Jefferson Davis in a Dress

[Odesio]

I hear a rumor that Jefferson Davis was wearing a dress when he was captured. I’ve never heard of such a thing before and it sounds like something soldiers might say just to have some fun at the expensive of an enemy’s leader. Any validity to this claim? Any idea where the rumor started?

Marc

[samclem]

Where did you hear this?

[Odesio]

@samclem

Where did you hear this?

From a friend who had heard it and was attempting to track down the veracity of the statement for himself. The story sounds vaguely familiar to me but I can’t remember if I heard it about J. Davis or I heard it about someone else. I don’t really think it’s true but I thought maybe someone else had heard it as well.

Marc

[Spoke]

Here’s what appears to be a narrative by someone who was close to the situation:

Besides the suit of men’s clothing worn by Mr. Davis he had on when captured Mrs. Davis’ large waterproof dress or robe, thrown over his own fine gray suit, and a blanket shawl thrown over his head and shoulders. This shawl and robe were finally deposited in the archives of the war department at Washington by order of Secretary Stanton.

The story of the “hoopskirt, sunbonnet and calico wrapper” had no real existence and was started in the fertile brains of the reporters and in the illustrated papers of that day. That was a perilous moment for Mr. Davis. He had the right to try to escape in any disguise he could use.

[Captain_Amazing]

Here’s a Harpers Weekly article from May 27, 1865, discussing the capture of Davis, including the dress story:

The Capture of Confederate President Jefferson Davis

The firing in this skirmish was the first warning that DAVIS received. The captors report that he hastily put on one of his wife’s dresses and started for the woods, closely followed by our men, who at first thought him a woman, but seeing his boots while he was running, they suspected his sex at once. The race was a short one, and the rebel President was soon brought to bay. He brandished a bowie-knife and showed signs of battle, but yielded promptly to the persuasions of COLT’s revolvers, without compelling the men to fire. He expressed great indignation at the energy with which he was pursued, saying that he had believed our Government were too magnanimous to hunt down women and children.

Here’s a sketch of the display that Attorney General Stanton put of the clothing in which Davis was captured:

http://www.lostmuseum.cuny.edu/archives/hwdavis.htm

In fact, you might want to check this website, regarding the event:

http://www.lostmuseum.cuny.edu/archives/jd.htm

[tomndebb]

Just before day the enemy charged our camp yelling like demons. Mr. Davis received timely warning of their approach…He started down to the little stream hoping to meet his servant with his horse and arms…Knowing he would be recognized I plead with him to let me throw over him a large waterproof wrap which had often served him…for a dressing gown and which I hoped might so cover his person that in the grey of the morning he would not be recognized. As he strode off I threw over his head a little black shawl which was around my own shoulders, seeing that he could not find his hat…When he had proceeded a few yards the guards around our tents with a shocking oath called out to know who that was. I said it was my mother…
Letter from Varina Davis to Montgomery Blair (pages 13-20) describing the capture of her husband, Jefferson Davis, June 6, 1865.

From a page on the Library of Congress website. Follwing that entry are several of the stories bandied about by various papers of the time using the garbled report of the incident to mock Davis.

Note that while Mrs. Davis did express hope that he would be mistaken for a woman and ignored when the Federal troops appeared, it appears that the actual selection of the robe and shawl were intended to let him pass more easily into the foggy morning than to disguise him as a woman.

[Odesio]

Thanks, I really appreciate the replies I got.

Marc

[flurb]

I’ve never heard of Jeff Davis being captured in a dress, but there’s a long-standing myth that Santa Anna was captured after the Battle of San Jacinto trying to escape dressed as a woman. The more mundate truth of the matter is that he was captured dressed as an ordinary soldier, and wasn’t recognized by the Texans until other Mexican soliders greeted him as “El Presidente”.

[Paul_in_Qatar]

The Jeff Davis in a dress story had a certain humor value to it when it was current. In the same way, cartoons showed Lincoln arriving in Washington disguised as a Scotsman. While there is a kernel of truth in both tales; they are both examples of stories that grew in the telling.

[Jackmannii]

Well, what about Achilles?

@tomndebb

…it appears that the actual selection of the robe and shawl were intended to let (Jefferson Davis) pass more easily into the foggy morning than to disguise him as a woman.

Women’s clothes blend in with the fog more easily than men’s duds?

“Honey, I’m not wearing your clothes because I’m a cross-dresser - it’s so that I can escape into the fog unseen, like Spider-Man!”

[Carnac_the_Magnificent]

@Captain Amazing

Here’s a Harpers Weekly article from May 27, 1865, discussing the capture of Davis, including the dress story:

The Capture of Confederate President Jefferson Davis

The firing in this skirmish was the first warning that DAVIS received. The captors report that he hastily put on one of his wife’s dresses and started for the woods, closely followed by our men, who at first thought him a woman, but seeing his boots while he was running, they suspected his sex at once. The race was a short one, and the rebel President was soon brought to bay. He brandished a bowie-knife and showed signs of battle, but yielded promptly to the persuasions of COLT’s revolvers, without compelling the men to fire. He expressed great indignation at the energy with which he was pursued, saying that he had believed our Government were too magnanimous to hunt down women and children.

Here’s a sketch of the display that Attorney General Stanton put of the clothing in which Davis was captured:

The Lost Museum Archive

In fact, you might want to check this website, regarding the event:

The Lost Museum Archive

The visuals evoked of sickly, frequently bedridden, and arguably hypochondriacal Jeff Davis brandishing a massive Bowie knife–all the while “showing signs of battle” against Union troops, no less–stretches the limits of the human imagination. Might that passage be a face-saving concession to the deposed leader? That account doesn’t sound terribly compelling.

[Elendil_s_Heir]

@tomndebb

…several of the stories [were] bandied about by various papers of the time using the garbled report of the incident to mock Davis.

Note that while Mrs. Davis did express hope that he would be mistaken for a woman and ignored when the Federal troops appeared, it appears that the actual selection of the robe and shawl were intended to let him pass more easily into the foggy morning than to disguise him as a woman.

Civil War buff checking in. That’s what I’ve always read, too (and I’m no admirer of Jeff Davis).