Sam Davis Home helps picture Civil War history on The Murfreesboro Post

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Sam Davis Home helps picture Civil War history

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By: MIKE WEST, Managing Editor

Posted: Sunday, July 26, 2009 7:53 am

Sam Davis Home helps picture Civil War history

Smyrna’s Sam Davis Home gives visitors a solid glimpse to the days of the Civil War.

Slip away to an interesting moment in Rutherford County history at the Sam Davis Home.

Located at 1399 Sam Davis Road in Smyrna, the historical home and museum rests on 160 acres of farmland. The two-story home is characteristic of a Southern, upper middle-class family of those times.

Sam Davis was the oldest son of Charles Lewis and Jane Simmons Davis, he attended the local schools until leaving home in 1860 to attend Western Military Academy in Nashville.

Sam remained at Western Military only a short time before the Civil War started in 1861, joining the Confederate army before Tennessee had officially seceded from the Union. He enlisted in Co. I of the 1st Tennessee Infantry Regiment in April 1861. The 1st Tennessee participated in the Cheat Mountain campaign in western Virginia under Robert E. Lee in 1861. In 1862, they moved west and took part in the battles of Shiloh, Perryville and Stones River.

Early in 1863, Sam became a member of “Coleman’s Scouts,” a group founded by his older half-brother John. Thanks to the Union victory at Stones River, federal troops occupied much of Middle Tennessee. Davis and his fellow scouts worked behind enemy lines disrupting communications.

If captured, the Union army considered them spies despite wearing Confederate uniforms and traveling with passes signed by Confederate Gen. Braxton Bragg.

Davis was captured in mid-November, 1863 near Minor Hill. On his person, he carried papers that contained critical information on troop movements near Nashville and Pulaski, as well as 11 newspapers and various personal items for General Bragg.

More important was information that could have come only from the desk of Union Gen. Grenville Dodge, who was convinced that one of his own officers was supplying information to the Confederates. Dodge pressured Davis to identify this spy and offered his freedom for this information.

When Davis refused to divulge the source of the information, Dodge ordered a court martial.

Davis faced two charges: being a courier of mails and being a spy.

He admitted being a courier, but denied being a spy. A subsequent military court convicted Davis on both charges and sentenced him to hang.

On the gallows, Davis was offered one last change to divulge his source.

“I would die a thousand deaths before I would betray a friend,” Davis responded. He was hanged on Nov. 27, 1863.

Soon after his execution, Davis’ body was returned to his family’s farm where it was reburied near the house, which was built around 1820 by Moses Ridley and renovated in 1850 by the Davis family.

The house and grounds were purchased by the state of Tennessee in 1927 and first opened for tours in 1930.

Today, visitors to the Sam Davis Home can enjoy guided tours of the nine-room main house, the original kitchen, smokehouse, overseer’s office and privy in addition to rare, authentic slave dwellings.

A documentary video about Davis’ life is included along with a tour of the adjoining museum.

The Sam Davis Memorial Association hosts a series of special events and tours throughout the year.

The home’s events cover a broad variety of interests including dinner and movie nights, teddy bear teas, ghost tours and five summer camps.

Best known of the events is the annual Days on the Farm, held each May. The popular living history celebration features over 25 demonstrations such as blacksmithing, spinning, butter churning and candle making.

For more information about the Sam Davis Home, call 615-459-2341 or go online at www.samdavishome.org.

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By: canalou on 7/26/09
For a boy from Cannon County, you sho' can tale a fine tale...great job....Mike...

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