Douschka Pickens

Francis Eugenia Olga Neva "Douschka" Pickens Dugas was the daughter of Governor Francis Wilkinson Pickens and Lucy Holcombe Pickens, wife of George Couvier Dugas. She was born in 1859 in Russia and rumour was that she was actually Tzar Alexander II's daughter. After the American Civil War she was the dashing female leader in Edgefield County, South Carolina in the Red Shirts movement. Douschka often wore a red cape and a red feathered plume in her hair. The Red Shirts blocked the polls to override the newly freed slaves votes in South Carolina to elect General Wade Hampton III in the 1876 governor election. She was nicknamed the "Joan of Arc of Carolina" for her leadership in the elections.

Governor Francis Wilkinson Pickens and his third wife, Lucy Holcombe, were married just before he left the United States as Minister to Russia in 1858. Francis W. Pickens and his wife were both very popular at the court of the Tzar of Russia. While at Saint Petersburg, their only child, a daughter, was born, and she has always been known as Douschka Pickens. It is said that Douschka is the Russian language means "little darling" and was only a pet name, her real name is Francis Eugenia, along with Olga and Neva, which the Tzarina gave her at her christening. Douschka died in 1893 after a sudden illness.

External links

• Queen of the Confederacy: The Innocent Deceits of Lucy Holcombe by Elizabeth Wittenmyer Lewis
• Rootsweb History on the Pickens Family
• Tillman Family Genealogy
• UDC member says "Scalawags" responsible for desecration of "hallowed grounds"

Persondata
Name	Pickens, Douschka
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Date of birth	1859
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Date of death	1893
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