The Case:
Did the Confederate South use a child’s doll, to smuggle drugs past the Northern blockade?
In 1923, the descendents of Confederate Major General James Patton Anderson donated the doll ‘Nina’ to the Museum of the Confederacy in Richmond, VA. The family says the general’s young niece carried the doll past the blockade with drugs tucked inside her hollow head. The morphine and quinine would aid sick soldiers.
An X-ray confirms the head is hollow, but the museum has no other documentation to prove the family’s claim.
History Detectives tracks down the story behind ‘Nina,’ a ‘much loved member of the Anderson family’ and whether she helped to relieve suffering and save lives during the War Between the States.
More Information
National Museum of Civil War Medicine
48 East Patrick Street
Frederick, MD 21705
(301) 695-1864
http://www.civilwarmed.org/
The Museum of the Confederacy
1201 East Clay Street
Richmond, VA 23219-1615
(804) 649-1861
http://www.moc.org/
1201 E. Clay St, Richmond, VA
Andersons' correspondence
Read the Andersons' correspondence.
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