LUCY HIGGS NICHOLS: FROM SLAVERY IN TENNESSEE TO ULTIMATE FREEDOM IN NEW ALBANY, INDIANA

 LUCY HIGGS NICHOLS: FROM SLAVERY IN TENNESSEE TO ULTIMATE FREEDOM IN NEW ALBANY, INDIANA



Lucy Higgs was born a slave on April 10, 1838 in Halifax Co., North Carolina. She was owned by the Reuben & Eliza Higgs family. When Reuben Higgs moved his family to about 30 miles from Bolivar, Tennessee in 1839, Lucy was among the slaves brought there by her owners. In 1848, she was listed as chattel property belonging to Winnaford Amanda Higgs, minor heir of Reuben Higgs, who had died in May 1845.  After Winnaford Amanda died, several members of the Higgs family fought one another in court for the right to claim Lucy as their property.


Lucy escaped from the Higgs family in June of "1862 after learning about an impending move that would take her [farther] south—and [farther] from freedom. Lucy, along with her daughter Mona, and several other slaves, managed to escape and travel roughly 30 miles to Bolivar, Tennessee. Here, the two encountered the 23rd Indiana Infantry Regiment and began their legacy of service, courage and sacrifice." 


"Lucy’s master searched for her[.] [H]owever, as a result of the Confiscation Acts of 1861 and 1862, she gained protection from the Regiment, as the men promised to not send her back to slavery. [In appreciation,] Lucy stayed with the 23rd Regiment and became their nurse, cook and seamstress." 


"Major Shadrack Hooper of the 23rd Indiana Infantry Regiment recorded her arrival into the group [and] added a nice description, noting that Lucy was '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.'" 


Being a good forager "was especially important in her nursing duties. The injuries suffered by soldiers during the battles were severe, but there were poor medical options to treat them. And the standard medical supplies of the day were difficult to get due to the war. Many soldiers died from easy-to-treat infections."


"Higgs was an expert at finding herbs in the forest that could be used instead of medicine. Mullein leaf was used to treat asthma and gout. Hops could be boiled to be used as a sedative. Wild onions could be used to treat scurvy. And some soldiers put tarragon leaves in their boots to keep their feet warm. Few were better than Lucy Higgs at finding these herbs and administering them to the troops."


"There was... significant tragedy for Lucy during the war. Her first husband served under General Grant, but it is not known what became of him. Her daughter, Mona, was killed during the Siege of Vicksburg [and] given a funeral by the 23rd regiment and buried with flowers."


"Throughout the war, Lucy was present for nearly every siege. She [was part of] General William Tecumseh Sherman's ... March to the Sea. When the war ended, Higgs stayed with the regiment and settled in the town of New Albany, Indiana as a free woman."


After the war, at the invitation of many of the men of the 23rd, Lucy went to New Albany, Indiana and "was made an honorary member of the Grand Army of the Republic’s Sanderson Post. She attended every meeting." 


Lucy was married on April 13, 1870 to John Nichols and lived with him "on Nagel Street in New Albany, after John purchased land there in 1871. According to the New Albany city directories, John worked as a laborer. After John’s death in 1910, Lucy remained in New Albany, as a boarder and as a laundress, according to New Albany City Directories."


"In 1892, Congress passed the Nurses’ Pension Act granting pensions to “all women employed by the Surgeon General of the Army as nurses, under contract or otherwise, during the late war of the rebellion.” Despite being an active member of the 23rd Regiment when Lucy applied for the pension, the Record and Pension Division of the War Department claimed they found no records of employment or payment to her. In the following years, 55 surviving veterans of the 23rd Regiment petitioned Congress for the pension Lucy rightfully earned. After being denied the pension on more than one occasion between 1892 and 1898, a special act of Congress was passed. In 1898, Lucy was approved for a monthly pension for the rest of her life."


"According to her application for nurse’s pension, Lucy 'was employed as Nurse by assignment on or about the 1st day of July, 1862 in the Regimental Hospital of 23rd Regt. Indiana vols then in camp at Bolivar Tenn.' She stated that she was 'honorably released at Indianapolis, Indiana on or about the 23rd day of July 1865.'”


Lucy passed away on January 29, 1915 and was buried with military honors in the West Haven Cemetery in New Albany, Indiana. With no documentation of her tombstone, the exact location of her grave is unfortunately unknown. On July 3, 2019, a statue of Lucy Higgs Nichols and her daughter Mona was erected in New Albany, Indiana. This statue came eight years after a state historical marker was placed outside the Second Baptist Church, where Lucy was a member of the congregation.




The image below is a photograph showing Lucy Higgs Nichols posing with a group of Civil War and Spanish–American War soldiers and veterans at a reunion in English, Indiana in 1898. Several are identified: front row, 4th from left is Lemuel Ford; front row, 10th from left (dark hat and beard): Winfield Scott Sloan; 2nd row from front, 1st on left: Peter Gottfried; 2nd row 6th from left (long white beard): Henry McCowan; 2nd row, 7th from left (African-American woman): Lucy Nichols; 2nd row, man with largest drum: Tim Ingle. Stuart B. Wrege History Room, New Albany - Floyd County Public Library

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