The daily morning journal and courier., 1897-07-19
SAM DAVIS HEROIC END.


 Death Rather Than the Betrayal of a Friend-A Confederate Spy Who Could Have Saved His Life With One Word, but Refused to Speak 1t When Standing at the Foot of the Gallows. The bust of Sam Davis, the Confede- rate hero who met death on the scaf- fold at Pulaski, Tenn, to save the life of a comrade, Is one of the best pieces of sculpture in the Nashville Parthe- non. It is the work of George Julia ] Zolnay, is heroic in size, noble in con- ception and absolutely true to the orig inal Joshua Brown, now of New York city, who belonged to the Second Ken lucky cavalry of the Confederate army, and was fellow scout with Samuel Davis, tells the thrilling and awful sto- ry of his fate in an article in the Vete- ran:
 General Bragg had sent us, a few men who knew the country, into middle Ten nessee to get all the information possi- ble concerning the movements of the Federal army, to find out If 1t was nov ing from Nashville and Corinth to rein- force Chattanooga. We were to report to Colonel Shaw or Captain Coleman, who commanded ,Coleman's scouts. We were to go south. to Decatur, and send our reports by a courier line to General Bragg at Missionary Ridge. When we received our orders we were told that the duty was very dangerous, and that they did not expect but few of us to return; that we would probably be captured or killed, and we were cau- tioned against exposing ourselves un- necessarily.
 After we had been in Tennessee about ten days, we watched the Sixteenth army corps, commanded by General Dodge, move up from Corinth to Pulas- Xii. We agreed that we would leave for the south on Friday the 18th of Novem- Der, 1863. A number had been captured and several killed. We were to start that night, each man for himself; each of us had his own information. but I did not write 1t down or make any memorandum of it, for fear of being captured. I had counted almost every regiment and all the artillery in the Sixteenth corps, and found out that they were moving on Chattanooga. Late in the afternoon we started out, and ran into the Seventh Kansas eaval- ", known as the Kansas Jayhawk- ers,'' and when we were told that regi- ment had captured us we thought our time had come. We were taken to Pu- laski, about fifteen miles away, and put into Jail, where several other prisoners had been sent, and among whom was +pH rx-Jft t !, nr our prospects of imprisonment and 'es- cape, which were very gloomy. Davis said they had searched him that day and found some papers upon hin1. and that he had been taken to General Dodge's headquarters. They also had found in his saddle seat maps and de- scriptions of the Qualifications at Nash vile and other points, and an exact re- port of the Federal army in Tennessee. They found in his boot letter, with other papers, which was intended for General Bragg.
 Davis was taken to General Dodge's headquarters, and this Is what took place between them, which General Dodge told me recently.
 T took him to my private office," said General Dodge, land told him it was a. very serious charge brought against him; that he was a spy, and from what I found upon his person, he had accu- rate information in regard to my army, and I must know where he obtained it. told him he was a young man and did not seem to realize the danger he was in. Up to that time he said nothing, but then he replied in most respectful and dignified manner:
 General Dodge, know the danger of my situation, and am willing to take the consequences.'
 T asked him then to give the name of the person from whom he got the infor- nation; that I knew 1t must be some one near headquarters who had given him the plans of the Federal army He replied:
 :" I know that I will have to die, but will not tell where I got the informa- tion, and there is no power on earth that can make me tell. You are doing your duty as a soldier, and I am doing mine. If have to die, I do so feeling that I am doing my duty to God and my country
 T pleaded with and urged him with ali the power I possessed to give me some chance to save his life, for I dis covered that he was a most admirable young fellow, with the highest charac- ter and strictest integrity. He then said: Tt is useless to talk to me. I do not intend to do 1t. You can court martial me, but I will not betray the trust reposed in me-
 He thanked me for the interest had taken in him, and I sent him back to prison. I immediately called court martial to try him.
 The night before he was hanged he wrote the following letter to his mother and father:
 Pulaski, Giles County, Tenn.
 Nev. 26, 1863.
 Dear Mother: Oh, how painful it is to write to youi I have got to die to- ENHr he