DAVIS WIFE -- VARINA-- TRIED TO CONVINCE THE UNION SOLDIERS DAVIS WAS HER MOTHER.
DAVIS AND LEE -- CRUEL COWARDS? OR HONORABLE HEROES?
The capture of Jeff Davis shows us as much about "historical scholarship" as it shows us about Davis.
Since about 1900, Southern "scholars" have dismissed the Davis-as-coward stories.
Newspaper had for years shown Davis as running away in a dress, and reports from the soldiers say he was a coward on top of that, leaving his children behind as shots were fired, and making a mad dash for a horse he had tied up some distance away as a last ditch escape plan. The reports were quite clear, and extensive. Plus, when the soldiers got back to the North, they were all interviewed repeatedly, and for the rest of their lives, in public and private they gave detailed accounts of Davis behavior.
Davis, for example, was mute when stopped, and mute as he was required to remove the dress. But after he was in his own clothes, and after he was secure in the wagon that would take him to prison, he became quite vocal, promising revenge, saying he would kill the soldiers if he were untied, etc etc. In other words, he was a lot like punk. He didn't talk like that when the guns were out.
When the guns were out -- he ran, and then let his wife protect him.
As proof Davis wore no dress, they simply quote him! He said he didn't wear a dress, therefore the Union reports are lies, and if they even mentioned her letter, they said it proved he had no dress on anyway.
Davis was obsessed for years to reclaim his honor. He had a picture taken -- you can see it above -- with what he said were the exact replica of the clothing he wore. He said he threw on a "shawl" over these clothes, by mistake. But his clothes were the long jacket, the shirt, the tie, the hat, and boots.
was very manly. He was about to kill the Union soldier that stopped him, but because that would put his wife at risk, he put her safety above his honor.
Varina Davis -- wife of Jeff Davis -- wrote a letter to friends soon after their capture. She admitted she tried to convince the soldiers that Jeff Davis was her mother. That's right -- she tried to convince the soldiers that Jeff Davis was her MOTHER.
The union soldiers said the same basic thing -- Davis was in a dress, and trying to pass as her mother. Varina says other things that totally refute Davis version of himself as here -- she shows how she jumped to his defense, getting between Davis, who she said stood silent, and the soldier with a gun. She told the soldier to shoot her, if he had to shoot someone.
According to her, the soldier replied, that he would like that, and she told the Blairs she believed him.
Davis had this picture taken years later, in what he said were an exact replica of clothes he had on. Do you see her shawl over his head? No. But Varina said she put a shawl over his HEAD to keep him from being recognized.
She said she put a dressing GOWN on him -- she said she "begged him " to put it on. She tried to give Davis some dignity -- she said it was not a dress, but a dressing GOWN. Actually, it was a dress, and the soldiers not only reported that clearly -- (see below) they brought the dress and all his garments back to Washington, where they were put on display for a press gathering!
The Blairs -- the family friends she wrote to -- spoke candidly about Davis dress, they believed implicitly he wore his wife's dress. The Blairs spent a lot of time with Mrs Davis after her release -- and if she had insisted to them in person, that he wore no dress, they would have respected that. But they spoke of Davis in a dress the rest of their lives.
In his picture, do you see the dressing gown over his body? She said he had that on too. Do you see see any wrap around his shoulders? She said she put that on him too.
IN short, she writes about three different garments that she BEGGED him to put on. It's very likely she did not beg him to do anything. Davis was a vain, arrogant, man, he could not be talked into wearing a dress by anyone.. Nor would most wives beg their husband to put on a dress. It is reasonable to assume DAVIS himself came up with the idea of a dress, and it almost worked. Had his boots not been visible, if he had not been running away, and had his wiry hair not stuck out from his head covering, he might have made it.
But the soldiers knew instantly he was a woman -- in fact, the first person to see him from some 50 yards away said -- look, there goes a man in a woman's dress. When a soldier rode his horse in front of Davis, and demanded to know who he was -- he said nothing. In fact, that is when his wife ran to him, got between him and the horse. The soldiers said she pulled Davis's sagging head to her chest and comforted him.
Davis had been running AWAY from his children, to add to his cowardice
The soldiers had to tell Davis to go put his regular clothes on, and allowed Mrs Davis to do into the tent with him. When they emerged, Mrs Davis had on the black dress Davis had just taken off. You can't make this stuff up.
Davis devote Clint Johnson, author of a book about Lee's escape, nsisted this was all a plot -- and that Secretary of War Stanton had orders to all troops to plant a dress on Davis! Clint said he would show me a copy or proof of this, but they never did. Sure, the President was just killed, and you telegraph all commanders in the field to go find a DRESS that fits Davis, (they did not know he was with his wife) and when you find it, report back that he was cowardly and in a dress.
Uh huh. Riiight. After I showed Clint the Varina Davis letter, and went over it with him, he emailed me back a couple days later, agreeing that Davis wore a dress. But he added -- it was HER idea. He did it because he asked him to, he would never have done it otherwise.
Then a few days later, Clint contacted me again-- and said he changed his mind after talking to some other Davis devotees. No way, Davis was just too manly to put on a woman's dress and run away. Never mind what Varina's letter said, all that can be explained away.
Oh really? How about the line "I said it was my mother"g his heroic folk tale, with him as the hero. You can't have both
.This report by Julian Dickson -- who was the officer in charge, during the capture of Jefferson Davis. He was there, and this is his report. Mrs Davis would speak well of Dickson, in her letter, as oone of two captures that treated her with respect, while the enlisted Union soldiers offended her.
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| Davis dressed as he insisted he was during capture |
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| WAS THIS MORE LIKE IT? |
The capture of Jeff Davis shows us as much about "historical scholarship" as it shows us about Davis.
Since about 1900, Southern "scholars" have dismissed the Davis-as-coward stories.
Newspaper had for years shown Davis as running away in a dress, and reports from the soldiers say he was a coward on top of that, leaving his children behind as shots were fired, and making a mad dash for a horse he had tied up some distance away as a last ditch escape plan. The reports were quite clear, and extensive. Plus, when the soldiers got back to the North, they were all interviewed repeatedly, and for the rest of their lives, in public and private they gave detailed accounts of Davis behavior.
Davis, for example, was mute when stopped, and mute as he was required to remove the dress. But after he was in his own clothes, and after he was secure in the wagon that would take him to prison, he became quite vocal, promising revenge, saying he would kill the soldiers if he were untied, etc etc. In other words, he was a lot like punk. He didn't talk like that when the guns were out.
When the guns were out -- he ran, and then let his wife protect him.
As proof Davis wore no dress, they simply quote him! He said he didn't wear a dress, therefore the Union reports are lies, and if they even mentioned her letter, they said it proved he had no dress on anyway.
Davis was obsessed for years to reclaim his honor. He had a picture taken -- you can see it above -- with what he said were the exact replica of the clothing he wore. He said he threw on a "shawl" over these clothes, by mistake. But his clothes were the long jacket, the shirt, the tie, the hat, and boots.
was very manly. He was about to kill the Union soldier that stopped him, but because that would put his wife at risk, he put her safety above his honor.
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| The happy slave owning couple on their wedding day. |
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| CLOSE UP "I SAID IT'S MY MOTHER" |
The union soldiers said the same basic thing -- Davis was in a dress, and trying to pass as her mother. Varina says other things that totally refute Davis version of himself as here -- she shows how she jumped to his defense, getting between Davis, who she said stood silent, and the soldier with a gun. She told the soldier to shoot her, if he had to shoot someone.
According to her, the soldier replied, that he would like that, and she told the Blairs she believed him.
Davis had this picture taken years later, in what he said were an exact replica of clothes he had on. Do you see her shawl over his head? No. But Varina said she put a shawl over his HEAD to keep him from being recognized.
She said she put a dressing GOWN on him -- she said she "begged him " to put it on. She tried to give Davis some dignity -- she said it was not a dress, but a dressing GOWN. Actually, it was a dress, and the soldiers not only reported that clearly -- (see below) they brought the dress and all his garments back to Washington, where they were put on display for a press gathering!
The Blairs -- the family friends she wrote to -- spoke candidly about Davis dress, they believed implicitly he wore his wife's dress. The Blairs spent a lot of time with Mrs Davis after her release -- and if she had insisted to them in person, that he wore no dress, they would have respected that. But they spoke of Davis in a dress the rest of their lives.
In his picture, do you see the dressing gown over his body? She said he had that on too. Do you see see any wrap around his shoulders? She said she put that on him too.
IN short, she writes about three different garments that she BEGGED him to put on. It's very likely she did not beg him to do anything. Davis was a vain, arrogant, man, he could not be talked into wearing a dress by anyone.. Nor would most wives beg their husband to put on a dress. It is reasonable to assume DAVIS himself came up with the idea of a dress, and it almost worked. Had his boots not been visible, if he had not been running away, and had his wiry hair not stuck out from his head covering, he might have made it.
But the soldiers knew instantly he was a woman -- in fact, the first person to see him from some 50 yards away said -- look, there goes a man in a woman's dress. When a soldier rode his horse in front of Davis, and demanded to know who he was -- he said nothing. In fact, that is when his wife ran to him, got between him and the horse. The soldiers said she pulled Davis's sagging head to her chest and comforted him.
Davis had been running AWAY from his children, to add to his cowardice
The soldiers had to tell Davis to go put his regular clothes on, and allowed Mrs Davis to do into the tent with him. When they emerged, Mrs Davis had on the black dress Davis had just taken off. You can't make this stuff up.
Davis devote Clint Johnson, author of a book about Lee's escape, nsisted this was all a plot -- and that Secretary of War Stanton had orders to all troops to plant a dress on Davis! Clint said he would show me a copy or proof of this, but they never did. Sure, the President was just killed, and you telegraph all commanders in the field to go find a DRESS that fits Davis, (they did not know he was with his wife) and when you find it, report back that he was cowardly and in a dress.
Uh huh. Riiight. After I showed Clint the Varina Davis letter, and went over it with him, he emailed me back a couple days later, agreeing that Davis wore a dress. But he added -- it was HER idea. He did it because he asked him to, he would never have done it otherwise.
Then a few days later, Clint contacted me again-- and said he changed his mind after talking to some other Davis devotees. No way, Davis was just too manly to put on a woman's dress and run away. Never mind what Varina's letter said, all that can be explained away.
Oh really? How about the line "I said it was my mother"g his heroic folk tale, with him as the hero. You can't have both
.This report by Julian Dickson -- who was the officer in charge, during the capture of Jefferson Davis. He was there, and this is his report. Mrs Davis would speak well of Dickson, in her letter, as oone of two captures that treated her with respect, while the enlisted Union soldiers offended her.
It is a long report -- as you can imagine it would be. I will simply omit the first part, which just details with the days before the capture, but all that is interesting. You can find the whole report on line easily enough.
THE CAPTURE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS
By
Julian G. Dickinson, Late Adjutant 4th Michigan Cavalry and Brevet Captain, USV
Original Member of the Michigan Commandery, Insignia Number 3751
Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States
Read January 8, 1889 (First Published 1899)
...........................................
Being questioned by Col. Pritchard, he stated there had been several mounted men to the house ring the afternoon, from a camp near the village, to purchase forage and provisions, and the camp lay about a mile and a half out on the Abbeville road. Placing the freedman in advance for guide, and directing the utmost silence to be preserved in the column, we moved out on the Abbeville road. The night was rather dark, but clear and very quiet. We marched the distance of about a mile when we halted and made the necessary arrangements for the capture of the camp when light was deemed sufficient to enable us to discern its situation.
A detail of 25 men, under command of Lieut. Purinton, was sent to make a circuit of the camp and get into position on the road beyond, to station pickets, and take precautions for preventing the escape of the occupants in that direction, awaiting our advance and capture of the camp.
We rested until the first appearance of the dawn of the morning of the 10th. The order was then quietly given to mount, and placing a small force under command of Capt. Charles T. Hudson, as an advance guard, with directions to charge forward upon the camp, our column moved in support. The charge was uninterrupted by any picket of camp guards, and we speedily entered and enveloped the camp by a surprise so complete that no one seemed to have been disturbed.
The advance guard moved directly and quickly through the camp toward Lieut. Purinton's picket. Our main column halted for a minute in the road before entering the camp. On the right of the road, in line, facing a clearing or parade, stood three wall tents; beyond the clearing there was, what appeared to me to be, a swampy thicket; on our left, in the woods, at some distance from the road, was a miscellaneous collection of tents and ambulances. The extent of the camp could not, however, be distinctly seen from our position.
At this moment some of our men appeared to be straggling from the column and Col. Pritchard directed my attention to it and to the care of the camp, and as he moved forward with the column through the camp, I rode out and took a position by the roadside until the column passed me. I then rode across the parade, in front of the wall tents, on the right of the road. I saw no one about the tents and there was nothing indicating who occupied them, until, as I passed the tents d started to move into the road beyond, I saw a man partially dressed, emerging from a "shelter-tent." I at once rode up to him and inquired what force was there in camp. He looked at me seemingly bewildered. Not hearing him reply to me, I repeated the question, and while lingering for a response, I was suddenly startled by a familiar voice calling.
I turned and saw Andrew Bee, our "headquarters cook," who was standing close to the front of one of the wall tents and pointing to three persons in female attire, who, arm in arm, were moving rapidly across the clearing towards the thicket. Andrew called to me, "Adjutant, there goes a man dressed in woman's clothes."
The person indicated was quite apparent, and I rode at once toward the party, ordering them to halt, repeating the order rapidly, they seeming not to hear, or not inclined to obey, until I rode directly across their pathway, when they halted. At that moment Corporal Munger, of Company C, came riding up from the thicket, and taking a stand in the rear of the party brought his carbine to a position for firing upon the man dressed in woman's clothes, at the same time applying to him an appellation that was in vogue among the troopers as a designation of "Jeff. Davis." I ordered the corporal not to fire, there being no perceptible resistance.
The person in disguise was Jefferson Davis, and his companions were Mrs. Davis and her colored waiting maid. The scene thus presented was rendered pathetic by the cries of Davis' family at the tents and by the heroic conduct of Mrs. Davis, who placed her arms around the drooping head of her husband, as if to protect him from threatened peril; she mad no other appeal to us.
Davis had on for disguise a black shawl drawn closely around his head and shoulders, through the folds of which I could see his gray hairs. He wore on his person a woman's long, black dress, which completely concealed his figure, excepting his spurred boot heels. The dress was undoubtedly Mrs. Davis' traveling dress, which she afterwards wore on her return march to Macon. At the time of the capture she was attired in her morning gown and a black shawl covering her head and stately form, while her waiting maid was completely attired in black.
Glancing from this party before me, and around the position, I was startled by the presence of several rebel officers who in the meantime quietly came upon the scene. The positions they had taken clearly indicated they were interested in the movement of their chief. I ordered Davis and his party to retire to their tents and then moved toward the rebel officers in question, requesting them to also retire. I was promptly obeyed.
I directed Corporal Munger to guard Mr. Davis and his party in their tents, and to take two men who came up with him for that purpose. I then rode forward to report to Col. Pritchard the episode that had taken place. In the meantime spirited firing had commenced, and the usual evidences of an engagement with an enemy appeared in the direction our column had advanced.
As I passed Davis' tent, in going to the front, Mrs. Davis called to me, and I dismounted to hear her request. She asked what we were going to do with Mr. Davis and whether herself and family would be permitted to go along with him. I informed her that I could not tell what would be done with any of them until I had reported to my commanding officer. She then very earnestly said that we must not interfere with Mr. Davis as he was a very desperate man and would hurt some of us. She further requested that I would see to certain things that she had in th wagon, and I promised to attend to that
As I moved into the road I met one of our officers from the front with something from the wagon, in the shape of a canteen of most excellent fluid, of which he freely offered me a share. I mete Col. Pritchard just returning from an unfortunate conflict with the 1st Wisconsin Cavalry, that regiment having come upon our pickets and mistaking them for an enemy, retired and formed for a battle, which forced our column to form in line and skirmish with them, in the belief that we had met a force of the enemy. Col. Pritchard brought the engagement to a close by dashing into the lines of the 1st Wisconsin and notifying them of the mistake.
The fact was that the 1st Wisconsin and the 4th Michigan expected to find a desperate force of the enemy; the 1st Wisconsin, however, was marching without any knowledge of the locality of the camp, and without any expectation of finding it at that time, having been in bivouac most of the night, a few miles from our picket.
I reported to Col. Pritchard the capture of Jeff. Davis in his attempt to escape from the camp in female attire, and that I had put him under guard. In the meantime Mr. Davis put on his male attire - a suit of gray - and came out of his tent. When he saw Col. Pritchard he shouted out some inquiry, which he followed up with the old familiar charge, "You are vandals, thieves and robbers." He evidently had worked himself into a rage, for when I went to him soon after, getting the names of the prisoners, he refused my request for his name, and I was obliged to receive it from his wife, who spoke up proudly, in answer to my repeated question, "his name is Jefferson Davis, sir."
The captured party consisted of Jefferson Davis, accompanied by Mrs. Davis and their three children; John H. Reagan, Postmaster General; Col. Johnston, A.D.C.; Col. Burton N. Harrison, Private Secretary, and Col. F.R. Lubbock, A.D.C., of Jeff. Davis' staff; Major V.R. Maurin, of the Richmond Battery of Light Artillery; Capt. George V. Moody, Mollison's Light Artillery; Lieut. Hathaway, 14th Ky. Infantry; privates W.W. Monroe and F. Messick, 14th Ky.; privates Sanders, Ingraham, Wilbury, Baker, Smith, Heath and Alliston, of the 2d Ky. Cavalry; privates J.H. Taylor and A.W. Brady, Co. E. 15th Miss., private J.W. Furley, 13th Tenn., all of the late Confederate States army, and midshipman Howell of the Confederate navy, Miss Howell, a sister of Mrs. Davis, accompanied her. There were two colored women and one colored man, servants of the Davis family. Of the three children of Mr. Davis' family, the youngest was a babe and quite a favorite in our command (once on the march I saw it handed along the line); the oldest child was a little girl about ten years of age, and the other child was a boy of about seven or eight years. There was also with the party a little colored lad about the same age as young Davis, and the two created considerable amusement for us by their wrestling exercises. Burton N. Harrison, the Private Secretary, was the gentleman of whom I sought so diligently to elicit information immediately preceding the capture.
There was not the slightest show of any resistance on the part of any of the captured party, and they were all kindly treated by their captors. That their wagons and tents were searched thoroughly, I have no doubt. Lieut. James Vernor obtained a trophy of Davis' wardrobe, a dressing gown, which he exhibits, but whether Davis wore it as part of his garments at the capture is not known. It might possibly have been worn under his disguise.
Their horses were all taken by our men and considerable sums of money in gold were captured. The gold was taken, as I understood from Col. Johnston at the time, in the holsters of the rebel officers, where it had been carried for safety and convenience. Who captured the gold is somewhat of a mystery to this day. At the camp, immediately after the capture, Col. Pritchard was informed that one of our men, a Tennessean named James H. Lynch, was possessed of most of the coin and the Colonel searched him but found none of the gold; afterwards it is well known that Lynch distributed several pieces of gold coin among his companions and gave a few pieces to some of his officers. It is certain that the coin was never equally distributed.
In preparing for the return march their horses were all returned to the prisoners, and Mr. and Mrs. Davis and family were allowed the use of the ambulances, which they occupied most of the time on our return march.
On the 12th of May, returning, we met Major Robert Burns, A.A.G. of Minty's staff, from headquarters at Macon, who brought to us President Johnson's proclamation, offering rewards for the capture of Jeff. Davis and other fugitives. The proclamation was the first intelligence we received of the assassination of our President, Abraham Lincoln, and of the reward. I have now in my possession the copy of the proclamation which was handed to me at that time. It was issued on the 2d day of May, 1865, was published to the Cavalry Corps, M.D.M. at Macon, on the 8th day of May, 1865, and reached our command, as I have said, on the 12th day of May. Mr. Davis was securely guarded during our return march. Perhaps his guard was more strict than it would have been had he not given notice that he would make his escape if possible.
Before reaching Macon, Col. Pritchard received orders to make a detail form his regiment in readiness to take his prisoners to Washington, and after we reached camp, he proceeded upon that service and conveyed Jeff. Davis to Fortress Monroe.
The Secretary of War directed Col. Pritchard at Washington to obtain the disguise worn by Jeff. Davis at his capture, and Captain Charles T. Hudson undertook to procure it from Mrs. Davis. In his account of the affair, Capt. Hudson has related in a letter to Major-General J.H. Wilson, that Mrs. Davis stated to him that she attired Mr. Davis in her own dress, and she surrendered a certain garment which Col. Pritchard afterward described in his report to the Secretary of War as a "waterproof cloak or dress." Though I did not examine the texture of the dress worn by Davis at the capture, and cannot say whether it was waterproof or not, it was beyond all question a "woman's dress," and precisely like the dress usually worn by Mrs. Davis after the capture during our march back to Macon. I am very sure that not any gentleman's garment that could be described as a waterproof cloak was found or seen in the possession of Davis at his capture, or while on the march to Macon.
Burton N. Harrison, Jeff. Davis' Private Secretary, in his paper in "The Century," November, 1886, on this subject, states that Davis was not disguised at all, and that he wore a waterproof cloak which he usually wore on the march; and by further statement seeks to discredit other witnesses present at the capture, by assuring the public only one of our troopers was present there, the one who accosted him, and that he and Mrs. Davis and that one trooper, were the only persons who saw Davis at his capture; when the fact is, that while Davis was standing in his disguise in my presence, three of our troopers saw him, besides Andrew Bee, who pointed to Davis as "a man dressed in woman's clothes;" and there was present not more than two rods from the disguised figure, Capt. Moody and within about four rods from him, Col. Lubbock and other Confederate Army officers, who doubtless saw what took place.
My record of the event was made at the time in the line of my duty, and I then correctly and officially reported the fact of his disguise to my commanding officers.
Detroit, Jan'y 9, 1889.
JULIAN G. DICKINSON,
Late Adj't, 4th Mich. Cav., and Brevet Capt., U.S. Vol.
* I am indebted to Maj.-Gen. J.H. Wilson's report to the War Dept., dated Jan 17th, 1867, for the facts relating to this information, orders and operations, preceding the capture of Davis, as published on pp. 779-780, Harper's History of the Rebellion.
