Lucy Buck

Lucy Rebecca Buck (left) is photographed with her sister Nellie Buck (right). Lucy's published diary Sad Earth, Sweet Heaven is an important primary source about the Civil War in the Shenandoah Valley. She was an eyewitness to the 1862 Battle of Front Royal and an impassioned supporter of the Confederacy.  

The Buck Family 

Lucy and Nellie were two of thirteen children born to William M. and Elizabeth A. Buck. They were descendants of the first group European settlers in the Shenandoah Valley. William worked as a merchant in Front Royal, who enslaved several individuals. The family lived in the prominent Bel Air Plantation, built on a rise that overlooked the Blue Ridge Mountains. Lucy was born on September 25, 1842.

Unexpected Changes 

When Lucy was a teenager Civil War divided the nation. Two of her brothers, Alvin and Irving, enlisted in the Confederate army. On Christmas Day, 1861, Lucy wrote solemnly, "I cannot but feel a little sad this morning for my thoughts continually revert to those dear absent brothers who were wont to share our Christmas cheer and gladden the hours of this festive season for us. When I think of the unexpected changes that have occurred in the last year, I feel as if I could not count upon ever having them with us again as of yore with any degree of certainty." Both Buck sons would survive the war. 

Absent family members were not the only changes Lucy would need to adjust to. In mid-1863 Lucy commented, "Ma told me that the servants had all left in the night and carried our three horses with them. Laura and I went to milk the cows while Ma, Grandma, and Nellie cleaned the house, got the breakfast, and dressed the children." These servants were the enslaved African Americans at Bel Air who became freedom seekers during the night. Lucy and her siblings were forced to deal with household chores for the first time in their lives. 

Eyewitness to Combat 

Throughout the war, both Federal and Confederate armies passed through Front Royal on their way to the Shenandoah Valley. On several instances soldiers marched through, and camped on, Bel Air. This gave Lucy a front row seat to the action. The Battle of Front Royal was fought on the property in May 1862.

Commenting on Federal soldiers in the town, Lucy wrote, "The horrible beings poured in from all sides looking all the more so since our eyes had grown accustmed to seeing our dead Southerners, I was really sick of the heart."

The following year, a retreating Confederate army marched through Front Royal following their defeat at Gettysburg. Lucy and Nellie served Confederate General Robert E. Lee fresh buttermilk on their front porch. 

Post Civil War

Lucy Buck never married. She died in 1918. Her diary was published several decades after her death. It remains an important primary source to learn about a civilian's perspective on a war-torn region.