Despite it being early morning, a line had already formed. They had gotten off the boat wobbly, still trying to get their land legs back since they had traveled all the way from England. Moving slowly, a mother holding the hand of her young daughter whispered again to her. Moving forward at the command of a union soldier, the young girl looked down, gripping her doll tightly to her chest. Looking up through her eyelashes at her mother as she talked to the man in a blue uniform, she tightened her hand in her mother’s. Another man in blue looked at the young girl smiling, saying to her what a cute doll she had, moving to touch it. The young girl moved behind her mother’s dress remembering her mother’s words whispered to her early in the line. “Don’t let anyone touch your doll.” The man who was talking to her mother yelled at the other for scaring the young girl and apologized to both of them, ushering them forward across the blockade. During the Civil War, the Union blockade hindered the passing of crucial supplies to the Confederate side. Many blockade runners were women and even young girls. Through the use of such people, the Confederates had spark creative ways of smuggling supplies over the blockade. In fact, dolls similar to this girl’s doll was used to smuggle anesthesia drugs through the Confederate lines.
A simple doll made of papier-mâché helped smuggled contraband across enemy lines with the help of a young girl, the niece of Confederate Major General James Patton Anderson. During the start of the Civil War, the South had been winning the war against the North. As the war began, a plan was introduced from the Union. This plan was known as the Anaconda plan. This plan attempted to surround the South and starve their supplies until the South had had enough. The North had a production economy and the South was mainly made up of plantations that produced cotton; the South lacked most of the industrial production that the North produced in abundance. This greatly hurt the South because, as mention before, the North introduced the Anaconda Plan, cutting the South’s access to all kinds of supplies, including anesthetics very much needed by the Confederate medical corps, which became limited and scarce. The need for anesthetics increased for the South.1 The necessity led to creative means, such as this example of using dolls to smuggle these drugs within them to the South.
Dolls named Nina and Lucy Ann are suspected to have been used to smuggle drugs used for anesthetic purposes across the North’s blockade. The South needed these supplies so desperately that dolls were used to carry them across. The Virginia Commonwealth University Heath System Radiology Department has taken X-rays of both dolls and discovered their heads to be hallowed out papier-mâché heads.2 This finding though could not prove that the dolls did, in fact, smuggle contraband across the blockade because many of the dolls during that time period had papier-mâché heads. Further analysis by the United Federation of Doll Clubs (UFDC) concludes that the probability of the dolls being used for smuggling was very high because of evidence such as Nina’s head being secured by clips instead of it being sewed to the body. This evidence suggests that it allowed for things hidden inside that could be easily accessed. More evidence came from Lucy Ann, which had a gash on the back of her head, which was most likely used to get access to items likely contained inside her head. With this conclusion, the museum of the UFDC has stated that it is highly likely that these dolls were used to smuggle some kind of contraband during the Civil War.
The young girl held her doll safely to her chest, whispering reassurance to herself and to the doll. Once the mother had led her daughter to the edge of a clearing of grass near some of the trees across the field, a man in gray was standing there waiting. He ran across the field with such speed that once he had got across, he was out of breath, trying to express his thanks, causing the little girl to giggle at the man’s antics. The mother gently pushed her daughter forward. The young girl looked up at the man; she then kissed the doll’s forehead, and holding her in both hands, she lifted her up, giving the doll to the man. The man took the doll with great care, smiling gently to the young girl. Waving goodbye to her doll and the man, the young girl and her mother watched as he ran as fast as a rabbit across the clearing with the doll’s long curly brown hair swaying in the wind. The North’s blockade had made many of the supplies that the South needed very limited, but that only led to creative ways to circumvent the blockade, such as the use of dolls to smuggle important items across such blockades. The Confederates were desperate for such supplies and the use of dolls was a very good way to smuggle things across. With Nina and Lucy Ann being two such dolls, we now know more about how the South reacted to the blockade during the Civil War.
100 comments
Bailey Rider
This was a cool article. I never knew that the south had such a need for anesthetics and it was interesting to learn about how creative they got in smuggling it into the south. I never would have suspected the doll of a little girl to be a device for smuggling supplies into the territory. I also loved the story you started and ended the article with! It added a nice touch that brought the story to life.
Jennifer Pogue
Great article! Well researched and engaging. This reminds me of when I was a child, I use to hide candy in my teddy bears so my siblings would not find it. I wonder if the girls who owned the dolls truly understood what was going into their dolls. This must have seemed very clever at the time, but it would be impossible today. With the mass airport security along with new security at concerts and sporting events, one would be very foolish to try this.
Briana Bustamante
Such an interesting situation! Who would have known that a little girl caring her doll that would contain drugs. It is certain that people go out of their way to do anything that they truly need. I’m still in shock, because it is such a brilliant plan to smuggle drugs through a little girls doll. I mean the soldiers would have never expected such a thing from an innocent little girl and her doll. I really liked how you started your article with a story and then closed it with the ending of the same story.
Cesar Zavala
Great way to start the article! The story really helps grab the attention of the reader. It also shows that you put more effort into this article than most of the other people on here. It also helps the readers understand how these dolls were used as smuggling devices during the Civil War. Glad I clicked on this article, good read!
Nahim Rancharan
Very Interesting Article! I liked how you managed to capture a glimpse of forgotten American History through both a story and Historical Facts. This article shows the measures that people are willing to make when people are placed in a situation where they are in need, but lack the resources to get by. It magnifies the fact that although wars are mainly fought by the people placed on the frontline, it affects and is managed by the family members or citizens that support them. The article does a great job at highlighting the participation of women and children during the American Civil War. Excellent Work!
Elizabeth Garibay
Great job! I loved this article mainly because I loved the topic! I thought this piece was so interesting even when the Civil War was going on, drugs and other types of illegal items were being smuggled into different areas just like today. I had never known that was even happening. It has always seemed to be a problem that has just evolved from one generation to the next but I believe it being banned makes it even more dangerous nowadays.
Nelson Smithwick
This was a very interesting article, it shows just how resourceful people can be when put into difficult situations. Although I can’t say that using young girls as mules was a moral thing to do, the anesthetics and medications they brought into the south may have saved thousands of lives in a time when battlefield wound treatment was still in its infancy.
Mario Sosa
It is common to smuggle supplies inside of crates or barrels, but to smuggle supplies inside of dolls is very remarkable. I can understand if the Union blocked the Confederates from having more firearms, but I find it to be harsh for the Union to try to prevent them from getting any anesthesia drugs. Great introduction and great job on the article!
Tyler Sleeter
Great hook and great information. I knew that many things were smuggled from the North to the South during the Civil War, often by women. I did not realize that young children were also used as blockade runners, nor that children’s toys were used to smuggle items. It is a tragedy that young girls, like the one in this article, were encouraged to perform illegal activities in the name of whatever side they supported.
Anayeli Prieto
Great article! the first thing that I want to point out is that the children who owned these dolls were robbed of their innocence. like the young girl in the beginning of the article, who is told that no one should touch her doll, many of these kids were aware of what their dolls were filled with drugs and that isn’t something that a child should have to go through.