
Yeah, it's a reality of it, right.
Speaker 1 (18:05):
Yeah, if you're being seen as less than human any way,
then no matter what side you're on, it's you know,
it's that. But also the Union soldiers could just turn
them away and basically say we can't help you.
Speaker 2 (18:18):
I think people think that just because it's like the Union,
they're not racist, and it's like they're still racist, it's
just I mean, it's a different flavor, that's right.
Speaker 1 (18:27):
Fortunately, though, these Union soldiers do the right thing.
Speaker 2 (18:31):
Great.
Speaker 1 (18:31):
When someone from the Higgs home does show up to
twenty third Regiment's camp, the men of the twenty third
refuse to turn Lucy into her group over. There are
theories that that's because of Baby Mona. Even these hardened
soldiers wouldn't want to throw a small child to the
wolves that way. And there are laws known as confiscation
(18:52):
acts where Union forces are technically allowed to seize any
property being used to support the Confederacy. Because enslaved people
are seen as and treated like property, these freedom seekers
can arguably be considered contraband of war. So the Higgs
family are furious and there's a standoff, but the soldiers
(19:13):
don't back down, and so the Higgs have no choice
but to leave. I mean it's a camp of soldiers
all armed, you know. So Lucy then decides to stay
at the camp, presumably because she doesn't have other options.
They didn't have a final destination, and at least here
she can feed and care for Mona, who immediately becomes
(19:34):
a rare source of joy for the regiment soldiers. Eileen
Yanoviak writes, quote, the soldiers would lovingly croon to the
little girl to earn her giggles and glean what I know.
But of course nothing's free, so Lucy and her husband
have to work very hard for basic necessities if they're
going to stay at this camp. Lucy's immediately put to
(19:56):
work as a laundress and a cook, while her husband
would have likely been assigned to manual labor jobs or
even could be enlisted in black volunteer regiments. Aileen Ninoviek says, quote,
it was essentially a different type of bondage that required
work in exchange for protection provisions and the promise of
freedom end quote. Within weeks that Indiana twenty third is
(20:17):
instructed to pack up and move on to the next battle,
they set up camp in southern towns where the fighting
requires them, so Lucy's responsibilities begin to evolve. Within a
year of her arrival at the regiment, she becomes known
for how good she is at soothing the sick and
treating minor injuries, which are the things she's learned as
an enslaved domestic worker, so big part of her job
(20:42):
and skills that she's basically already earned and learned. Lucy's
caregiving skills eventually catch the attention of the regiment's surgeon,
doctor Magnus Brucker, and he chooses her to serve as
his right hand. This is a critical and high stakes
job that most doctors at the time would only consider
another white man to be able to do.
Speaker 2 (21:01):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (21:02):
Wow, this story keeps making me think of The Nick.
Do you know that series? The Nick? Definitely looking at history.
We just have no idea unless we study it, the
details of that kind of stuff. Of like, it's the
accomplishment alone. She must have been incredible to have this
white surgeon be like, no, it's got to be you
either one that's going to come and help me. But
(21:25):
because war demands it out of sheer need, more and
more women take on nursing roles, often with no real training,
and Lucy already has experience, has done it. So these
women include Harriet Tubman and the founder of the Red
Cross Clara Barton, who were forced to learn everything in
real time in wartime. Doctor Brooker then offers Lucy the
(21:48):
unofficial title of nurse and promises she will eventually be
compensated for her service. So that promise really matters to
Lucy because even though, of course her immediate world is
consumed by the war, she's trying to make plants and
prepare for her and Mona's future as free women. So
(22:10):
Lucy takes the job. She immediately begins tending to grow
some injuries. The soldiers are torn apart by grape shot,
which are clusters of small cannonballs as well as musket
fire that can easily shred muscle and obliterate bone. Lucy's
right in the middle of the action. Later, a fellow
soldier will describe her as quote fearlessly going to the
(22:33):
front to seek out wounded soldiers and officers, all equal
in her mind to administer water to thirsty mouths, pull
away wounded soldiers, and gently care for them. She witnessed
men gasping their last breaths, whispering comforts to them as
their angel of mercy. Wow end quote. How horrifying She's
(22:54):
just immediately a full time war medic at the front.
Lucy also cares for the regiment through relentless waves of illness,
and she shepherds many sick men to their death. Two
hundred and seventeen members of the twenty third Regiment died
during this war, one hundred and forty five of them
dying of diseases like dysentery, malaria, and typhoid fever.
Speaker 2 (23:15):
Holy shit, that's yeah, big percentage.
Speaker 1 (23:17):
Yeah. So Lucy's constantly surrounded by death and chaos, as
well as dwindling food rations, filthy living conditions, and she
still has Mona to take care of and worry about.
But she keeps marching forward with the twenty third Regiment,
and she's there around thirty battles. Oh my god, she
did thirty times.
Speaker 2 (23:38):
Can you imagine having the food poison that you have
right now, but in a war on the front with no.
Speaker 1 (23:44):
Yeah, but people are just like, can you push this
bone back into my arm so I can go keep fighting.
It's like, really, can you give me two seconds? I
just have to wretch, okay. So the Louisville Career Journal
later reports quote she was sometimes at the rear, sometimes
at the front, and often in the thickest of the battle,
as much a soldier as her male companions, except that
(24:07):
she did not carry arms. She never received a scratch. Wow,
isn't that wild? Yeah, So, Lucy's a nurse during the
Battle of Atlanta, where Union forces capture one of the
South's most critical cities, as well as Sherman's March to
the Sea, which is the brutal push to the Georgia
coast that helps turn the tide of the war in
(24:28):
the Union's favor. So she's there for all the big ones.
Speaker 2 (24:32):
Yeah, damn, that's amazing.
Speaker 1 (24:34):
She's also present at the Battle of Vicksburg in eighteen
sixty three, where, following a relentless forty seven day siege,
the Union finally wins. It's seen as a turning point
in the Civil War, but it comes with an enormous
loss for Lucy because this is when Mona, who is
now around three or four years old dies.
Speaker 2 (24:53):
No, we don't know why we needn't warn us.
Speaker 1 (24:57):
I know, I'm sorry, but this is a story of
slavery war, so it's as bad as.
Speaker 2 (25:03):
The warning comes with the territory.
Speaker 1 (25:06):
But it's also like putting perspective on this life. This
woman led under the greatest oppression and in the worst circumstances,
like going from slavery to the Civil War front lines.
My god, So we don't know how or why Mona dies.
It is another detail of Lucy's life that is lost
(25:29):
to time and to indifference. Given how rampant and lethal
disease is during the war, is very possible Mona just
gets one of these diseases doesn't recover. It's also possible
she was killed, like nearly every other aspect of her life.
We don't have Lucy's perspective on her daughter's death, but
a member of the twenty third Regiment will report that quote.
(25:52):
In the siege of Vicksburg, after the city had been captured,
our regiment was one of the first to go in
and receive surrender. Aunt Lucy followed in our wake a
short time after her child died. It almost broke the
mother's heart. The men too had grown to be so
fond of Mona, and it was a severe pain that
went through the entire twenty third.
Speaker 2 (26:13):
Oh, my god, that's a touching.
Speaker 1 (26:16):
It's so sad. The soldiers collect flowers from Mona's grave,
and she's buried in Vicksburg alongside members of the regiment
who were killed in that battle. It's believed that this
is when Lucy's husband enlists in the war. Yanoviak writes, quote,
perhaps he was compelled to fight in honor of his
fallen daughter, unable to bear the burden of her death
(26:38):
as a passive bysander of the war effort. But after
his enlistment, Lucy will never see her husband again. Yanoviak adds, quote,
while the war brought Lucy opportunity in the prospect of freedom,
it also delivered intense personal tragedy. She left behind her siblings,
lost her husband, and watched her beloved child die. In
(26:59):
contrast to the perceptions that enslaved people were passive recipients
of freedom bestowed upon them by Yankees, Lucy's story, like
so many others, illustrates the intense self sacrifice made by
black men and women to attain freedom. They too, went
deep into the war zones, working to survive bloody battles
in a brutal civil war that tore the nation apart
(27:21):
to reconcile its brutal past. That just makes me think
of the movie Glory. If you haven't seen the movie Glory,
you absolutely have to see that movie. It's so good.
So about a year later, in eighteen sixty four, the
twenty third Regiment is granted a sixty day furlough and
heads home to New Albany, Indiana for the first time
in years, and Lucy goes with them. In Indiana, she's
(27:45):
on free soil and she could leave the war behind,
But when that furlough ends, she decides to return to
the front, perhaps because the regiment gives her something to
focus on in her grief, or maybe out of loyalty
to the soldiers who've become.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
Like family to her.
Speaker 1 (28:01):
So she has a chance. She makes it to freedom,
and she goes back. Either way, The twenty third Regiment
is active through the final days of the Civil War,
which ends with Union victory in eighteen sixty five. When
the troops march through Washington, d c. And the Union's
victory parade, which is known as the Grand Review, it's
clear how much the men of the twenty third Regiment
(28:22):
respect Lucy because she marches right beside them as one
of them.
Speaker 2 (28:27):
Oh my god, stop.
Speaker 1 (28:29):
I know. After the war, the men urge Lucy, who
is still only in her twenties, to settle in New Albany,
and she does it. Here she becomes one of the
few female members of the Grand Army of the Republic,
which is an organization for Union veterans, and she stays
very close with her fellow soldiers. While getting back on
her feet, she earns a living as a domestic worker
(28:50):
and a nurse in some of their houses. Then, when
Lucy is around thirty two years old, she marries a
man named John Nichols. Like Lucy, he is a black
veteran of the Civil War. Their wedding is held at
the Second Baptist Church in New Albany, which is a
known stop on the underground railroad, and then they buy
a house together. Lucy finally seems to have some long
(29:12):
overdue happiness and stability, but one thing is missing. She
has not been paid for all of the work that
she did during the war, and her pension claim is
denied shit at this point. The US pension system is massive,
actively paying out over nine hundred and fifty thousand veterans
in their families, some going all the way back to
(29:33):
the Revolutionary War. The payments eat up around forty percent
of our federal budget, and it's a commendable progressive system
in many ways, but it's also very flawed. More than
eighteen thousand women who serve the union as hospital nurses, laundresses,
and cooks are left out entirely, mostly because they don't
have the official records that are required to actually get
(29:55):
the government to sign off on their pension right chat.
But remember Lucy was hired by doctor Brooker, so she
is one of those thousands of women without formal paperwork
outlining her service. But her bravery and determination isn't going anywhere.
So in the eighteen nineties, after her pension claim is denied,
(30:17):
she starts a battle with the US government.
Speaker 2 (30:19):
Damn.
Speaker 1 (30:20):
She starts by filing a petition, which is one of
the few documents we have actually written by Lucy herself
and in her voice, so it says, quote, I served
as a nurse for about three years. I cooked for
the soldiers, dressed their wounds, gave them medicine, and washed
for them, and did anything I was called to do.
I never received a nickel from my services as a nurse.
(30:43):
Doctor Brucker told me I would get paid, and I
worked on the hope of getting paid. So Lucy's initial
appeals are all rejected, and for most women this would
be the end of the road and they just wouldn't
get a pension. But Lucy keeps on fighting. She even
strategically enlists her fellow soldiers to back her up. Dozens
(31:03):
of men from the twenty third Regiment step up, including
doctor Brucker himself, testifying that he could not have done
his job without Lucy.
Speaker 2 (31:12):
Wow, that's so incredible.
Speaker 1 (31:14):
Six seven years, fifty five testimonials, and an avalanche of paperwork. Yes,
she's just got to get everybody basically who was left
from the regiment rough that she could get a hold of,
and all that paperwork, paperwork, But she does it, and
she wins. In December of eighteen ninety eight, when Lucy
(31:34):
is in her mid fifties, she has finally granted a
pension through a special Act of Congress. Now it isn't much.
She's going to be paid twelve dollars a month, which
is roughly around four hundred and eighty dollars in today's money.
Speaker 2 (31:47):
Yeah, that's not nothing.
Speaker 1 (31:48):
It's not nothing, and it's a hard won victory that
helps pave the way for others. A few years later,
in nineteen oh one, Congress formally recognizes the role of
nurse as an official military post, making all civil war
nurses eligible for pensions. So interesting, and that's because of
Lucy fighting that hard and never giving up. So Lucy
(32:12):
is a trailblazer in more ways than one. The work
she and other women did during the war transforms nursing
from a male dominated job into one predominantly female, and
by the year nineteen hundred, ninety one percent of American
nurses are women.
Speaker 2 (32:27):
That's so cool.
Speaker 1 (32:30):
Lucy stays close friends with the men of the twenty
third Regiment for the rest of her life. She's at
every reunion with them, she marches in every Memorial Day
parade alongside them, and she's even on the invite list
as their children grow up and get married. I know
in turn, the men are also there for her, like
when she gets the measles and years later when she
(32:53):
has a stroke. Lucy never fully recovers from the latter,
and she passes away in January of nineteen fifteen, at
the age age of sixty nine. She's buried next to
her husband John at the Second Baptist Church where they'd
been married decades earlier. Lucy's buried with full military.
Speaker 2 (33:10):
Honors, my God.
Speaker 1 (33:12):
In an elaborate ceremony, with her obituary noting that quote
Lucy was known to almost everyone in the city, and
everyone honored her for her loyalty end quote. A century later,
in twenty nineteen, a statue is put up at this
church depicting Lucy holding her baby Moana.
Speaker 2 (33:31):
Oh my God, stop.
Speaker 1 (33:34):
Finally returning Lucy with the child she loves so much.
And Lucy Nichols is now the subject of a permanent
exhibition at the Cartegie Center for Art and History in
New Albany, where Eileen Yanoviak serves as executive director, and
quoting a historian named A. Glenn Crothers, Eileen says, quote
(33:57):
Lucy's story is indeed an important example of determination, grit, service,
and loyalty. But more importantly, her battle to build a
life beyond enslavement, to serve, to work, to secure a
pension and receive legitimization is a testament to the lingering
effects of inequality well after the war was won, and
(34:18):
to Lucy's triumphant spirit. And that is the story of
boundary breaking Civil War Nurse Lucy Nichols.
Speaker 2 (34:26):
Wow, I mean, I mean, the timing couldn't be. It's
so relevant, It's so relevant. Imagine that, Imagine just wanting
the chance to live and work and be independent and
having to fight so hard for that.
Speaker 1 (34:44):
Fight literally on the front lines of the one of
the worst wars this country has ever seen. And then
they're like, no, I don't think we're going to pay you.
Speaker 2 (34:53):
Yeah, just like yes you will, Yes, you will. So inspiring,
isn't it great? Yeah, I'm so glad you did that.
That's yeah, it's a nice one.
Speaker 1 (35:01):
I'm glad I found it because that of course, her
story is kind of just lost to time, and you know,
it's the kind of story people really really need to hear.
Speaker 2 (35:10):
I think definitely. Well, that was a great story for Juneteenth.
Speaker 1 (35:16):
Thank you. I'm gonna go put one of those old
fashioned cartoon ice packs on my head and lay on
the couch. How about you?
Speaker 2 (35:23):
Should, you poor thing? Go to bed? That sucks. We're
back to normal next week. We'll tell you two great stories.
We'll both be so healthy and well, it's just you're
gonna you're gonna believe it.
Speaker 1 (35:35):
Well, I don't believe the return we're about to make.
Speaker 2 (35:38):
Yeah, but thank you guys so much for listening, for
being here.
Speaker 1 (35:42):
Yeah, and for staying strong through all of this, all
of the things going on these days, chaos chaos, and
yet man, those no Kings parades. There were little tiny towns.
I kept seeing them on TikTok, just like the town
has five thousand people and two thousand are standing on
(36:02):
their main street. It's just a beautiful thanks firing. I
think it's what everybody needed right now.
Speaker 2 (36:06):
Absolutely, we're the majority. Stay sexy and don't get murdered. Goodbye, Elvis,
Do you want a cookie?
Speaker 3 (36:22):
This has been an Exactly Right production.
Speaker 2 (36:24):
Our senior producers are Alejandra Keck and Molly Smith.
Speaker 1 (36:27):
Our editor is Aristotle os Veto.
Speaker 2 (36:29):
This episode was mixed by Leona Squalacci.
Speaker 3 (36:31):
Our researchers are Maaron McGlashan and Ali Elkin.
Speaker 2 (36:34):
Email your hometowns to My Favorite Murder at gmail dot com.
Speaker 3 (36:37):
Follow the show on Instagram at my Favorite Murder.
Speaker 2 (36:40):
Listen to My Favorite Murder on the iHeartRadio app, Apple
Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts and now.
Speaker 3 (36:45):
You can watch us on exactly Right's YouTube page. While
you're there, please like and subscribe. Goodbyebye
Hosts And Creators
Georgia Hardstark
Karen Kilgariff
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