(05-03-2015, 10:16 AM)LincolnToddFan Wrote: (03-06-2015, 06:21 PM)Eva Elisabeth Wrote: Just thought I'd share this:
http://www.wornthrough.com/2013/01/03/fr...otographs/
(I put it here as it was in this book that I first read about the capture in the dress respectively in Davis' wife's raincoat.)
The reply to the article was fascinating.
Agreed about the reply. I thought that the lore about the Confederate president escaping in female garb had been reduced to just the cloak and shawl. I have started reading Capital Dames by Cokie Roberts (whom I am trying to trap into speaking at the Surratt Society's fall banquet) in order to prepare for my next round with Decapitating the Union - sorry, John, but your book is requiring me to think; and that is sometimes difficult with my advanced age...
Back to Cokie and her Dames, I love the book, and it is rich with quotes from letters, diaries, newspapers, etc. of the period (1848-1868). Varina Davis is covered quite a bit, and I did not realize that she practically grew up in the Blair household due to her great friendship with Elizabeth Blair Lee. I hope that mention is made of her husband's flight and what he wore.
Personally, I have always been amused that Lincoln snuck into Washington in disguise, and Jefferson Davis tried making it out of the country in disguise.