She escaped slavery into a life of freedom.
Watch our Truth in Two as we celebrate nurses and women everywhere (full text and links below)
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Picture Credit: Luke Renoe, Carnegie Center
FULL TEXT
At the beginning of Women’s History Month, we at the Comenius Institute want to celebrate Lucy Higgs Nichols.
According to the Historical Marker Data Base, Lucy was born a slave April 10, 1838, was owned by the Higgs family that by 1850 lived near Bolivar, Tennessee. She gained her freedom in 1862 by escaping to the 23rd Regiment, Indiana Volunteers camped nearby. She worked as a nurse for the soldiers as they fought in many major battles of the Civil War. She mustered out with them in Louisville in 1865.
According to the Carnegie Center in New Albany, Indiana, Lucy was more than a nurse. Listening to the recording on Carnegie’s website, Lucy would sit with the wounded and dying Union soldiers. She would tell them they were brave, and their families were proud of them.
According to the men from the camp, Lucy was a ray of light who sang songs reminding the men of their homes. She gave the men hope. Because Lucy had no home, after the war some of the men invited her back to Albany, Indiana. There Lucy married and tended to the needs of her neighbors as a nurse. Fifty-five surviving veterans wrote depositions acknowledging Lucy’s role as a nurse in the Civil War. A special act of Congress awarded Lucy her pension from the U.S. Army. Today, you can visit Lucy’s grave and the Carnegie Center in New Albany, Indiana.
Take a good look at the picture of Lucy from the Carnegie Center. It was taken at a reunion of the 23rd Indiana Volunteers. Notice how Lucy is at the center of that photo. She is surrounded by white men, Union soldiers for whom she cared. I can think of no better way to make a statement about Lucy’s heroism as a woman and the honor of remembering her story.
For Truth in Two, this is Dr. Mark Eckel, president of the Comenius Institute, personally thankful for the everyday heroism of women everywhere.
Indiana. #veterans #indianablackhistory @blacknurses #civilwarnurse
https://carnegiecenter.org/exhibitions/remembered-life-lucy-higgs-nichols/