|
Sources
|
Nina Massey Hough writes:
"I remained in the South
during the war, except for the two months I spent in prison when I came
through St. Louis to see my mother, who then resided in Boonville,
Mo. After being released from prison they would not allow me to
see my mother and banished me to the South."
|
|
1
|
O.L. Hough, her grandson writes:
"It is not known whether
her internment was before or after the birth of Alice [28 Apr.1864]."
|
|
5
|
Nowhere does Nina Massey Hough
record the name of her prison.
|
|
Lou Hough notes:
"In one of dozens of old
... photograph albums, there is a picture of Libby Prison ... and below
it in my father's handwriting: "Where Mother was put in prison."
|
This does not seem likely, unless there was a second Libby
Prison. The Libby Prison of Civil War notoriety was run by the
Rebels for Union officer prisoners.
|
2
|
There are several versions of
the reason for her imprisonment. Many years later, she told her
grandson, Lou Hough:
"The act of crossing the
lines constituted reason for imprisonment."
|
|
2
|
Lyda Massey Holmes, my
grandmother, and Nina Massey Hough's sister, told me this version, many
years ago:
"Nina Massey Hough was
acting as a message carrier between the Southern army and spies in the
North. When she was captured as a spy at various times, she
successfully avoided a prison sentence by claiming pregnancy.
However, this excuse wore thin, and she served a two month sentence in
Libby Prison."
|
|
3
|
Lyda Langford Hinrichs, my
sister, and Nina Massey Hough's grand-niece, after visiting Nina in
St.Louis while she was a student at Monticello Seminary, Alton, Ill.,
gave me this version:
"Nina Massey had
repeatedly crossed the North-South lines carrying messages and was
picked up by Union troops for that reason. Nina appeared very
proud that she had many times been successful and not too chagrined
that she had tried it once too often."
|
|
4
|
Although Nina kept a Diary later
in her life, if she kept one during the War period it has been lost
sight of.
|
|
