"The Indigo Girl"

"The Indigo Girl" is a novel by Natasha Boyd but it is based on the life of Eliza Lucas, who at age 16 was left in charge of her family's three plantations in South Carolina when her father returns to Antigua leaving his wife and two daughters behind as he pursued a military commission.

Eliza's mother is not well enough to take charge and Eliza's two younger brothers are still in England being educated and her younger sister is much too young.  Eliza's mother is determined to see Eliza married but Eliza is determined not to marry unless she can marry for love versus to enhance her family fortunes.

Evenutally, Eliza is able to pursue her dream of  raising indigo on the home plantation and making a dye that rivals the French indigo that breaks English dependence on the French for that product -- at a time when the two countries are warring.

Eliza's father does recommend she take advantage of some gentlemen he knows if she needs assistance - one a horticulturist and one an attorney -- and she does seek their advice. 

Although the families all own slaves, Eliza believes in treating them fairly and she does teach her slaves to read and she doesn't respect those who will not treat slaves humanely.  In return for teaching them to read, the slaves agree to teach Eliza the secrets of making indigo dye.    Eliza runs her plantation with a firm hand and a better head for business than her father had, I think, as she begins to pay off mortgages.  Unfortunately, she also has some setbacks.  When her brother, Charles, comes of age to return and take over the plantation, she and her mother and younger sister make plans to join her father in Antigua.

Eliza has made many good friends in South Carolina and is reluctant to leave this life behind.  Charles Pinckney's wife (a good friend to Eliza and her mother) dies after a lingering illness and leaves Charles, the family attorney friend, bereft and mourning her loss for several years.  Before Eliza departs for Antigua, she and Charles meet at her plantation and declare their love for one another so she ends up marrying him and staying in South Carolina.

If you visit Charleston, Boyd says much of the Pinckney history is told in the life of Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, Eliza's son.  Although she was ambitious and headstrong and didn't always conform to what society expected of her, she was never idle but not much is remembered of her other than her marrying Pinckney.

Charles and Eliza's sons are both historically significant - Thomas being tied to the Pinckney Treaty and Charles was one of the Founding Fathers of the USA who represented South Carolina at the Constitutional Convention in 1787.  President George Washington was a pallbearer at Eliza's funeral.

Two hundred years after she died, Eliza Lucas Pinckney was inducted into the South Carolina Women in Business Hall of Fame.  In 2005, a new chapter of the National Society for the Daughters of the American Revolution organized in her honor naming themselves the Eliza Lucas Pinckney chapter of the NSDAR.  The state flag of South Carolina is still blue in honor of indigo.

I had not realized until I read this book what importance Indigo played in United States history and I thoroughly enjoyed reading about this remarkable young woman. pazt