Clean Transcript

The Death of Sam Davis

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• I want you to open your Bibles, if you brought them tonight, to two passages. The first one is John chapter 15, and the second one is 1 John 3. And I think you'll see why I'm going to be using these verses tonight, especially in light as I bring the message on the life and death of Sam Davis. And look in your Bibles to John chapter 15, and let's look at verse 13, a very simple verse.

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• Our Lord says, "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." Now listen to that verse again, "...greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." And then if you look in 1 John 3, verse 16, 1 John 3, verse 16, the Word of God says, "...hereby perceive we the love of God." And the word perceive there means to comprehend, to understand, to lay hold on. So he says, hereby comprehend we the love of God because he laid down his life for us and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.

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• I believe I could make one statement and everyone in here would agree, and that statement is simply this, that our generation is deficient in character. I suppose one of the greatest tragedies of our time is a loss of integrity, morality, and character. I was talking to a black man back in our hometown the other day, and I said, you know, I hate to say this, but it's the absolute truth. Most blacks and most whites under 40 are not even worth shooting today.

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• And you just stop and think about that. We have sired a generation of people who do not want to work, who know nothing about work, nothing about honesty and integrity and morality. And all they want is someone to hand them something on a silver platter. And then usually that's not sufficient. They want to be spoon fed off that platter. You look around at our young people today and you can tell that there's just absolutely no character, rebelliousness, shock through and through. And, you know, I just I can't comprehend what's going on.

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• I was in a large store down in a neighboring town. And here was a woman. She had a little boy in her carriage. I suppose the kid was four or five years old. And he was screaming and pitching a royal fit. And I mean, really, just unbelievable. And she took the basket and she pushed it toward the man who was standing over there, which evidently was her husband and the child's father. And as she pushed the basket, she said, look, he wants a toy that he already has at home.

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• I can't do anything with him. See if you can do something. I thought to myself, lady, I believe I could do something if you just let me have that kid for about five minutes. But you understand what I'm saying. We don't even discipline our children anymore. We don't run them. They simply run us. There's a saying that I heard many years ago, and it's proved true, and I've tried to teach this to young people all across the country, that God will use you on credit for the first years of your life. And after that, He's going to use you on character. And if you don't have any character, you might as well forget it because God's never going to use you after that. Because God wants holy and pure vessels to use.

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• If you look in your Bibles very quickly to the book of Proverbs 30, here's a passage that will pretty much evidence what our generation is like. Notice, if you would please, in Proverbs chapter 30. And let's begin reading there with verse 11. Proverbs 30 and verse 11. Our Lord says, "There is a generation that curseth their father and doth not bless their mother." Now look at that. There is a generation that curseth their father and doth not bless their mother. Then He says in verse 12, "There is a generation that are pure in their own eyes, and yet is not washed from their own filthiness." So here's a generation that's rebellious. Here's a generation that thinks that anything that they do is all right. Verse 13, "There is a generation. Oh, how lofty are their eyes and their eyelids are lifted up."

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• "There is a generation whose teeth are as swords and their jaw teeth as knives to devour the poor from off the earth and the needy from among men." So our Lord then is picturing then a generation that is absolutely characterless. Do you realize as you look around today, it's almost impossible to find what you and I would call a godly role model for children. You know, used to we had heroes back when I was a boy. And, you know, we liked George Washington and we liked Daniel Boone and some of those other men.

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• But I've got news for you. Even though when old Walt Disney put that Daniel Boone movie on years ago, what was it Daniel Boone always said? "Make sure you're right and then go ahead." Make sure you're right and good. What is he talking about? He's talking about doing what was right. He's talking about having character. But you look around today and there are no positive role models. It does not matter if you look from the political field to the sports arena. It doesn't matter if you look from the business realm to the home. It doesn't matter if you're looking from the, not just the political field, but the theatrical field or any other area. There are no positive, godly role models. In fact, as you look around at the ones who are hailed today as heroes, most of them are dishonest, lying, fornicators, money-grabbing, anti-God, anti-Christ, anti-Bible, anti-family, anti-everything that involves character and uprightness and purity.

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• Now, I'm just pointing out it's very invigorating. It's very refreshing and stimulating when you run across someone who does indeed possess character and integrity and honor. And the reason I'm saying that is because one such man was a man by the name of Sam Davis. Now, you may have never heard of Sam Davis, but I want to tell you about him tonight. Sam Davis is referred to as the Confederate hero. Davis was posthumously awarded the Confederate Medal of Honor, the highest honor that could be bestowed upon a soldier. Sam Davis was unique. Sam Davis was not only a Confederate soldier, he was also a Christian. And you object and you say, but Pastor, if you will just simply study history, you'll find out there were many Confederate soldiers who were Christian. And that is true. In fact, most of you probably know about the two great revivals in the Confederate armies. In fact, if you have not read about it, you need to read the W. W. Bennett's book, Christ in the Camp, and then it's Jones's book, The Great Revival in the Southern Armies.

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• And it's amazing how the Spirit of God moved and thousands of men were converted. And then, of course, there were such godly leaders as Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson. And let me tell you, Stonewall Jackson was a tremendously and powerfully godly man. And General Ewell, General Richard Stoddard Ewell, he was in a war meeting with Jackson and a number of other generals. And finally, after they discussed possible plans and possible actions, Jackson just simply got up and walked to his tent. And General Ewell looked around at the other generals and said, where's he going? And the other general said, don't you know General Jackson? He's going to pray.

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• He never undertakes an action without prayer. And curiosity got the best of General Ewell. General Ewell was not a Christian at that particular time. He had been witnessed to. But General Ewell got up and followed Jackson to his tent and stood outside and listened to Jackson pray and wrestle with God in prayer. And General Ewell cried out, if this is Christianity, I must have it. I must have it. And General Ewell was converted through the testimony and through the prayer of Stonewall Jackson. When Stonewall Jackson was shot, when his saddlebags were emptied, he just had his Bible and a few tracts in those saddlebags. He had passed out tracts throughout his entire army.

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• And so there were a multitude of Confederate Christians. But I said that Sam Davis was unique, and he's unique in two ways. Number one, he is unique in the way that he died, and he's unique at the age at which he died. Because Sam Davis died at age 21, and he died by hanging, which I shall explain shortly. Sam Davis was born on October 6, 1842, and he was hanged on November 27, 1863. Sam Davis was born and raised on a plantation right out of Nashville, a little town called Smyrna, Tennessee. And by the way, if you ever get the opportunity, as you go up 24, before you get to Nashville, Tennessee, it's off on the right.

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• The home is still standing. It's a beautiful plantation home. The quarters are still there. Everything is there just exactly the way it was when Sam Davis lived there. And he was from that middle Tennessee area. He was a handsome, friendly young man, and he was admired by all of his friends in Rutherford County. When he was 18, in the fall of 1860, he left home to attend the college, Western Military Institute in Nashville. At that college, he was not only a very popular young man, but it was there he demonstrated his trustworthiness and his honesty as well.

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• Now, there were two men there that taught at the military institution that had a great influence on Sam Davis' life. And these two men happened to turn out to be two famous Confederate generals. One was Bushrod Johnson and the other was E. Kirby Smith.

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• Now, when the War of Northern Aggression, or as some of my friends like to say, Lincoln's War Against All Christian States, and that's a good identification, when Lincoln's war against all Christian states began to be in earnest, he, like other young men, realized that it would not be long before his home and his town and his state was invaded as well. And you've got to remember, even back then, they were literally burning the churches, tearing up the schools, doing everything they could to destroy the family. He knew that all that was coming to his home of Tennessee. So, at the age of 19, he returned home from college and he joined the Rutherford Rifles, which soon became Company 1, 1st Tennessee Infantry, the Confederate States of America. Now, Sam fought in Kentucky and several other places as well, but when western Tennessee was invaded, his company was rushed back in order that they might defend their native soil. Now, Sam participated in some of the bloodiest battles during the war. He even participated in the Battle of Shiloh, which was an extremely bloody battle.

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• In fact, in three days, in three days of fighting, there were 11,000 Confederate casualties and 14,000 Yankee casualties in just simply three days. By April of 1862, Sam had served under four of the ablest military leaders in our country. He had served under Albert Sidney Johnston who was killed by the way at the Battle of Shiloh. He had served under General Beauregard, P.G.T. Beauregard, Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard. In fact, I have a bull at home named in honor of him. My bull is General Beauregard. But General Beauregard was a tremendous general. But he had only served under Johnston and Beauregard, but also under Lee and Stonewall Jackson. Now in the fall of 1862, Braxton Bragg, General Braxton Bragg, was appointed to replace Johnston, who had died at the Battle of Shiloh. And General Braxton Bragg was organizing a special group of scouts. And these scouts were basically information gatherers.

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• They were the ones who went out and literally sacrificed their lives to find out the enemy's strength, where they were, what they were doing, and any plans that they could find.

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• Now, these Confederate scouts were commanded by a Captain Shaw, who to protect his identity went by the name of E. Coleman. Now, his real name was Shaw, but he always went by E. Coleman. And because Sam Davis was an honest and brave and trustworthy and intelligible young man, then he was picked to be one of these famous Coleman scouts. Now, the interesting thing about Captain Shaw was this.

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• He oftentimes penetrated the Yankee lines and walked openly through Yankee camps as an itinerant herb doctor, selling herbs and trying to tell those men what would help them in doctoring their wounds. And so Sam then, because of his military acumen, his honesty and his bravery, he was selected then to be one of these famous Coleman scouts. In fact, Sam was so good, and you've got to remember he was hanged when he was 21, but Sam was so good and he looked so young and so open and so honest that on one occasion when the Yankee General Rosecrans was sitting in the St. Cloud Hotel in Nashville, Tennessee when Nashville was occupied, there sat Sam Davis at the very table with General Rosecrans, listening to his plans and listening to his talk because the general never suspected such an innocent, young-looking young man to be a scout.

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• And yet, of course, he took that information and reported it right back to Captain Shaw, who got it right back to General Braxton Bragg at that particular time. And many times, Sam Davis and his compatriots wore their Confederate gray suits behind enemy lines. Now, the details of the Yankee movements had contributed to the Confederate victory at Chickamauga in September of 1863. And at this particular time, the northern troops were making an all-out effort to capture and to get rid of these Coleman scouts because they realized that as long as these scouts were around, then there was no hope of surprise. Now, in November of 1863, Sam returned home for a brief visit. And by the way, it turned out to be his last visit home. If you will visit his home site in Smyrna, Tennessee, you can see the very glass. The glass is still there that he tapped on to awaken his parents, where he could have a brief meeting with his parents. He did not even get to see his brothers and sisters, and he did not want many people to know that he was there.

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• Not even the servants knew that he was there. And he did go in and take a last look at his sleeping brothers and sisters before heading out. But his mother at that time had found a federal overcoat somewhere, and she had taken that federal overcoat and had dyed it butternut gray. And she gave that overcoat to young Sam. Well, that Confederate gray overcoat then with his homespun Confederate uniform, gray pants, et cetera, was the standard Confederate uniform. Now, it was in this uniform that Sam was captured. Let me repeat that. Sam was captured in full Confederate uniform. Why is that important? Because the rules of military justice say that if you are captured in uniform, you are to be treated as a prisoner of war, and not a spy. And Sam did not classify himself nor called himself a spy. He was a scout, and he was captured in full military uniform. Now, Sam had been given papers by Captain Shaw, who was alias E.

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• Coleman, and he wanted these papers gotten back to General Bragg. And in these papers were detailed accounts of Yankee General Dodge and his movements. And so when young Sam was captured, those papers were found. Now seizing upon, I suppose, the youthfulness of his captive, General Dodge then quickly accused Sam of being a spy. And he was so desperate to know who this E. Coleman was that he told Sam that if he did not divulge the identity of this E. Coleman, that he would be hanged as a spy.

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• Well, of course, this was totally contrary to military justice. But you see, the exact information that was found in the papers on Sam Davis was so exact and so accurate that General Dodge believed that E. Coleman was actually someone on his own staff. He had no idea who he was, but he became convinced that someone on his own staff was giving this information away. Now, according to General Dodge's testimony, when young Sam Davis was threatened with hanging, here were his exact words to General Dodge. Remember, General Dodge told him if he did not divulge who E. Coleman was, that he would hang him as a spy. And when he told Sam that, Sam replied, "I know that I will have to die, but I will not tell you where I got the information, and there is no power on earth that can make me tell.

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• You are doing your duty as a soldier, and I am doing mine. If I have to die, I will do so feeling I am doing my duty to my God and to my country." Here was a young, 21-year-old boy that said, General, you may threaten me all you like, but there is no power on earth who will make me divulge the source of my information.

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• I will not tell you." General Dodge then assembled very hastily a court-martial and all of the arresting soldiers testified that Sam was in full military uniform, which meant that Sam had to be treated as a prisoner of war and not as a spy. But truth, right and justice never seem to be an obstacle to those who are wanting to destroy the South and especially those who are defending it. General Dodge needed a conviction. He wanted a conviction, and the court-martial very easily and readily gave him that conviction, and they pronounced Sam as a spy. And so Sam Davis was sentenced to be hanged as a spy on November 27, 1863. Now, with the sentence of death hanging over Sam, Dodge believed that he could break this young boy and force him to divulge who E. Coleman really was. So Dodge then assigned one of his infamous scouts, Chickasaw Naron or Levi Naron, to the task of breaking young Davis and forcing him in divulging this information. And so Naron then repeatedly offered young Sam his freedom if he would just merely tell them who E.

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• Coleman was. Now watch. What Naron was saying was this, Sam, you will not only not be hanged, we will give you your horse and you'll be free to leave and free to return to your family. Like most young men, Sam Davis had a girlfriend. He had a young lady he wanted to marry. Here's a young boy whose life was ahead of him. And in order to save his life, all he had to do was to utter a man's name. And yet, young Davis steadfastly refused to divulge the identity of E. Coleman.

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• Now, many of the Yankee soldiers who were under General Dodge's command came to honor this firm resolve of the character of this young man. In fact, many of General Dodge's own soldiers came to him and said, look, just tell him anything and then escape. Many citizens from Giles County, Tennessee, who were Confederate and Confederate sympathizers in the sense that they were not in the army, but they certainly sympathized with the South. Even they came to young Sam and said, look, save your life.

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• No one will hold it against you. Just give them some name. Just give them some information and simply get away. And here was young Sam's response to these people who pleaded with him to save his own life. He said, and I quote, "Life is indeed sweet, and I do want to live, but I cannot betray a friend, and I had rather die a thousand deaths than to do so."

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• When his friends from Giles County, Tennessee visited him, and once again, he gave them these words. He said, "I do not fear death. But it makes me mad to think that I'm to die as a spy." He said, fastly maintained his innocence, that he was not a spy but a scout. Chaplain James Young of the 81st Ohio Infantry was so touched by the plight of the young boy that he spent the final day and night with Sam.

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• He even went to the gallows with him. He prayed with young Sam to the end. And at Sam's request, on the night before the execution, the chaplain sang with him, "On Jordan's stormy banks I stand and cast a wishful eye." And Sam reiterated his faith in the Sovereign Lord of heaven and earth. Chaplain Young was there when Levi Naron, Chickasaw Naron, the Union scout who was intent on breaking young Sam. He was there when once again, Levi Naron asked Sam to divulge the identity of E. Coleman. And he said, look, if you will just divulge the identity, then you may live. And here's exactly what young Sam answered Levi Naron, looking him right into his eyes.

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• He said, "Do you suppose, were I your friend, that I would betray you? Sir, if you think that I'm that kind of man, you've missed your mark. You may hang me a thousand times, and I will not betray my friend. You may hang me a thousand times, and I will not betray my friend."

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• Now listen to me, folks. That is character in and of itself. There is someone with some integrity. But let me tell you something. You don't realize the full impact of this young man's integrity. You don't realize the full impact of this young man's character until the full story is known. Sam Davis was not just being promised liberty if he would divulge the identity of E. Coleman. Yes, he was promised that liberty if he would just divulge the identity. But let me tell you something, when Sam was steadfastly refusing to identify E. Coleman, when he was saying over and over, you can hang me a thousand times and I will never betray a friend, let me give you the full impact of that. Seven days earlier, on November 20, 1863, three Confederate scouts were captured and thrown in the very same jail with young Sam Davis. Those three Confederate scouts that were captured were, number one, Joshua Brown, number two, W.L. Moore, and number three, Captain Henry Shaw, alias E. Coleman. Sam would not even have had to have said his name.

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• All Sam would have had to have done was point it because the very man they wanted was in the same jail with Sam Davis. How easy it would have been for Sam to save his own life. But you see, Sam was not only a Christian, he's a true Southerner. And he had godly Christian character. Now listen to me, because Sam was willing to die, his three friends were able to live. Now after Sam's execution, his three friends were sent to a Yankee prison on train. And believe it or not, Captain Henry Shaw jumped from the train and escaped and once again took up his scouting as E.

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• Coleman and just kept right on going. Now, the evening before Sam was executed, he wrote a letter to his parents. And I want you to listen to this letter. Pulaski, Giles County, Tennessee. This is where Sam was hanged. November the 26th, 1863. Here's what he writes. "Dear Mother, Oh, how painful it is to write you. I've got to die tomorrow to be hanged by the Federals. Mother, do not grieve for me.

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• I must bid you goodbye forevermore. Mother, I do not fear to die. Give my love to all, your dear son. Mother, tell the children all to be good. I wish I could see you all once more, but I will never see you anymore. Mother and Father, do not forget me. Think of me when I am dead, but do not grieve for me. It will do no good. Father, you can send after my remains if you want to do so.

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• They will be at Pulaski, Tennessee. I will leave some things, too, with the hotel keeper for you. Pulaski is in Giles County, Tennessee, south of Columbia, your dear son." Can you imagine? I've got to die tomorrow, Mother, to be hanged by the Federals. Do not grieve for me. Approximately two minutes after Sam refused Levi Naron's last offer, at 10:20 a.m., the noose was tightened around Sam's neck and he was launched into eternity. Now let me tell you, when Levi Naron made the last offer for Sam, Sam was sitting on his coffin on the wagon with a noose around his neck.

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• And that's when he said, you can hang me a thousand times, but I will never betray a friend. John Randall, a Union soldier who helped capture Sam, said that never in his life had he witnessed such a pathetic and heroic scene. And John Randall said that he sat on his horse with tears streaming down his face and that he saw many other federal soldiers weeping openly as young Sam was hanged. L.W. Forgrave, who was a soldier in the Union Army at Pulaski, later recalled the event and here is what he wrote. Listen to what this Union soldier wrote now.

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• He said, "I was a musician at the headquarters of General G.M. Dodge at Pulaski, Tennessee, and helped to play the dead march at the murder of Sam Davis. With four years of service in the Union Army, I never witnessed such bravery as portrayed by him at the time of his killing." Note how he refers to Sam's death as murder and killing. "This boy Davis was offered a reprieve by a chief of scouts named Chickasaw Naron at headquarters if he would tell where his captain was.

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• As I could hear, he told them he would die a thousand deaths before he betrayed a friend. I could never obliterate the expression of Davis' face as he was a boy about my own age. He wore at that time a roundabout or pea jacket and a black slouch hat. I've wondered who his folks were very often and was glad to know that he was not forgotten. Davis is in heaven, I trust."

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• That was a Union soldier. And he said, I played the dead march for the murder of Sam Davis. News of a young Davis boy being hanged soon reached Sam's parents. Fearing the worst, but still not convinced that it was their son, they contacted a family friend, John C. Kennedy, and asked him to go to Pulaski, Tennessee and check on whether or not it was their son who was hanged. Here is what Mr. Kennedy wrote.

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• Let me read it to you. He says, "Mr. and Ms. Davis were not certain that it was their son who had been executed at Pulaski. They had made diligent efforts through various channels to trace the grapevine story that it was their Sam, but were not assured. At last the time was set to start on the search. Mrs. Davis gave me a piece of the plain linsey of that used for his jacket lining, and also described his boots, and told of other things that only a good and loving mother could have thought about. She was interrupted occasionally by suggestions from Mr. Davis. The start was made with two mules hitched to a very heavy carryall.

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• We had a meal sack containing a boiled ham and about a half a bushel of corn pones on which their son Oscar, a small boy, who was to accompany me, and I were to live on while we were gone. We reached Nashville that evening too late to get a pass, but I procured a metal case and a box and had them put in the conveyance. The next morning I went to General Rousseau, who declined to give me a pass, and sent me to General Grant's adjutant general, who kindly and politely, but positively, refused also, replying to all of my pleadings for his mother's sake, 'no sir, no sir, no sir.' I then returned to General Rousseau, whom I had known in Kentucky in my boyhood days, and again asked for a pass after some boyhood reminiscence.

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• Not necessary to repeat, he supplied one for myself, the boy, and the team to Columbia, which was as far as his lines extended, telling me that that was all he could do. I gladly accepted the pass, which was written on a piece of paper, elegantly printed, and looked like a large banknote. Now listen, we entered the lines at Columbia and drove straight through town, not stopping until we reached the picket on the other side, who after looking over our pass, though he could not read it, and seeing the coffin and the small boy, permitted us to go on. The same thing occurred when we reached the picket at Pulaski, who permitted us to enter the town.

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• When near the square, I left Oscar to hold the mules while I went to the provost marshal to get a pass or to find out what he would do with us. His office was in the courthouse. He asked how I got into Pulaski, and I handed him General Rousseau's pass. He looked up curtly and remarked, 'This is no account here. What do you want?' I told him that I'd come for the body of Sam Davis, who had been hanged, and that his parents wanted the body home.

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• His manner at once changed, and extending his hand, he said, 'Tell them for me that he died the bravest of the brave, an honor to them and with the respect of every man in this command.' He then asked what more he could do to help me. I requested return passes and a permit to take up the body, which he cheerfully gave. I also asked if he thought I would have any trouble or interference while I was at the graveyard, and he replied, 'No, sir.

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• If you do, I will give you a company, yea, a regiment, if necessary.' Taking advantage of his cordial words, I asked him how Sam was captured, as Mr. Davis had requested me to spare no pains to find out how he was taken. He said he did not know any of the particulars, but showed me two books in which records were kept in his office, and the only entry, after giving his name and description, was, as I remembered, 'captured on Lambs Ferry Road by Captain McKenzie's scouts.' Before leaving home, I referred for assistance if necessary while in Pulaski to a Mr. Richardson who had been, if not been, the county court clerk.

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• We found him willing and ready to aid in all his power. The grave digger agreed to take up the body for $20. The next morning, together with his assistants, Mr. Richardson, Oscar, and I were busy at the grave when four or five Federal soldiers came up. One of them advanced to me, raising his cap politely and in a subdued tone of voice, offered for himself and his comrades to assist if I desired.

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• I thanked him sincerely, for I had not known what their presence might mean, but declined their services. When the box was raised and the lid removed, the cap of white was still over his head down to his neck, tied with long strings which were wrapped around his neck two or three times. His boots were on, but the legs cut off at the ankles, that is the legs of the boots.

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• I took from my pocket the piece of the jacket lining and saw that they were alike. When I removed the cap, I found the face was black but recognizable. We then transferred the body to the metallic case. During all the time the body was being examined and transferred, the federal soldier stood in line with caps off paying tribute and acts, if not words. Upon our return from the cemetery, the provost marshal said to the chaplain who was with Sam at the gallows, had some keepsakes for his father and mother. He gave me a little book in which he had written a farewell message to his mother, and the buttons from his coat and vest.

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• We reached Nashville and drove to where the Adams Express Company office now is, which was where our present townsman, Mr. Cornelius, had his undertaking establishment, and turned the body over to him with specific instructions about the shrouding. Now listen, Mr. Davis had said to me, 'If you think it is best that Jane and I should not see him, do as you think best about the matter.' On the evening of the seventh day after leaving home, we drove in the big gate some distance from the house. Mr. and Mrs. Davis were watching, and when they saw the casket, Mrs. Davis threw her arms above her head and fell. All was sorrow in that home. I had a boy catch my horse to go home and see my old mother and father and change clothing, but Mr. Davis prevailed upon me to stay and send for what I needed. The next morning, while standing out in the front yard, Mr. Davis came to me, hesitated.

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• Then catching his breath almost between each word, said, 'John. Don't you think it's hard a father can't see the face of his own child?' I replied that I thought it was best that he and Mrs. Davis should remember him as they saw him last. And he turned and left me. I drove the carryall that afternoon with the body across the creek to the old family graveyard where he is buried. And he's buried about 100 yards behind the family home. Monuments sprang up to Sam Davis almost everywhere. And they were dedicated to Sam Davis, hero of the Confederacy. One of the most remarkable of the monuments is the granite and marble statue south of the courthouse in Pulaski, Tennessee. It was dedicated to the memory of Sam Davis on the very spot on which the gallows were built from which he was hanged. There's a bronze statue standing on the Capitol grounds in Nashville dedicated to Sam Davis.

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• Engraved upon the base of the statue are these words, "The boys will have to fight the battle without me. He gave all he had, life. He gained all he lacked, immortality. He gained all he lacked. Immortality." No wonder it was Sam Davis who was posthumously awarded the first Confederate Medal of Honor. A young man, not only of Christian virtue, but of character, honesty, and bravery. Ella Wheeler Wilcox wrote a poem on Sam Davis. And I want you to listen to this brief poem.

  #53 | 43:24 to 44:32 | cleaned

• I weep inside every time I hear it and read it. And I think, would to God, would to God, we had some people in this country with the character of Sam Davis. Here is what Ella Wheeler Wilcox wrote. "When the Lord calls up earth's heroes to stand before his face, O many a name unknown to fame shall ring from that high place. And out of the grave in the Southland, at the just God's call and beck, shall one man rise with fearless eyes and a rope around his neck.

  #54 | 44:34 to 45:21 | cleaned

• For men have swung from gallows, whose souls were white as snow. Not how they die, nor where, but why, is what God's records show. And on that mighty ledger is writ Sam Davis' name. For honor's sake, he would not make a compromise with shame. The great world lay before him, for he was but his youth. With love of life, young hearts are rife, but better he loved truth. And when he stood at bay, he would not flinch nor stir one inch from honor's narrow way. They offered life and freedom if he would speak the word. In silent pride he gazed aside as one who had not heard. They argued, pleaded, threatened.

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• It was but wasted breath. 'Let come what must. I keep my trust,' he said, and laughed at death. He would not sell his manhood to purchase priceless hope. Where kings drag down a name and a crown, he dignified a rope. Ah, grave, where was your triumph? Ah, death, where was your sting? He showed you how a man could bow to doom and stay a king. And God, who loves the loyal because they are like Him, I doubt not yet that soul shall set among His cherubim.

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• O Southland, bring your laurels. And add your wreath, O North. Let glory claim the hero's name and tell the world his worth."

  #57 | 47:01 to 47:13 | cleaned

• Now, I want to call your attention to two stanzas. Listen carefully. "And out of a grave in the Southland, at the just God's call and beck, shall one man rise with fearless eyes and a rope around his neck." With fearless eyes and a rope around his neck. Now listen to this stanza. "He would not sell his manhood to purchase priceless hope where kings," let's change that to presidents, "where presidents drag down a name and a crown. He dignified a rope."

  #58 | 47:14 to 48:03 | cleaned

• Let me tell you something, folks. I have four children. I love them dearly. Six grandchildren. I love them dearly. But I would count it an honor if any of mine could die as bravely, as honestly, and as justly as Sam Davis. He was a man of character, integrity and honesty in this day and age where people will sell their own mothers for a shot of dope. It's so refreshing to find one young man who had such character.

  #59 | 48:04 to 48:59 | cleaned

• He was not afraid of a rope. The rope might deprive him of his physical life, but never of his character and integrity and honesty. And as our Lord said, "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." And Sam Davis died that his friends might live. The first Confederate Medal of Honor to Sam Davis. Let's pray. Father, we ask in the name of Jesus Christ tonight that you would make us men and women. Men and women of character. May we be men and women of our word. May we be courageous and bold and brave, and learn not to fear man. As thou didst say in thy word, "The fear of man bringeth a snare. But whoso trusteth in the Lord shall dwell in safety." Give us, Father, boldness, courage, character.

  #60 | 49:00 to 50:30 | cleaned

• Help us to stand for what is right, even in the face of death and disgrace. In the name of Jesus Christ we ask, Amen and Amen.

  #61 | 50:34 to 50:50 | cleaned

deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-04T17:13:08Z