Saturday, October 13, 2007

Jefferson Davis' Dress










































I wonder if he wore makeup and what was his dress size? A heroic last stand.

From the November 22, 1873 NY Times:

"JEFF. DAVIS' DISGUISE.; HIS ATTEMPT TO ESCAPE CAPTURE IN A WOMAN'S DRESS STATEMENT OF GEN. PRITCHARD"

Capture of Jefferson Davis, at Irwinsville, GA., wood engraving, Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, June 1865.

Lot's more great images at GMU's web site.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I believe Jefferson Davis was a much better man than you seem to realize. Check out the facts about the man before you judge him.

Seeker said...

Davis most certainly DID wear a dress, and his own wife said as much.

The real issue is -- how does the South even "study" Davis.

Those who dismiss the "dress story story" as rubbish, should rub their eyeballs on Varina Davis own 20 page letter, written just after her capture with Davis.

Most Southern “scholars” dare not even mention Varina’s letter to the Blairs,

The South had already formed their excuses about Davis dress — saying he wored a “fine grey suit” with just one “manly cover” for his head.
Sorry boys, he wore no grey suit, fine or otherwise. He wore the dress.
Varina says he wore a "dressing gown" and details two head coverings.

She also said SHE begged him to put it on. Now let me ask you, do you beg someone to put on their own clothes?

Most damaging of all was — to me — her admission that SHE yelled to the soldiers that Davis was her MOTHER.

That’s right — her MOTHER.

She said, in her letter, that when the soldiers stopped Davis, and demanded to know who he (she) was, she said “Its my mother”.
Its MY MOTHER.

The real issue is not the dress anyway. The real issue is the cowardice Davis showed, in the dress or not (and he was in the dress).

While Davis was urging everyone around him to throw their lives away for his delusions of grandeur, he ended up being a punk when confronted.

As Davis got older, he would give several renditions of what happened, each time he was even a greater hero than the last time. He was about to throw the Union soldier off his horse, and kill him, for example.