The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1909-06-10
CAPTURE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS.
Story that He Disguised Himself as
Woman Untrue.

to the closing days or the war TOR
the union, will recall how the at
tempt was made to render the ex-
president of the Confederacy an OBJ
ject of ridicule and obloquy on the
occasion of his capture. Jefferson
Davis was represented as disguised
in a woman's dress when Union SOL
diers made him a prisoner. The press
in the North described at great
length the ridiculous appearance the
official head of the late Confederacy
presented when he fell into the
hands of his captors. The illustrat-
ed papers presented to it's readers
comical pictures in which Mr.. Davis
was depicted as awkwardly disguised
as woman, seeking to elude his
pursuers.
The impression made at the time
in this way survived. Even to-day
there are many persons who believe
the story about Jefferson Davis's
feminine disguise. Yet it was an in
vention pure and simple. How little
truth there was in it is shown in the
plain, unvarnished story told by one
of Mr.. Davis's captors, who, on the
forty-fourth anniversary of the cap
ture, told just what happened.
It was on May 10, 1865, that the
ex-president of the Southern Confed-
eracy was run to earth near Abbe-
vile, Ga. The party Of Union SOL
diers who made him a prisoner
numbered fourteen, Of whom only
one survives, Casper Knobel, who
broke the fly fastenings of the tent
from which the South's leader
emerged. Here Is KnobeIs descrip-
ton of what occurred:
George Rinke, the horseshoer OF
Company A, and I were the first to
approach the tents. / went to the
nearest tent and had just broken the
fly fastenings when out walked a
tall, thin man, wearing civilian
clothes. I did not know that 1t was
JEFF Davis. AS he walked toward
the team Corporal Mungler, of Com
pany A, approached him and asked:
lis that you JEFF Davis?"
"When Davis replied, cts not
your business to ask me-" Mungler
levelled his revolver at Davis's
head. AS Mungler did this Mrs.
Davis rushed from the tent, crying
Don't At the same time, the
morning being damp and chilly, she
threw her shawl over her husband 9
shoulder.
There is no truth, by the way,
in the report that Davis tried to
escape in woman's clothes"
This testimony of an eyewitness,
which bears the impress of absolute
truth, should set at rest forever the
story about Jefferson Davis disguis-
ing himself in female attire to escape
arrest. We think it is due to his
toric truth that even at this late date
the memory of the chosen leader Of
the South should be freed from as
pensions traceable to the embittered
feelings evoked by the passions en-
'gendered during the mighty struggle
for the preservation of the union.
Those passions long since died down
and to-day, thank God, we are again
a united people, held together by the
strongest bonds of loyalty to our
common country.
The changes in sentiment that
have taken place since that May day
forty-four years ago when the tele-
graph was flashing all over the land
the announcement that Jefferson
Davis was a prisoner, are shown by
the recent presentations to the bat
tleship Mississippi of silver service
with Mr.. Davis's portrait engraved
on it. If such a thing had been ever
suggested a generation ago, the
whole North would have famed out
into indignation. To-day it passes
unnoticed. The meaning of this
radical change in sentiment is well
and correctly interpreted by Mrs.
Margaret Jefferson Davis Hayes, the
daughter of Jefferson Davis, who
commenting on the silver service of
the battle ship Mississippi, says:
"The honor came from the State of
Mississippi, and I appreciate it the
more on that account. We had no
part in this matter, and I accepted
the tribute to my fathers memory
as splendid evidence of re-
united North and South"
AS symbolizing the full and COM
plete restoration of fraternal feeling
between all sections of the country,
the silver service presented to the
battle ship Mississippi is unique. 1t
proclaims that the sentiment that
rendered the lying account of Jeffer-
son Davis's capture so popular has
been buried beyond the possibility of
resurrection. York Freeman's