SCLoS Historian: Sam Davis

This is the provocative and untold story of the Union's "hard war" against the people of the Confederacy, a war that included the shelling and burning of cities, systematic destruction of entire districts, mass arrests, forced expulsions, wholesale plundering of personal property, and even murder. Author Walter Brian Cisco explores with a passion matched by the force of his arguments how the Union army, backed by the Lincoln administration, deliberately discarded the civilized tradition of excluding noncombatants from military action. He moves chronologically through the war, examining how this brutal mindset determined Union actions across the landscape of the South—the pillage of Fredericksburg, the shelling of Charleston, the sack of Athens, the burning of Atlanta, the destruction of Columbia, the infamous "March to the Sea," to name but a few. Special chapters document the suffering of women and children in prison, and Union abuse of African-Americans.

"American who read War Crimes Against Southern Civilians will have a more sober and true, and less self-righteous, understanding of our country."
Dr. Clyde N. Wilson, Professor Emeritus of History, University of South Carolina

"[Cisco's book] blows the lid off the conspiracy of silence about the violent, mass-murdering origins of the American Leviathan state..."
Dr. Thomas J. DiLorenzo, author of The Real Lincoln

"Despite the spinning of romantic historians, hard evidence indicates that the invasion of the South is the American enormity."
Dr. David Aiken, editor of A City Laid Waste

"Every seeker of the real story behind the sanitized myths of American history should read this book."
Dr. James Everett Kibler, author of Our Fathers' Fields

Friday, July 27, 2007

Sam Davis

Sam was born on a farm in Rutherford County in central Tennessee. He enlisted as a private in the 1st Tennessee Infantry Regiment soon after Lincoln declared war, but before the Volunteer State had officially declared independence. The teenager served first in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia before his regiment was ordered back to Tennessee. After recovering from a wound received at Shiloh, Sam transferred to Cpt. H. B. Shaw's Company of Scouts.

The young scout was carrying intelligence on enemy troop strength and dispositions when captured by Kansas cavalrymen near Pulaski in November 1863. His interrogators, including Brig. Gen. Grenville Dodge (one of the nastiest bullies ever to wear a Federal uniform), could get nothing out of him. Repeatedly threatened with death, Sam refused to name his sources of information. "I would sooner die a thousand deaths than betray a friend or be false to duty," said Sam. He went to the gallows with head held high, another martyr to liberty.

"Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends." John 15:13

South Carolina League of the South

1 comment:

Anonymous said...: This is a great site. Thank you!; July 28, 2007 at 2:14 AM

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