Queen of the Confederacy: The Innocent Deceits of Lucy Holcombe Pickens

CHAPTER FIFTEEN: “I find myself going up the hill to Wyalusing.” Lucy Holcombe Pickens (1860)

116 I find myself going up the hill T he warm air of June 1860 melted the thick ice on the Neva and swarms of carpenters, plasterers, and painters began repairing the damage caused by the sub-zero temperatures of the Russian winter. Little Eugenia fussed with a cold and teething, and the American doctor thought she might benefit from a more moderate climate. An alarmed Francis urged Lucy to take their child abroad to one of the health-giving Spas.1 Lucy needed no urging. Her bags packed, she gathered her small retinue—fifteen-month old Eugenia, Lucinda, and a young German nursemaid from Hamburg, Miss Fanny Langdon. By mid-July they were on their way across the Baltic Sea. “I was seasick and suffered death almost,” Lucy wrote to her sister . “Just imagine yourself more hopelessly sick than you ever saw mother, and [a] screaming feverish child in your arms day and night.”2 She worried because her daughter had not been baptized in a ProtesCHAPTER FIFTEEN 1860 “I find myself going up the hill to Wyalusing.” Lucy Holcombe Pickens 117 1860 tant church and determined to have this done in England before crossing the Atlantic.3 After taking Jeannie from school in Frankfurt, the group headed for Wiesbaden and a German Spa. Leaving the train at Wiesbaden, they took a carriage up the mountain to the Spa at Schawlbach. The day was hot and a fretful Eugenia cried to be walked rather than ride in the stifling, swaying carriage. Lucy and Lucinda trudged up the mountainside with the squirming child in their arms. When they reached the resort and their rooms at Hotel Duke de Nassau, Lucy felt very unwell with a pain in her side that she attributed to the long, hard walk. The regimen of health improvement she found even more exacting and described her stay at the Spa to her mother. A German watering place is very different from our springs, because people come here really to take the waters and take care of themselves. They dress plainly and walk a great deal. Yesterday I went with a party to see the ruins of the castle of Adolphseer which was built between two mountains for a favorite mistress of the Grand Duke of Nassau long years ago. As it is reached only by a little path winding over the mountain , we were obliged to take donkeys to ride for they are used entirely in mountain excursions, as they are so steady and surefooted . They are scarcely larger than big rabbits and have a saddle on (like your old Spanish saddle I remember as a child) covered with a red cloth and [there is] a little boy to lead each one . . . We left at 5 o’clock and trotted about half an hour around the mountain and arrived at Adolphseer just as the sun was going down. After looking over the ruins which were no great things. We had tea and jogged home by moonlight . It was rather a failure in regard to the . . . but was very beautiful. The lovely harvest fields, distant view of the Rhine, with the soft evening sun falling on all . . . I think more and more of my dear home and the sweet joy of seeing you all. I wonder if things will seem strange and changed to me and if the garden and rooms will look like they used to!4 118 I find myself going up the hill Lucy’s schedule began at six o’clock each morning with an hour’s walk before breakfast and a rest under the trees until eleven o’clock. In the afternoon, she lay in the mineral baths and let the steamy water cover her body with tiny bubbles for a half-hour; then Lucinda rubbed her with towels that looked and felt as though steel dust had been spread over them. This regimen made her feel better and after a rest and writing letters, she dined at six, walked again in the evening, and at eight o’clock took tea then went to bed by nine.5 She seemed dismayed that the other guests spent little time socializing for Lucy enjoyed conversation. Three weeks of this regimen proved restful, yet Lucy worried constantly about the pain in her side and grew very thin and pale.6 She considered stopping in Heidelburg for a consultation with a Dr. Cazinoni for assurance...