Davis, Samuel (1842-1863), a Confederate spy, was called the Boy Hero of the Confederacy. Union troops hanged him near Pulaski, Tennessee, on Nov. 27, 1863, because he would not tell who gave him secret military information. Davis’s last words were, “I would rather die a thousand deaths than betray a friend or be false to duty.” Tennessee erected a statue to his memory on the Capitol grounds in Nashville. Davis was born on Oct. 6, 1842. His birthplace, near Smyrna, Tennessee, is kept as a shrine.
