Sammy davis jr wikipedia

Confederate spy

For other people named Sam Davis, see Sam Davis (disambiguation).

Sam Davis (October 6, – November 27, )^[1] was a Confederate soldier executed by Union forces in Pulaski, Tennessee, during the American Civil War.

He is popularly known as the Boy Hero of the Confederacy, although he was 21 when he died. He became a celebrated instance of Confederate memorialization in the late s and early s, eulogized by Middle Tennesseeans for his valor and sacrifice.

Davis' story was popularized by editor J. B. Killebrew and later by Sumner Archibald Cunningham.

Early life

Born October 6, , in Rutherford County, Tennessee, he was the oldest son of Charles Lewis Davis and Jane (Simmons) Davis.

The Davis family owned fifty-one enslaved people by As a boy Sam Davis was gifted his own enslaved person, named Coleman Davis.^[2] He attended school in Smyrna, Tennessee, and was educated at the Western Military Institute—now Montgomery Bell Academy—