confederate EYEglass

AIRED: Season 4, Episode 2
THE DETECTIVE: Elyse Luray and Wes Cowan
THE PLACE: Terre Haute, IN

THE CASE:

A contributor in Terre Haute, Indiana has a tiny brass eyeglass that, when peered through, reveals an image of Confederate president Jefferson Davis.

The owner believes miniature “Davis” eyeglass pieces were a wartime adornment of confederate supporters in the North who used these objects to secretly identify themselves to one another.

History Detectives travels to New York and Virginia to examine the intricacies of microphotography and the truth behind a possible sympathizer “secret handshake.”