Lucy Buck Collection

Born in Warren County, Virginia, in 1842, Lucy Buck was an American diarist who wrote extensively throughout her life (1842-1918). Lucy lived in Front Royal, Virginia, in the prominent Bel Air plantation, overlooking the Blue Ridge Mountains. 

During her teenage years, the nation became embroiled in a civil war. Soon after the outbreak of the Civil War, Lucy's two 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 Alvin and Irving would survive the war.

Throughout the war, both Federal and Confederate troops marched through Front Royal on their way to the Shenandoah Valley, and control of the town changed frequently throughout the war. In May 1862, during the Battle of Front Royal, war came, quite literally, to Lucy's doorsteps. Writing on the Federal soldiers in her town, "The horrible beings poured in from all sides looking all the more so since our eyes had grown accustomed to seeing our dead Southerners, I was really sick of the heart."

In 1863, following the Confederacy's defeat at Gettysburg, a retreating Confederate army marched through Front Royal. Lucy and her sister, Nellie, served fresh buttermilk to Confederate General Robert E. Lee on their front porch. They also entertained Lee and his men by singing and playing the piano. She wrote in her diary how the officers arrived to “stretch their cramped limbs and drink fresh buttermilk. I shall never forget the grand old chief as he stood on the porch surrounded by his officers; a tall commanding figure clad in dusty travel-stained gray but with a courtly dignified bearing.”

Lucy's father, a merchant and leading citizen of Front Royal, owned many slaves, and in 1863, many slaves fled the Bel Air plantation. Lucy writes in her diary "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."

While Lucy was an impassioned supporter of the Confederacy, her early diaries serve as important primary sources of a civilian's perspective on a war-torn region. During a time when white women of the planter class were confined to the home, some women writers were beginning to challenge this notion by publishing works of their own, such as poems and novels. Lucy’s diaries are a testament to this challenge, showing her desire for literary self-expression.

In her later life, Lucy continued to write extensively. She never married. She died in 1918.

This collection may contain materials that are offensive to some. These items reflect the perspectives, social norms, and biases of the time-period in which they were created. While the Special Collection Department does not endorse the views expressed in these materials, we have made these items available to the public for purposes of transparency and research.