Queen of the Confederacy

"Submissiveness is not my role, but certain platitudes on certain occasions are among the innocent deceits of the sex." A strong character with a fervent belief in woman's changing place, Lucy Holcombe Pickens (1832-1899) was not content to live the life of a typical nineteenth-century Southern belle. Feeling that "a woman with wealth or prestige garnered from her husband's position could attain great power," she married Francis Wilkinson Pickens, soon to be the secessionist governor of South Carolina on the eve of the Civil War. Lucy urged Pickens to accept a diplomatic mission to the court of Tsar Alexander II of Russia. Upon returning to the States, she became First Lady of South Carolina just in time to encourage a Confederate unit named in her honor (The Holcombe Legion) off to war. This is the story of the only woman to have her face engraved on Confederate paper currency. "Lucy has been rescued by Elizabeth Lewis's diligent research and devoted writing. Lewis captures the essence of Lucy-her hauteur, independence, flirtations (including Tsar Alexander II), courage, and patriotism-and so reveals much about Rebel society."-Frank E. Vandiver "Queen of the Confederacy is a highly readable account of one woman's view of Civil War events and is a welcome addition to the growing body of literature on women and the Civil War."-North Carolina Historical Review "The author has made a significant contribution to American Studies by giving us an example of what a woman of intelligence and passion was able to do to influence her world while living within the mores of the era."-Journal of the American Studies Association of Texas ELIZABETH WITTENMYER LEWIS graduated from Jefferson Medical School with an RN and served as first lieutenant in the Army Nurse Corps in World War II. She married a Southerner and spent most of her life in Virginia, Florida, Missouri, and Texas.