Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611

  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
The Free Flag of Cuba: The Lost Novel of Lucy Holcombe Pickens

The Free Flag of Cuba: The Lost Novel of Lucy Holcombe Pickens

Burton, Orville Vernon
Burton, Georganne B.

Paperback

Series: Library of Southern Civilization

Historical Fiction

ISBN10: 0807128341
ISBN13: 9780807128343
Publisher: LSU Press
Published: Oct 1 2002
Pages: 212
Weight: 0.65
Height: 0.66 Width: 6.08 Depth: 7.98
Language: English

The wife of South Carolina secessionist governor Francis W. Pickens and known as the Queen of the Confederacy, Lucy Holcombe Pickens (1832-1899) was during her lifetime one of the most famous women in the South. Rumor was that in her youth she published a novel under a pseudonym. Recently discovered as The Free Flag of Cuba; or, The Martyrdom of Lopez: A Tale of the Liberating Expedition of 1851, her 1854 book is a romanticized account of the 1851 filibustering expedition to Cuba by Narciso López. With this new edition, Orville Vernon Burton and Georganne B. Burton resurrect Holcombe's lost work and prove it to be a window on many pressing nineteenth-century issues.

A not-so-subtle plea for U.S. support for Cuban independence from Spain, Holcombe's novel vindicates López and his men--who were officially regarded as mercenaries--and declares them to be martyred heroes. The tale clearly reflects the values southern aristocratic women expected in men, even if preserving those values meant death and defeat--a harbinger of ardent support for the Confederacy by women like Lucy.

With an illuminating introduction detailing the life of Lucy Petway Holcombe Pickens and the historical context of her novel, this new edition of The Free Flag of Cuba is a welcome glimpse into the mind and value system of the southern belle who would become a southern icon.

Also in

Historical Fiction

View All