Louisa Picquet (c. 1829, Columbia, South Carolina – August 11, 1896, New Richmond, Ohio) was an African American born into slavery.

[2] In Mobile, Louisa performed domestic duties for Thomas M. English, who owned the house where Cook was boarding.

[3] When Cook defaulted on his debts, Picquet was sold at auction to John Williams in New Orleans, separating her from her mother and infant brother.

She began to sell some of Williams' furniture, which allowed her to raise enough money to move with her children to Cincinnati, Ohio.

Due to an injury Picquet's husband sustained while serving in the Union Army, Louisa had to provide for their family by taking in laundry.

The family moved around 1867 to New Richmond, Ohio, where Henry attempted to collect a Veteran's Invalid Pension for nearly fifteen years.

His application was eventually approved and he began receiving six dollars a month, but he died of heart disease shortly thereafter.

[1] Picquet's mother, Elizabeth Ramsay, was raped by her master, John Randolph, and gave birth at the age of fifteen.

[1] While traveling through Buffalo, New York to collect money to secure her mother's freedom, Picquet was advised to speak with Hiram Mattison, an abolitionist pastor and author.

Mattison asks Picquet specific questions about how her children, how her masters treated her and other enslaved persons, and where she lived after obtaining her freedom.

[2] When she was a young teenager, Picquet's second master attempted to rape her, but he was intercepted by the white boarding house owner.