Women of Every Complexion and Complexity
  • Home
  • Women's Rooms
    • Womens Rooms-Anne
    • Womens Rooms-Abigail
    • The Dead Baby in a Blue Blanket: The
    • Rena Rides the Raindrops
  • Women at Work-Blog
  • E Books and Print Books for Sale
  • Women of Historical Complexion
  • Rachel and Elizabeth Knaggs
  • Elizabeth Stiles, President Lincoln's Spy
  • Loyalist Lucy Flucker Meets Patriot Henry Knox at a Boston Parade
  • Queen Maria Amelia, the Last Queen of Portugal, Stood Her Ground
  • The Lady and the Patriot: Theodosia Burr Alston's Fateful Voyage
  • Margaret Agnew Blennerhassett - More Character Than Riches
  • Florence Nightingale- Nurse, Feminist, Statistician, Author
  • Mary Todd Lincoln Considered April Her "Season of Sadness"
  • Mrs. Santa Claus - A Strong and Supportive Woman for All Seasons
  • Elizabeth Turner McCormick, Woman Voyager
  • Frances Ellen Watkins Harper Fought for Human Rights
  • Mary Fields, Stage Coach Mail Driver, Sharp Shooter, Faithful Friend
  • Lucy Parsons, "More Dangerous Than A Thousand Rioters"
  • Lydia Maria Francis Child Travels 'Over the River and Through the Wood'
  • Anti-Suffragists Believed Women Didn't Need the Right to Vote
  • Finland's Alexandra Gripenberg Sought Universal Women's Rights
  • From Frances Slocum to Little Bear Woman and Back Again
  • Madame Elisabeth Thible is the First Woman to Ride in a Free Floating Balloon
  • Veronica Kerler Frank Pined for Germany, But Made Milwaukee Her Home
  • Mary Humphreys Stamps, Undefeated Rebel with An Educational Cause
  • Sister Monica Is One of Milwaukee, Wisconsin's Early Pioneers
  • A Love Story for St. Valentine's Day - Marie Antoinette and Count Axel von Fersen
  • Three Wisconsin Women of the Waves
  • Margaret Fox Kane and her Victorian Love Story
  • Francoise Marie Jacquelin, Lioness of La Tour, Lioness of Acadia, Woman in Her Own Right
  • Mary Breckinridge, Circuit Riding Nurse and Founder of the Frontier Nursing Service
  • Women Bicyclists Break Their Glass Cages and Ride into Liberation
  • Maria Mitchell, America's First Woman Astronomer Demonstrated Female Scientific Aptitude
  • Queen Alexandra of Great Britain-Queen Victoria's Daughter-in-Law, Bertie's Patient Wife, and Her Own Person!
  • Chicagoan Kate Kellogg Meets a Ghost on a Train
  • Isobel Lillian Steele Went to a Party and Ended Up in a Nazi Jail
  • Madam Sophie Blanchard - "Official Aeronaut of the Restoration"
  • Women of Their Time and Place
    • Nadine Turchin Fights Alongside Her Husband in the Civil War
    • War Stories Along Lake Erie: Ordinary Women Experience the War of 1812
    • Katie Walker Tends Robbins Reef Light Near the Statue of Liberty
    • Maria Gulovich Joined the Czech Resistance
    • Pirate Fanny Campbell Freed Her Fiance and Fought the British
    • SOE Agent Andree Borrel Lived Several Lifetimes in Her 24 Years
    • Lydia Latrobe Roosevelt and the First Mississippi River Steamboat
    • Sophie Kwiatkowski Served as a New Guinea Nurse in World War II
    • Clara Zetkin Spoke Against Hitler in the German Reichstag
    • Gertrud Scholtz-Klink, Female Fuhrer, Breathed Her Nazi Beliefs
    • Nancy Leo , the Only Woman Buried in Luxembourg American Cemetery
    • Dickey Chapelle, Journalist and War Correspondent
    • Lucena Brockway Adapts to Life in the Keweenaw Copper Mining Country of Lake Superior
    • Does Mary Surrat's Ghost Haunt the Senate Chambers Seeking Justice?
    • The Ghostly Cyclist in Brooklyn's Prospect Park
  • Women of Contemporary 20th and 21st Century Complexion
    • Clara Ward Chimay, Gilded Age Princess
    • Ruth Becker's Faith Helps Her Survive the Titanic and Beyond
    • Mildred Beltmann , Wartime Wife
    • The Courage of their Cultural Convictions - Women Missionaries in China
    • Light and Radiance - Laurence Owen and Her Sabena Fellow Travelers
    • Edna St. Vincent Millay, Passionate Poet, Candle-Lit Feminist
    • Fascinating Footnote: The Goose Down Divorce
    • Olive Higgins Prouty Juggles to Balance Home and Career
    • Mother and Daughter Journalists Agnes Meyer and Katharine Graham Shaped Journalism
    • Rose Friedman and the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire
    • Katharine Meyer Graham Leaves Her Mark on the Washington Post
    • Ida M. Tarbell, "Bachelor Soul," Transitional Woman, or Both?
    • Nurse Edith Cavell, the Courage to Die for Her Country
    • Sigrid Schultz Outsmarted Hermann Goering
    • Martha Dickie Sharp Saves Jewish Refugees from the Nazi Death Machine
    • Virginia Graham Pioneered in Early Television and Survived Cancer
    • Rose Conway, President Harry Truman's Secret Weapon
    • Nancy Green, Talented Entrepreneur, Transitional Symbol
    • "Surrender on Demand:" The Friendship of Mary Jayne Gold and Miriam Ebel
    • Julia K. Tibbitts - Closet Environmentalist
    • Lee Lawrence Ansberry Reconquers the World and Reshapes Her Life
  • Christmas Cheer
Picture
George Brinton McClelland Matthew Brady

Nadine Turchin Fights Alongside her Husband in the Civil War

The story of Nadine Lvova Turchin begins in Russia where she was born in 1826, unfolds on the battlefields of the American Civil War, and ends in Illinois.

Princess  Nadezhda Lvova descended from an ancient noble family. Her father was a colonel in the Russian Army and her  uncle, Prince Alexei. Lvov, was a noted composer. Although she was brought up in army camps, she received an excellent education. Besides being the pet of her father’s regiment, she read extensively and became proficient in four languages.

Nadezhda Marries Ivan Turchaninov, Her Father’s Colonel of Staff

When Nadezhda was thirty, she married Ivan Vasilovitch Turchaninov, her father's Colonel of Staff in the Russian Guards. Ivan Turchaninov was born into a Cossack family in Russia and attended the Imperial Military School in St. Petersburg. Ivan fought in Hungary and in the Crimean War.

Nadezhda and Ivan were married on May 10, 1856, in Krakow, Poland, three months after the Crimean War ended. Later that year, they immigrated to the United States and eventually settled in Mattoon, Illinois, where Ivan worked for the Illinois Central Railroad. They also anglicized their names to John Basil and Nadine Turchin.

John Turchin Becomes McClellan's Assistant at the Illinois Central Railroad

The Illinois Central Railroad hired John Turchin as an assistant to George McClellan, chief engineer and vice president of the Railroad. John Turchin had met George McClellan in Russia during the Crimean War when McClellan served there as a military observer for the United States.

John Turchin worked for the Illinois Central Railroad until 1861, when he resigned to accept a commission as the colonel of the 19th Illinois Infantry. When the regiment went into training at Quincy, Nadine went with her husband, despite orders against wives travelling with campaigns.

Nadine Turchin Takes Command of Her Husband’s Regiment

During the march into Tennessee in the spring of 1862, Colonel Turchin was taken seriously ill, and for some days was carried in an ambulance on the route. Nadine Turchin nursed her husband during his illness, and also filled his place as commander of the regiment.

She led with such an even hand that there were no complaints or mutinies against being commanded by a woman. In the battles that followed, Nadine was constantly under fire, encouraging, nursing, and rescuing the men. The soldiers in the field called her Madam Turchin.

Colonel Turchin is Pardoned and Promoted

Following the orders of General Don Carlos Buell, Colonel Turchin occupied the town of Athens, Alabama, on May 2, 1862. He allowed his soldiers to terrorize the townspeople of Athens and the townspeople estimated the damage to be $55,000. General Buell refused to accept Colonel Turchin’s resignation and insisted on a court martial. Nadine Turchin hastened to Washington and used her diplomatic skill to plead his cause with President Abraham Lincoln.

On July 30, 1862,  Colonel Turchin was convicted, but President Lincoln pardoned him. He was discharged from the Army and departed Huntsville by train, arriving in Illinois to a thunderous welcome.

Nadine Turchin Expresses Her Feelings in a Diary

Colonel Turchin was given command of a new brigade and again, Nadine Turchin went with him. In 1863, she began to keep a diary.She considered her diary a discrete safety valve or as she termed it, “I think that it is an excellent idea to write a diary in the present situation. These pages, in which I speak frankly as I think, are a true safety valve for anyone who is neither patient nor discreet.”

She included her opinions of her husband’s fellow officers in her dairy as well as accounts of battles that she participated in, including Chickamauga fought from September 19-20, 1863. During the Battle of Chickamauga she stayed with the brigade and division wagons parked on the western edge of the battlefield. During the Battle of Missionary Ridge on November 25, 1863, she climbed onto the eastern hills of Missionary Ride to watch the battle. She left detailed accounts of both battles, which made her the only Union female diarist of these battles.

Madame Turchin Leads the Troops, but is Skeptical of the Union Leadership

Madame Turchin remained in the field with her husband, in all of the campaigns of the West. She usually cared for the wounded, but if need be she led the troops into action, showing no fear of shot, shell, or whizzing mini balls falling around her. Although she constantly faced enemy fire, she didn’t receive a scratch.

Nadine Turchin viewed the volunteer Union Army skeptically and disdained its military leaders. Despite her reservations, she remained intensely loyal to the North. She expressed her hopes for the United States by saying, “Let us hope that the immense efforts and the countless sacrifices of the people will bring about a rational direction to the nation’s destiny despite the ineptness and treachery that occur in the leadership of the movement.”

Nadine Turchin and Her Heirs Preserve Her Diary

After distinguishing himself at Chickamauga and Missionary Ridge, Colonel Turchin resigned from the army in October 1864, after suffering heatstroke on the campaign.

Colonel Turchin and Nadine returned to Chicago. For a time he worked as a patent solicitor and civil engineer. Later, as part of his real estate transactions, he helped immigrants settle in southern Illinois. Colonel Turchin suffered dementia, attributed to heatstroke. At age 79, he died penniless in an institution in Anna, Illinois.

After Colonel Turchin died on June 18, 1901, Nadine was penniless until Michael D. Pawlowski, her legal guardian and benefactor, helped her obtain a pension. When she died on July 17, 1904, Michael Pawlowski inherited her possessions, including the diary. The diary remained in the Pawlowski family for 75 years, and then they donated it to the library of Northern Illinois University. Nadine and her husband John are buried in Mound City National Cemetery, Mound City, Illinois.

References

Chicoine, Stephen, John Basil Turchin and the Fight to Free the Slaves, Praeger, 2003

Harper, Judith E., Leonard, Elizabeth D., Women During the Civil War: An Encyclopedia, Taylor & Francis, 2003

Turchin, John, Chickamauga, Kessinger, 2007

Turchin, Nadine, Diary, 1863-1864, Northern Illinois University

Copyright Notice
All of the material on this website is copyrighted.  You are free to link to any of the articles and to download any of the PDF books to read and use as long as you credit me as the author.       kathywarnes@gmail.com
Picture
Proudly powered by Weebly
  • Home
  • Women's Rooms
    • Womens Rooms-Anne
    • Womens Rooms-Abigail
    • The Dead Baby in a Blue Blanket: The
    • Rena Rides the Raindrops
  • Women at Work-Blog
  • E Books and Print Books for Sale
  • Women of Historical Complexion
  • Rachel and Elizabeth Knaggs
  • Elizabeth Stiles, President Lincoln's Spy
  • Loyalist Lucy Flucker Meets Patriot Henry Knox at a Boston Parade
  • Queen Maria Amelia, the Last Queen of Portugal, Stood Her Ground
  • The Lady and the Patriot: Theodosia Burr Alston's Fateful Voyage
  • Margaret Agnew Blennerhassett - More Character Than Riches
  • Florence Nightingale- Nurse, Feminist, Statistician, Author
  • Mary Todd Lincoln Considered April Her "Season of Sadness"
  • Mrs. Santa Claus - A Strong and Supportive Woman for All Seasons
  • Elizabeth Turner McCormick, Woman Voyager
  • Frances Ellen Watkins Harper Fought for Human Rights
  • Mary Fields, Stage Coach Mail Driver, Sharp Shooter, Faithful Friend
  • Lucy Parsons, "More Dangerous Than A Thousand Rioters"
  • Lydia Maria Francis Child Travels 'Over the River and Through the Wood'
  • Anti-Suffragists Believed Women Didn't Need the Right to Vote
  • Finland's Alexandra Gripenberg Sought Universal Women's Rights
  • From Frances Slocum to Little Bear Woman and Back Again
  • Madame Elisabeth Thible is the First Woman to Ride in a Free Floating Balloon
  • Veronica Kerler Frank Pined for Germany, But Made Milwaukee Her Home
  • Mary Humphreys Stamps, Undefeated Rebel with An Educational Cause
  • Sister Monica Is One of Milwaukee, Wisconsin's Early Pioneers
  • A Love Story for St. Valentine's Day - Marie Antoinette and Count Axel von Fersen
  • Three Wisconsin Women of the Waves
  • Margaret Fox Kane and her Victorian Love Story
  • Francoise Marie Jacquelin, Lioness of La Tour, Lioness of Acadia, Woman in Her Own Right
  • Mary Breckinridge, Circuit Riding Nurse and Founder of the Frontier Nursing Service
  • Women Bicyclists Break Their Glass Cages and Ride into Liberation
  • Maria Mitchell, America's First Woman Astronomer Demonstrated Female Scientific Aptitude
  • Queen Alexandra of Great Britain-Queen Victoria's Daughter-in-Law, Bertie's Patient Wife, and Her Own Person!
  • Chicagoan Kate Kellogg Meets a Ghost on a Train
  • Isobel Lillian Steele Went to a Party and Ended Up in a Nazi Jail
  • Madam Sophie Blanchard - "Official Aeronaut of the Restoration"
  • Women of Their Time and Place
    • Nadine Turchin Fights Alongside Her Husband in the Civil War
    • War Stories Along Lake Erie: Ordinary Women Experience the War of 1812
    • Katie Walker Tends Robbins Reef Light Near the Statue of Liberty
    • Maria Gulovich Joined the Czech Resistance
    • Pirate Fanny Campbell Freed Her Fiance and Fought the British
    • SOE Agent Andree Borrel Lived Several Lifetimes in Her 24 Years
    • Lydia Latrobe Roosevelt and the First Mississippi River Steamboat
    • Sophie Kwiatkowski Served as a New Guinea Nurse in World War II
    • Clara Zetkin Spoke Against Hitler in the German Reichstag
    • Gertrud Scholtz-Klink, Female Fuhrer, Breathed Her Nazi Beliefs
    • Nancy Leo , the Only Woman Buried in Luxembourg American Cemetery
    • Dickey Chapelle, Journalist and War Correspondent
    • Lucena Brockway Adapts to Life in the Keweenaw Copper Mining Country of Lake Superior
    • Does Mary Surrat's Ghost Haunt the Senate Chambers Seeking Justice?
    • The Ghostly Cyclist in Brooklyn's Prospect Park
  • Women of Contemporary 20th and 21st Century Complexion
    • Clara Ward Chimay, Gilded Age Princess
    • Ruth Becker's Faith Helps Her Survive the Titanic and Beyond
    • Mildred Beltmann , Wartime Wife
    • The Courage of their Cultural Convictions - Women Missionaries in China
    • Light and Radiance - Laurence Owen and Her Sabena Fellow Travelers
    • Edna St. Vincent Millay, Passionate Poet, Candle-Lit Feminist
    • Fascinating Footnote: The Goose Down Divorce
    • Olive Higgins Prouty Juggles to Balance Home and Career
    • Mother and Daughter Journalists Agnes Meyer and Katharine Graham Shaped Journalism
    • Rose Friedman and the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire
    • Katharine Meyer Graham Leaves Her Mark on the Washington Post
    • Ida M. Tarbell, "Bachelor Soul," Transitional Woman, or Both?
    • Nurse Edith Cavell, the Courage to Die for Her Country
    • Sigrid Schultz Outsmarted Hermann Goering
    • Martha Dickie Sharp Saves Jewish Refugees from the Nazi Death Machine
    • Virginia Graham Pioneered in Early Television and Survived Cancer
    • Rose Conway, President Harry Truman's Secret Weapon
    • Nancy Green, Talented Entrepreneur, Transitional Symbol
    • "Surrender on Demand:" The Friendship of Mary Jayne Gold and Miriam Ebel
    • Julia K. Tibbitts - Closet Environmentalist
    • Lee Lawrence Ansberry Reconquers the World and Reshapes Her Life
  • Christmas Cheer