The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-02-16


 rector, Mrs. T. L. Kennedy.
 The election of Mrs Kennedy and Mrs.
 Montgomery was unanimous, owins so Barnes was elected her alternate for the meeting of the Executive Board,
 The Robert E. Lee Chapter is in a fiourishing condition, and under the new corps of officers, promineses continual
 Mrs. P. Harris Hunt. | Recording Secretary. SAM DAVIS
 l MT, W. D. Fox of Murphreesboro. Tenn, ! furnished the following excellent article of the great hero, Sam Davis, to a young l lady of the Robert E. Lee Chapter, whlcn was read by her at one of the Chagnef meetings. By the courtesy or the HIs-
 torian of this Chapter, we copy tnls n Iaor a,ar f'Had Sam Davis's remarkable deed or patriotism been done on behalf or tne winning side ot our great CIVIL war ms fame would have long ago been noisea | to every land where the winds Of Heaven nlow--for decd which measures To the magnitude of his In nawless patriotism | Is rare of record. That he was or the losing side of that fierce struggle has re. I tarded the spread of his name until II has taken more than a quarter or cen 1 tury for his deed to receive anything like it's due need of worldly recognition. It is human to idealize one who has | endue him with traits and characteris- l tics that are beyond the real. When one 1 has achieved something that marks nm as superhuman in the\eyes of his felow7
 then 1t is natural for that one to be-
 come an idol and be hallowed with the nimbus of demigod. Hero worship IS 1 a prevalent disease of humanity and his- l tsry Is often distorted In order that honor
 may be accorded a hero hero. Romance sa an naMis mas and has wrought many beautiful pictures ! out of his patriotic death. Imagination l has used her airy brush to his honor ! and has filmed his virtues with fanciful
 meshes of beauty. Poetry has used her adorning arts to add to his repute. His | last days have been woven into roman | tic scenes and ideal situations-evidenc- | ing the ardor of his admirers to aug
 ment the glory of his brief life. Love-
 with all its attendant glamor has been | called in to sow how much he relin- 1 quished when> he gave up his life ana | make his death seem more heroic some l have even been so bold as to ascribe the | cause of his silence in the midst of his | martyrdom to the desire to protect the | life of slave merely, 1t would seem | to have his sacrifice appear more signal. | Why any should strain his thought for | reasons for the doing of such a deed Is | tedious to conceive since the very deeo l alone is enough to lift it's doer's name | among theS spheres. The barest truth Is
 here sufficient to hold to the view of the
 
 | that he died with a secret upon ms | lips the mere telling of which meant life
 and freedom to him is enough to satisfy
 his worst enemy that the boy had in him | for a>soul a spark of Gods snirit.
 | The young hero was born in smyrna, l Tenn. about nineteen years before the
 outbreak of the war. He was of fam 1 fly that had always been noted for It's
 beginning of active warfare between the
 States. Sam Davis was at school in ] Nashville. Only rumers of War were 1 needed to arouse him ta action and he
 fray. He Joined the 18th Tennessee Regi- l ment, Co. I, as private. His ignorance
 of fear. his unfiagging zeal and eager | alertness soon brought him to the notice | of his leaders and in i little while he ! became ene of tN7 most trusted scouts in
 the army of Bragg.
 In the fall oi -.S3 in the early day.: | of the month of November. General
 Bragg sent few scouts of undoubted l ments of the Federals. Bragg WIS then
 at Missionary Ridge near Chattanooga | and he was anxious to know if the Union
 forces were leaving Nashville, Tenn
 and Corinth. Miss. to reinforce the Fed
 erals at Chattanooga. Davis knew the
 country thoroughly. He came in the | course of his reconnoitering near to the
 town of Pulaski and through some yet | unIearned means he secured a great deal of written information concerninge the l Union army: among the papers obtained by him were maps and letters or much | importance. These he hid within his boot l legs and under his saddle seat. In making
 his way out from the neighborhood of | Pulaski he encountered a company of 1 Kansas troops and was captured by them. He was conveyed to Pulaski and | placed in jail there. He then found that | others of his party had been captured | and were imprisoned in the same build- | ing.
 Immediately after his capture Davis | was carried before General c. M. Dode c
 who was in command of the Sixteenth
 Army Corps with headduarters at Pulas-
 ki Dodge Questioned him concerning the
 source from which he had obtained his
 papers and the memoranda of the Fed l rral forces. Davis refused to tell him
 and was remanded to his cell. The next
 morning General Dodge sent for the l youth again and took him into his pri-
 vate office The General was of the opin- | ion that the papers had been secured l freT. some of the petty officers of his
 division and he thought it would be easy
 to induce. the prisoner to give up the | name of hts informant. He treated the | boy as though he thought him uncon- l scfous of the magnitude of his situation
 and endeavored to impress him with the | futility of continued silence as to the name of the traitor Through 1t all the | young hero remained irIa and the great simplicity of his adherence to duty and | integrity awed the old soldier. Dodge
 begged, threatened and cajoled, but the boy of 2l was the master and withstood | every mood of General Dodge.
 A court-martial was summoned and the | beardless tipling, although clothed In
 the grey of Lis Southland, was tried as
 spy. The verdict of the court was
 guilty" and young Davis was sentenced
 to death. the mode of which was to be | the most ignominlous. by hanging. He bore the decree brdvoly and winced not
 before the hard fate confronting him. He
 was returned to his cell after the con- 1 clusion of his trial and there remained until the morninE pf lhe execution.
 | Op Friday, November 2. 1863. at the | hour of 10 in the morning he was taken | from his cell and transferred to the scene | of his death, the southern outskirts Of | the town of Pulaski. The condemned
 youth rode to his doom upon the top of the rude coffin that afterwards enveloped