CIVIL War Confederate President Jefferson Davis In Ladies' Clothing CDV Photo

  
We are offering an CDV photograph of Confederate President Jefferson Davis in ladies' clothing. Printed on the back is "Jeff Davis Herself".

Davis was captured by Union troops on May 10, 1865. According to reports, Davis tried to escape identification and capture by slipping into the swamp with a female servant wearing his wife's overcoat and shawl.

Union troops came upon them and believed they were two females until, upon closer inspection, saw that one of them was wearing spurred boots. This alerted them that the person was indeed Jeff Davis and they swiftly captured him. When Secretary of War Edwin Stanton heard of this, he used the story to the Union's advantage by exaggerating Davis' disguise and saying he had been captured wearing women's petticoats, resulting in Davis being nicknamed President in Petticoats. Apparently, the north portrayed its victory as masculine and heroic and the South as feminine and weak. Davis' flight played right into this characterization and depicted him as a coward.

The story was continually embellished with reports that Davis had been dressed in a hoop skirt and bonnet, etc. Newspaper caricatures depicted him this way, as did photographs by superimposing Davis' head onto other photographs of bodies of ladies. In this photograph Davis' head from a separate photographic portrait and a large pair of boots from a separate photographic image were imposed on the body of a lady in a hoop-skirted dress. At the time, this was known as "combination printing" - producing a single positive image through the use of multiple negatives. CONDITION: Photograph is in very good condition. The item "CIVIL WAR CONFEDERATE PRESIDENT JEFFERSON DAVIS IN LADIES' CLOTHING CDV PHOTO" is in sale since Tuesday, July 31, 2018. This item is in the category "Collectibles\Militaria\Civil War (1861-65)\Original Period Items\Photographs". The seller is "propicker" and is located in Santa Clarita, California. This item can be shipped worldwide.