R i g h t a r d i a: The embarrassing arrest of the Jefferson Davis

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

The embarrassing arrest of the Jefferson Davis

10th May 1865: A cartoon of the alleged incident when Jefferson Davis (1808 - 1889), the first and only President of the Confederate States of America, was captured while trying to escape Union troops by dressing as a woman. Original Artwork: Printed by Currier & Ives. (Photo by MPI/Getty Images)

When Richmond fell to the Union in the spring of 1865, Confederate President Jefferson Davis was forced to flee the city, along with his wife and his Cabinet.

According to the Federal cavalrymen who finally apprehended him on May 10 at Irwinsville, Georgia, he was dressed in his wife's clothing in an attempt to evade capture.

Davis, of course, told quite a different story, claiming to have picked up his wife's raglan by mistake in the dark as he left their tent to investigate the sound of approaching horsemen.

Varina Davis was said to have compounded the problem by throwing her shawl around his shoulders.

In the very Victorian 1860's, male and female modes of dress were thoroughly separate and distinct (the blurring of the line between gender-specific clothing would not occur until the next century).

For a nineteenth century gentleman to don a woman's outfit at all would have been considered unusual at best; to do so for the purpose of avoiding apprehension would have been considered unmanly as well.

The story nonetheless appealed to a Northern public already convinced that the Southern leader was a traitor and a thief and thus disposed to see him as a coward as well.

A song commemorated the arrest of Jefferson Davis:





JEFF IN PETTICOATS

Words by Henry Tucker
Music by George Cooper

Jeff Davis was a hero bold,
You've heard of him, I know,
He tried to make himself a king
Where southern breezes blow;
But "Uncle Sam," he laid the youth
Across his mighty knee,
And spanked him well, and that's the end
Of brave old Jeffy D.

CHORUS: 
Oh! Jeffy D.! You "flow'r of chivalree,"
Oh royal Jeffy D.!
Your empire's but a tin-clad skirt,
Oh, charming Jeffy D.

This Davis, he was always full
Of bluster and of brag,
He swore, on all our Northern walls,
He'd plant his Rebel rag;
But when to battle he did go,
He said, "I'm not so green,
To dodge the bullets, I will wear
My tin-clad crinoline."

CHORUS

Now when he saw the game was up,
He started for the woods,
His bandbox hung upon his arm
Quite full of fancy goods;
Said Jeff, "They'll never take me now,
I'm sure I'll not be seen.
They'd never think to look for me
Beneath my crinoline."

CHORUS

Jeff took with him, the people say,
A mine of golden coin,
Which he, from banks and other places,
Managed to purloin;
But while he ran, like every thief,
He had to drop the spoons.
And maybe that's the reason why
He dropped his pantaloons.

CHORUS

Our Union boys were on his track
For many nights and days,
His palpatating heart it beat,
Enough to burst his stays;
Oh! what a dash he must have cut
With form so tall and lean;
Just fancy now the "What is it?"
Dressed up in crinoline!

CHORUS

The ditch that Jeff was hunting for,
He found was very near;
He tried to "shift" his base again,
His neck felt rather queer;
Just on the out-"skirts" of a wood
His dainty shape was seen,
His boots stuck out, and now they'll hang
Old Jeff in crinoline.

CHORUS