Digital
History>eXplorations>John
Brown: Hero or Terrorist?> John
Brown in his Own Words>John Brown
John
Brown exhibiting his hangman
(1865)
Broadside Collection, portfolio 4, no. 12, Library of Congress
(LC-USZ62-92053)
SUMMARY: Northern rejoicing at the end of the Civil War often
took the form of vengeful if imaginary portrayals of the execution
of Confederate president Jefferson Davis. Here abolitionist martyr
John Brown rises from the grave to confront Davis, although in
actuality the latter had nothing to do with Brown's 1859 execution.
Brown
points an accusing finger at Davis, who sits imprisoned in a birdcage
hanging from a gallows. Davis wears a dress and bonnet, and holds
a sour apple. Below, black men and women, resembling comic minstrel
figures, frolic about. (For Davis's female attire, see "The
Chased "Old Lady" of the C.S.A.," no. 1865-11.)
Since the beginning of the war Union soldiers had sung about "hanging
Jeff Davis from a sour apple tree." Davis's actual punishment
was imprisonment at Fortress Monroe after his capture on May 10,
1865.
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