Time for Sam Davis statue to be taken down - Pulaski, TN - News Article Locations on Waymarking.com

Although this article pre-dates the George Floyd protests, it explains the reason why the confederate statue will likely be taken down.

Article text:

Sam Davis statues in Nashville and Pulaski have been rallying points for Confederate nostalgists and neo-Nazis
Steven Hale

It's Time to Put the 'Boy Hero of the Confederacy' to Bed

The resurgence of violent neo-Confederates has brought about renewed efforts to remove the statues and monuments around which the white supremacists have rallied and seen some torn down by various means.

In Tennessee, activists gathered last week around the bust of Nathan Bedford Forrest that stands in the state Capitol and called for it to be taken down. As the Scene’s Cari Wade Gervin wrote last week, the former Confederate general and Ku Klux Klan leader’s bronze likeness was erected in the 1970s after the civil rights movement and has been the target of protests ever since.

But the Capitol grounds are home to another Confederate statue with roots in the Lost Cause movement. At times throughout its history, its subject has served as an icon for rallying white supremacists and neo-Nazis but, complicating matters, has also been claimed by opponents of those groups.

It’s the statue of Sam Davis, “the boy hero of the Confederacy,” which was erected outside the Capitol in 1909. A plaque on the statue enshrines his story. Born near Murfreesboro in 1842, he joined the First Tennessee Regiment of the Confederate Army early in the Civil War. He served as a spy and in 1863 he was captured behind Union lines with stolen Union military documents. Davis was tried and sentenced to death. Before his execution he was offered the chance to spare his own life if he would just give up the identity of the person who’d given him the documents. Davis said no and, as the story goes, uttered his last words “under the very shadow of the gallows.”

“I would die a thousand deaths before I would betray a friend.”

On the plaque, these words are followed by another quote, this one from Jesus Christ.

“Greater love hath no man than this that a man lay down his life for his friends.”

In this way, Davis is indeed a different figure than Forrest, who not only led Confederate troops and helped the Ku Klux Klan get its start, but also carried out atrocities against surrendering Union troops, including hundreds of black soldiers, at Fort Pillow. But the history of the Davis statue — and a similar one in Pulaski, where Davis was hanged — is similarly disturbing. Its roots are in the effort to valorize the Confederacy and in the decades after it was erected, Davis has served as a rallying symbol for racist hate groups.

In 2007, the Murfreesboro Post published an account of how the relatively obscure story of a young Confederate scout was turned into an enduring Confederate symbol. The paper traces the statue’s origins back to a Confederate veteran named Archibald Cunningham, who founded the Confederate Veteran monthly magazine. The Nashville-based publication became very popular in the south and led the movement to erect the Davis statue in Nashville, as well as others around the state.

Decades after it was erected, in November 1935, a photo in The Tennessean showed notable visitors to the statue. The caption reads, “A wreath of red roses was placed on the Sam Davis statue on Capitol Hill Wednesday by the granddaughter of Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest.” Mary Forrest Bradley was then the president of the United Daughters of the Confederacy. The organization is responsible for many of the Confederate monuments and statues that sprung up in the early 1900s.

For years, Davis’ statue in Nashville was the site of annual gatherings by the Sons of Confederate Veterans who came together to commemorate him.

Down the road in Giles County, a statue of Davis has drawn more aggressive crowds. A Tennessean column from September 1989 detailed the controversy surrounding a Sam Davis Memorial March planned by members of the Aryan Nation. The October march, the column explains, came in between the Ku Klux Klan’s annual January rallies in the town, held to counter the National holiday celebrating the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The columnist, who made their disgust with the Klan and other white supremacist groups clear, noted that orange ribbons had been placed all over the town as a sign of protest, including one on the massive statue of Davis in the courthouse square.

“The people here are demonstrating that Davis’ kind of courage is still alive and well,” the columnist wrote, illustrating the way racists and self-described anti-racists alike claimed the legacy of “the boy hero of the Confederacy.”

An October story ahead of the Aryan Nation’s Pulaski march explained how “both sides claim Pulaski’s Civil War hero” and noted that both counter-protesters and the white supremacists would be placing wreaths on the Davis statue in defiance of each other. The story notes the dismay of “many local custodians of Confederate history” at the white supremacists rallying around the Davis statue.

When the day of the march came, the racist parade ended at the statue and, the paper reported, Louis Beam led the crowd in a Nazi salute to Davis, shouting “Hail Sam Davis! We will fight!”

That was nearly 30 years ago now, but the racists are marching and raising stiff arms toward Confederate statues once again. If the bust of Nathan Bedford Forrest is ever successfully dislodged from its place of honor in the state Capitol and moved to a museum — as Democrats and Republicans like Sen. Bob Corker have suggested — the bronze figure of the “boy hero of the Confederacy” should be right behind him.

Type of publication: Internet Only When was the article reported?: 08/21/2017 Publication: nashvillescene.com Article Url: [Web Link] Is Registration Required?: no How widespread was the article reported?: national News Category: Society/People

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