On this day in 1865, Confederate President Jefferson Davis, dressed as an old woman, was captured in Georgia by the 4th Michigan Cavalry under the command of Lt. Col. Benjamin Pritchard of Allegan.
Courtesy of WAKV (Plainwell, MI), The Memory Station
On the 48th anniversary of the event, Caspar Knobal, a member of the 4th Michigan Calvary during the Civil War and eye-witness, says that Confederate President Davis wasn’t disguised as a woman when captured. Due to the cold, he had merely put on a woman’s shawl around his shoulders for extra warmth on the chilly night.
VET CELEBRATES DAVIS’S CAPTURE: Caspar Knobel, of Philadelphia, Observes Anniversary of Arrest of Jeff Davis. Detroit Free Press, May 11, 1912, p. 1.
Note : The Main Library now provides the MSU community online access to the historical Detroit Free Press from 1858 through 1922.