Douschka Pickens

Who was Douschka Pickens?

Francis Eugenia Olga Neva "Douschka" Pickens was the daughter of Francis Wilkinson Pickens, former Governor of South Carolina, and Lucy Holcombe Pickens. Born in Russia in 1859, rumor held that she was actually the daughter of Czar Alexander II.

Following 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.