The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1911-02-15
Second IolDa Infantry
At Fort Donaldson

Fcr- DonzAdson- with oTer thirteen
thousand prisoners
Sow listen while tell yoE Of one
Of the nobles-. brsres-, ana most
seaf-sacrincing men of which the his
tory Of the late waT gives Us any &C
count A mza whose acts and whose
fnconpsrable sense of honor so i'm
pressed NE at the tine, and has In
Ausnced and sustained me many times
since. ~hel tie best Ia every man Is
called upon 10 decide what is right
Ny tribute to his memory. is. that at
srch times mr. mind carries me hack
70 this man, Sam Davis. Confeder-
ate s7y as he stood Oh the gaiiovs,
within two minutes of Eternity on
q bright November day il 1863, at
Pulaski. Tenn
Sam Davis was captured within
orr lines near Pulaski. Tenn, with
some very important papers, giving a
minute description OF our defenses a.
Nashville. as well as the number and
disposition of our troops These pa
pers and drawings were so accurate,
that General G. NJ Dodge. command
ing the 10TH army corps was confident
they could only have been furnished
by some ore connected with the
army headquarters al Nashville or
Pulaski For the purpose of discov-
ering the source Of his information
he called Davis before him and talk
ed TO him Ike brother Told him
how serious his situation was, that
he would be compelled to call court
martial to try him for his life as
spy, and from the evidence found con-
cealed In his saddle seat and on his
person, there was no possible escape
from a death sentence.
This Young hero modestiy replied
General Dodge fully realize the
danger OF my position, and | am
willing to take the consequences
General Dodge, anxious to open
up way of escape for him, proposed
that IL he would reveal the source of
his information, he would give him
pass, and safe conduct through our
lines to General Bragg at Missinary
Ridge.
To this Davis replied, 81 know
will have to die, but will not tell
where got the information and there
is no power on earth that can make
me tell. You are doing your duty as
soldier and am doing mine If
have to die, do so feeling that / am
doing my duty to God and my coun-
try
BY this time General Dodge had
discovered he was in the presence of
one Of Americas nob1est men. One
of the highest character and of the
strictest integrity. An Oak that
would not bow. This young man OF
! twenty-one years of age, standing in
I the presence of the majestic power OF
! the United States as represented by
her army, closed the controversy and
I pronounced his own doom, when he
modestIy and without the shadow OF
[ the braggart in tone or manner said:
/ 1T is useless to talk to me. You can
| do what you like, but I will not be
| tray the trust reposed in me- Our
regiment witnessed the execution, and
| although we had witnessed other ex
number of fierce battles, yet many OIL
us were weeping as Davis ascende6
4 the scafflold, the most unconcernet
of all the actors in this awful tragedy
saw the provost marshal approach
him, watch in hand, and tell him there
was but minute left in which to dis
close his secret Davis greeted hin
as pleasantly as you would friend
a but rejected the offer of life and free
dom as unworthy of consideration.
Many have asked me why such /,
noble specimen Of humanity shoult
have been thus sacrificed? My an
swer has always been that this seem
Gods way of teaching the balance o
us how to live.
1 While this story is old, yet it canno
he told too often to the young. Shout,
any of you ever visit Nashville, Tenn
you will see in the capitol ground
life size statue OF this noble youn.
American Confederate. whose ideal
of duty were so exalted that he calm
ly chose death upon the gallows rath
er than to any degree harm the caus
ne loved.
We are proud Of the fact that h
was a native American, as we'll as o
this ore, towit That at the unyei
ing of this statue, the honor of frs
suggesting such a memorial wa
awarded to the writer Of this article