Rare Americana From Between Two Wars from David Lesser Antiquarian Books
- by Michael Stillman
A bearded Jefferson Davis in drag.
Here's a song you may not know: Liberty's Call or Hurrah for Abe and Andy. That one confused me for a moment before I realized Andy was Andrew Johnson. I had never seen him referred to as “Andy” before. The lyrics for this 1864 campaign tune were written by W.S. Blanchard, the music by L.B. Starkweather. Item 18. $300.
The leaders of the Confederacy did not get much respect in the North once the Civil War ended. Jefferson Davis was particularly ridiculed when it was reported that he tried to escape by wearing women's clothes. He was apparently wearing his wife's coat, but that may have been to keep warm rather than as a disguise. Nonetheless, numerous caricatures were drawn of him in drag. Item 145 is one such drawing, a broadside by John Waeschle printed in 1865. It shows Davis, dressed in a petticoat, attempting to hold off his Union captors with a knife. The disguise doesn't work all that well since Davis did not bother to shave off his beard. $850.
