The Lost Museum Archive

The Last Ditch of the Chivalry, or A President in Petticoats.

This Currier & Ives print depicting the capture of Jefferson Davis equates the Confederate president's petticoats and bonnet with his protests over his pursuers' victimization of southern women and children, providing northern viewers with a derisively feminine view of southern honor. But, clutching a sack filled with gold and wearing knee-high boots, the print also suggests that Davis's sentiments thinly disguise greed and duplicity.

The Last Ditch of the Chivalry, or A President in Petticoats.