The “Jeff Davis in a woman’s dress” story is one of the most famous — and most distorted — myths from the end of the American Civil War. It began in May 1865, when Confederate President Jefferson Davis was captured by Union cavalry near Irwinville, Georgia, as he tried to flee south after the collapse of the Confederacy. According to Union reports, Davis was allegedly disguised in women’s clothing in an attempt to evade capture. Newspapers — especially in the North — seized on this rumor, publis