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Some time ago I came across a large print of Confederate President Jefferson Davis with bat wings, which was ostensibly printed in a northern newspaper during or shortly after the American Civil War. Has anyone else ever come across this print? I've been trying to find it recently without success.

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    Did he have the wings, or perhaps you are remembering this one with him and Benedict Arnold in Hell alongside the Devil? – justCal Jun 7 '17 at 20:40
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    Best. Question. Ever. – Ne Mo Jun 8 '17 at 13:03
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If you are looking for a specific picture then you are going to have to get a lot more descriptive in your question. And a lot less picky in your down votes.

Jefferson Davis pictures where he had bat wings or could be interpreted as such.

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This is actually a picture of the devil.. holding photographs of famous southerners, of which Jefferson Davis is one.

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Lincoln calling down angels and his military generals and sons of the Union to do battle with the South represented as devils and rodents.

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In this one, the Devil, Jefferson Davis is riding on the back of George B. McClellan who was running for President against Lincoln in 1864. McClellan was seen as favoring south and thus Davis is depicted as riding him.

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  • This answer seems much more on topic. But you seem to be inaccurately blaming to questioner for the downvote. That person hasn't been onsite for several months. If they come back we might find that one of these is the image they were looking for. – justCal Nov 25 '17 at 23:12
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Early in the war it might have been a reference to Jefferson Davis being in League with the Devil, being a demon etc... for fomenting rebellion and the catastrophe of the Civil War, from the Northern perspective. This was a common motif.

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It could also be a reference to Jefferson Davis's Democratic roots. The donkey sometimes looked like a bat in political comics especially when portraying villians.

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Must have been earlier in the war; because at the end of the war Jefferson Davis is most often portrayed as wearing woman clothing. When Union Soldiers captured him and his family after the fall of Petersburg April 2, 1865; he was reportedly trying to evade capture by wearing his wife's cloak. That is how Union publications liked to remember him from then on.

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  • I still am not seeing a Jefferson Davis in bat wings, but a whole lot of images not asked about in the question. – justCal Nov 25 '17 at 22:02
  • I took looking for source as to mean, looking for why Jefferson Davis was portrayed as having bat wings... If looking for the actual picture, and down voting because it's not.. wow. – JMS 1 hour ago – JMS Nov 26 '17 at 0:18

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