David Owen Dodd
Encyclopedia
David Owen Dodd was an American
17 year-old who was tried, convicted and hanged as a Confederate
spy in the American Civil War
.
In December 1863, Dodd carried some letters to business associates of his father in Union
-held Little Rock, Arkansas
. While traveling home to Confederate
-held Camden, Arkansas
, he mistakenly re-entered Union territory. Found to be without a pass, Union soldiers questioned him and discovered that he was carrying a notebook with the locations of Union troops in the area. He was arrested and tried by a military tribunal, with little defense offered for his actions. The tribunal found him guilty of spying and he was hanged for his crime in January 1864. Though Dodd did not reveal the source of the information, a 15-year old girl named Mary Dodge and her father were summarily escorted back to their home in Vermont. These events have led to David Owen Dodd being called the "Boy Martyr of the Confederacy".
, Lavaca County, Texas, to Andrew Marion Dodd, a merchant, and Lydia Echols Owen. His Baptist parents had married in a village south of Little Rock, Arkansas
and moved to Texas with daughter Senorah, where David and his sisters, Leonora, and Ann Eliza, were born. David's third sister, Ann Eliza, died before the Civil War.
In 1856, the family returned to Arkansas and settled near Benton
. In 1861, the Dodds moved to Little Rock to be closer to Senhora, who attended school in the city and lived with her aunt, Mrs. Susan A. Dodd. David Dodd went to classes at St. John's Masonic College. His father traveled to Mississippi
, leaving Dodd to stay with family and friends.
In January 1863, Dodd went to Grenada, Mississippi
and worked for his father who was operating a store. In September 1863, when the Union Army
occupied Little Rock, the entire Dodd family moved south to Camden
, Ouachita County, behind Confederate lines.
On December 24, 1863, he sent David Dodd, a minor and therefore assumed neutral, to Little Rock to deliver letters to former associates seeking investments for the tobacco deal. Confederate General James F. Fagan
issued the boy a pass. Dodd rode a mule to Little Rock, carrying a birth certificate showing he was an underage 17 along with his pass.
Dodd stayed with his aunt, Mrs. Susan Dodd, in Little Rock. Except for some Union soldiers, there were very few teenage boys in the city, and Dodd was popular with the city's younger girls. He even became popular with some of the younger servicemen at the arsenal, especially because he usually was accompanied by a local girl or two. In addition to his father's letters, he also delivered letters to several people he knew. Dodd attended some holiday dances with at least two girls, Mary Swindle and Minerva Cogburn. He also spent some time with 16-year-old Mary Dodge at her home, where Union officers were quartered. Mary supported the Southern cause; her father, R. L. Dodge, was a Vermont native on friendly terms with the Northern troops.
On December 28, 1863, Dodd visited the Provost Marshal's office at St. John's College (several hundred yards southwest of the arsenal) and had no trouble obtaining a pass through Union lines to rejoin his family in Camden. Dodd left Little Rock the next day. As he left Union territory, the guard tore up Dodd's pass since he would no longer need it now that he was in Confederate land. He went to spend the night with his uncle, Washington Dodd, on the Middle Hot Springs Road southwest of Little Rock. The next day, Dodd traveled through the woods and found himself back behind Union lines.
The next day, Dodd was taken to Little Rock to face Brigadier General John Davidson
, who was commanding the Union occupation forces in General Frederick Steele
's absence. A telegraph operator translated the Morse code, which provided precise locations and strengths of Union troops. David was formally charged as a spy and was taken to the military prison on the site of the present Arkansas State Capitol
building. Dodd was interrogated for two days by Union officers who tried to discover the source of the information. On the third day, under personal orders from General Steele, Mary Dodge and her father were escorted under armed guard to a Union gunboat on the Arkansas River
and transported to Vermont
, where Mary was kept until the end of the war. This suggests that Steele had discovered that Mary Dodge was involved, and that he would not be able to hang a 16-year-old girl.
On December 31, 1863, Dodd's trial began in Little Rock by a military tribunal of six Union officers. Brigadier General John M. Thayer presided with Captain B. F. Rice as Judge Advocate. Other members were Colonel John A. Garrett, Major Phineus Graves, Major H. D. Gibson and Captain George Rockwell. The Court Martial lasted four days.
The official charges were read by the Judge Advocate:
To these charges, David pleaded "Not Guilty".
On January 1, 1864, the trial continued with Dodd represented by attorneys T. D. W. Yonley and William Fishback
, who was pro-Union and later became Governor of Arkansas. The defense attorneys proposed amnesty, which was rejected by the tribunal after an adjournment to deliberate the matter. Court was adjourned until the next day.
On January 2, 1864, witnesses were called to testify against Dodd. Private Daniel Goldberg testified that he tore up Dodd's pass because "he did not need a pass anymore". Sergeant Frederick Miehr testified that he arrested Dodd after the boy could not produce a pass. 1st Lieutenant C. F. Stopral found Dodd's memoranda book, discovered that the Morse code reported the positions and armaments of the 3rd Ohio Battery
and 11th Ohio Battery
, and sent him to the guard house. Captain George Hanna testified that he interrogated Dodd, and discovered that Dodd was carrying one pocketbook containing Louisiana money
, Confederate money
, ten dollars in greenbacks, and some Confederate postage stamps
; one postal currency holder, one loaded Deringer pistol, and a package between his shirts containing letters. Captain John Baird testified that, per Hanna's orders, he took the prisoner and the papers into Little Rock the next morning to General Davidson. Captain Robert C. Clowery testified that he interpreted the Morse code as containing detailed information about the locations and strengths of Union forces and armaments. First Lieutenant George O. Sokalski then testified about the actual Union troop strength and weaponry, which was a match of Dodd's coded message.
During the trial, Dodd was asked several times to name the Union traitor who gave him the troop information; each time he remained silent. The defense tried to explain the Morse Code information as something Dodd did to exercise his telegraph skills. Dodd did not testify, although his written deposition was submitted. Only character witnesses were called.
By a 4–2 vote, David Dodd was convicted of spying for the Confederacy and was sentenced to be hanged
. He was taken back to the State Prison. General Steele designated Friday, January 8, 1864 for the execution day.
On January 8, 1864, David O. Dodd was brought to the grounds of his former school, St. John's, just east of the Little Rock Arsenal, for his hanging. A crowd of five or six thousand gathered to watch the hanging. Dodd stood on the tailgate of a wagon under the noose. The executioner, named Dekay, fixed the rope around David's neck, and the prop was knocked from under the tailgate. The rope stretched and the boy dangled, strangling to death over a full five minutes. Onlookers and Union soldiers became ill.
The record is unclear about exactly how Dodd died. Some contend that one or two soldiers grabbed his legs to add weight and hasten his death. Others told that a soldier shinnied up the gibbet to grab the noose, twist the rope and raise the condemned off the ground. Military doctors who examined Dodd's body reported death due to "a disrupted spine."
Just prior to the funeral, Union Headquarters ordered no spoken or sung words at the memorial service, and that only Dodd's relatives in Union-held territory (two aunts and their husbands) would be allowed to attend. The town was tense; a riot was possible; there was fear that a Confederate raid would take advantage of the situation. Security around General Steele's Headquarters was increased; no one was allowed to see him except on official business. Calm prevailed, and David O. Dodd was buried in plot Elm 355 in the southeast portion of Mount Holly Cemetery
in Little Rock, in a grave donated by a Little Rock resident. This cemetery was also the eventual resting place of R.L. Dodge and General Fagan.
At a time when Union sympathies ran high in Arkansas and a constitutional convention was in session to enable the state to rejoin the Union, Dodd's execution fueled renewed divisions between Union and Confederate factions. Dodd quickly became a folk hero and a force behind renewed Confederate dissension. After hearing the news of their son's execution, Andrew and Lydia Dodd spent the remainder of their lives in ill health. Andrew died of yellow fever
in 1867, while Lydia died in Pascagoula, Mississippi
in 1885. In March 1864, General Steele was relieved of responsibilities in Little Rock and was replaced by a harsh anti-southern commander.
There are more monuments to David O. Dodd in Arkansas than to any other of its war heroes, including General Douglas MacArthur
. A monument marks the spot of Dodd's hanging, now in the corner of the parking lot of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock
's School of Law. Dodd's grave is marked by an eight-foot marble monument, engraved "Here lies the remains of David O. Dodd. Born in Lavaca County, Texas, Nov. 10, 1846, died Jan. 8, 1864." Nearby is a marble scroll with the words "Boy Martyr of the Confederacy." David O. Dodd Elementary School in southwest Little Rock is located on land that was once a part of Washington Dodd's Farm. A stone marker on school grounds, believed to be the place where he was captured, was erected by the David O. Dodd Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy
, Pine Bluff, Arkansas
, and is dedicated to "Arkansas' Boy Hero of the War Between the States."
In 1908, the Arkansas Division of the United Daughters of the Confederacy starting raising funds for a stained-glass window in Dodd's honor. The window was built by the Charles F. Hogeman Company in New York City
and depicts Dodd as Southern saint and martyr with curly blond hair, even though his only known photograph shows him with straight black hair. The David O. Dodd window was unveiled at the Museum of the Confederacy in Richmond, Virginia
on November 7, 1911 where it was displayed for several years. In 1988, it was found in storage and was moved back to Arkansas. The David O. Dodd window debuted at the Arkansas Museum of Science and Industry in January 1990. The Dodd window was returned to Richmond in 1998. In January 2004, the Museum of the Confederacy
again loaned the Dodd window to Arkansas to commemorate the 140th anniversary of Dodd's trial at the renamed MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History
(formerly the Little Rock Arsenal).
Each January, the Sons of Confederate Veterans
honor Dodd in a ceremony at his grave site. In November 1984, the Sons of Confederate Veterans awarded the Confederate Medal of Honor to Dodd, one of only twenty-two persons so honored.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
17 year-old who was tried, convicted and hanged as a Confederate
Confederate States of America
The Confederate States of America was a government set up from 1861 to 1865 by 11 Southern slave states of the United States of America that had declared their secession from the U.S...
spy in the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
.
In December 1863, Dodd carried some letters to business associates of his father in Union
Union Army
The Union Army was the land force that fought for the Union during the American Civil War. It was also known as the Federal Army, the U.S. Army, the Northern Army and the National Army...
-held Little Rock, Arkansas
Little Rock, Arkansas
Little Rock is the capital and the largest city of the U.S. state of Arkansas. The Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 699,757 people in the 2010 census...
. While traveling home to Confederate
Confederate States Army
The Confederate States Army was the army of the Confederate States of America while the Confederacy existed during the American Civil War. On February 8, 1861, delegates from the seven Deep South states which had already declared their secession from the United States of America adopted the...
-held Camden, Arkansas
Camden, Arkansas
Camden is a city in and the county seat of Ouachita County in the southern part of the U.S. state of Arkansas. Long an area of American Indians villages, the French also made a permanent settlement here because of its advantageous location above the Ouachita River. According to 2007 Census...
, he mistakenly re-entered Union territory. Found to be without a pass, Union soldiers questioned him and discovered that he was carrying a notebook with the locations of Union troops in the area. He was arrested and tried by a military tribunal, with little defense offered for his actions. The tribunal found him guilty of spying and he was hanged for his crime in January 1864. Though Dodd did not reveal the source of the information, a 15-year old girl named Mary Dodge and her father were summarily escorted back to their home in Vermont. These events have led to David Owen Dodd being called the "Boy Martyr of the Confederacy".
Early life
David Owen Dodd was born in VictoriaVictoria, Texas
Victoria is a city in and the seat of Victoria County, Texas, United States. The population was 60,603 at the 2000 census. The three counties of the Victoria Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 111,163 at the 2000 census,...
, Lavaca County, Texas, to Andrew Marion Dodd, a merchant, and Lydia Echols Owen. His Baptist parents had married in a village south of Little Rock, Arkansas
Little Rock, Arkansas
Little Rock is the capital and the largest city of the U.S. state of Arkansas. The Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 699,757 people in the 2010 census...
and moved to Texas with daughter Senorah, where David and his sisters, Leonora, and Ann Eliza, were born. David's third sister, Ann Eliza, died before the Civil War.
In 1856, the family returned to Arkansas and settled near Benton
Benton, Arkansas
Benton is a city in and the county seat of Saline County, Arkansas, United States and a suburb of Little Rock. It was established in 1837. According to a 2006 Special Census conducted at the request of the city government, the population of the city is 27,717, ranking it as the state's 16th largest...
. In 1861, the Dodds moved to Little Rock to be closer to Senhora, who attended school in the city and lived with her aunt, Mrs. Susan A. Dodd. David Dodd went to classes at St. John's Masonic College. His father traveled to Mississippi
Mississippi
Mississippi is a U.S. state located in the Southern United States. Jackson is the state capital and largest city. The name of the state derives from the Mississippi River, which flows along its western boundary, whose name comes from the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi...
, leaving Dodd to stay with family and friends.
In January 1863, Dodd went to Grenada, Mississippi
Grenada, Mississippi
Grenada is a city in Grenada County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 14,879 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Grenada County.-History:...
and worked for his father who was operating a store. In September 1863, when the Union Army
Union Army
The Union Army was the land force that fought for the Union during the American Civil War. It was also known as the Federal Army, the U.S. Army, the Northern Army and the National Army...
occupied Little Rock, the entire Dodd family moved south to Camden
Camden, Arkansas
Camden is a city in and the county seat of Ouachita County in the southern part of the U.S. state of Arkansas. Long an area of American Indians villages, the French also made a permanent settlement here because of its advantageous location above the Ouachita River. According to 2007 Census...
, Ouachita County, behind Confederate lines.
Trip to Little Rock
As Union troops destroyed southern fields, tobacco was becoming scarce. Andrew Dodd devised a plan to buy tobacco and store it for later sale at a higher price. He looked to his business associates in Little Rock for the needed cash. Because Little Rock was in Union hands, he could not make the trip himself.James Fleming Fagan
James Fleming Fagan was a planter, public official, and a major general in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War.-Early life and career:...
issued the boy a pass. Dodd rode a mule to Little Rock, carrying a birth certificate showing he was an underage 17 along with his pass.
Dodd stayed with his aunt, Mrs. Susan Dodd, in Little Rock. Except for some Union soldiers, there were very few teenage boys in the city, and Dodd was popular with the city's younger girls. He even became popular with some of the younger servicemen at the arsenal, especially because he usually was accompanied by a local girl or two. In addition to his father's letters, he also delivered letters to several people he knew. Dodd attended some holiday dances with at least two girls, Mary Swindle and Minerva Cogburn. He also spent some time with 16-year-old Mary Dodge at her home, where Union officers were quartered. Mary supported the Southern cause; her father, R. L. Dodge, was a Vermont native on friendly terms with the Northern troops.
On December 28, 1863, Dodd visited the Provost Marshal's office at St. John's College (several hundred yards southwest of the arsenal) and had no trouble obtaining a pass through Union lines to rejoin his family in Camden. Dodd left Little Rock the next day. As he left Union territory, the guard tore up Dodd's pass since he would no longer need it now that he was in Confederate land. He went to spend the night with his uncle, Washington Dodd, on the Middle Hot Springs Road southwest of Little Rock. The next day, Dodd traveled through the woods and found himself back behind Union lines.
Arrest and trial
On December 29, 1863, Dodd was stopped by a Union sentry in west Little Rock, near Ten Mile House on Stagecoach Road, and was discovered to be without a pass. For identification, he showed his small leather notebook, where Union soldiers found his birth certificate and a page with dots and dashes. A Union officer was able to read some of the Morse code messages, which contained information about Union troop strength and locations in Little Rock; Dodd was arrested.The next day, Dodd was taken to Little Rock to face Brigadier General John Davidson
John Davidson (general)
John Wynn Davidson was a brigadier general in the United States Army during the American Civil War and an American Indian fighter. In 1866, he received brevet grade appointments as a major general of volunteers and in the regular U.S. Army for his Civil War service,-Biography:Davidson was born in...
, who was commanding the Union occupation forces in General Frederick Steele
Frederick Steele
Frederick Steele was a career military officer in the United States Army, serving as a major general in the Union Army during the American Civil War. He was most noted for his successful campaign to retake much of secessionist Arkansas for the Union cause.-Early life:Steele was born in Delhi, New...
's absence. A telegraph operator translated the Morse code, which provided precise locations and strengths of Union troops. David was formally charged as a spy and was taken to the military prison on the site of the present Arkansas State Capitol
Arkansas State Capitol
The Arkansas State Capitol Building, located in Little Rock, is the main house of government of the state of Arkansas.-History:In 1899, the St. Louis architect George R. Mann visited the governor of Arkansas Daniel W. Jones, and presented his drawings of his winning competition design for the...
building. Dodd was interrogated for two days by Union officers who tried to discover the source of the information. On the third day, under personal orders from General Steele, Mary Dodge and her father were escorted under armed guard to a Union gunboat on the Arkansas River
Arkansas River
The Arkansas River is a major tributary of the Mississippi River. The Arkansas generally flows to the east and southeast as it traverses the U.S. states of Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas. The river's initial basin starts in the Western United States in Colorado, specifically the Arkansas...
and transported to Vermont
Vermont
Vermont is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state ranks 43rd in land area, , and 45th in total area. Its population according to the 2010 census, 630,337, is the second smallest in the country, larger only than Wyoming. It is the only New England...
, where Mary was kept until the end of the war. This suggests that Steele had discovered that Mary Dodge was involved, and that he would not be able to hang a 16-year-old girl.
On December 31, 1863, Dodd's trial began in Little Rock by a military tribunal of six Union officers. Brigadier General John M. Thayer presided with Captain B. F. Rice as Judge Advocate. Other members were Colonel John A. Garrett, Major Phineus Graves, Major H. D. Gibson and Captain George Rockwell. The Court Martial lasted four days.
The official charges were read by the Judge Advocate:
"In this, that said David O. Dodd, an inhabitant of the State of Arkansas, did as a Spy of the so-called Confederate States of America, enter within the lines of the Army of the United States, stationed at Little Rock, Arkansas, and did there secretly possess himself of information regarding the number, the kind, and position of the troops of said Army of the United States, their commanders, and other military information valuable to the enemy now at war with the United States, and having thus obtained said information did obtain a pass from the Provost Marshal General's office, and endeavor to reach the lines of the enemy - therewith; when he was arrested at the cavalry outposts of said Army - and did otherwise lurk, and act as a spy of the Rebels now in arms against the United States - This at the Post of Little Rock, and the encampments of the Army of Arkansas, on or about the 29th and 30th of December, 1863."
To these charges, David pleaded "Not Guilty".
On January 1, 1864, the trial continued with Dodd represented by attorneys T. D. W. Yonley and William Fishback
William Meade Fishback
William Meade Fishback was the 17th Governor of Arkansas and selected to be a member of the United States Senate but was not allowed to serve....
, who was pro-Union and later became Governor of Arkansas. The defense attorneys proposed amnesty, which was rejected by the tribunal after an adjournment to deliberate the matter. Court was adjourned until the next day.
On January 2, 1864, witnesses were called to testify against Dodd. Private Daniel Goldberg testified that he tore up Dodd's pass because "he did not need a pass anymore". Sergeant Frederick Miehr testified that he arrested Dodd after the boy could not produce a pass. 1st Lieutenant C. F. Stopral found Dodd's memoranda book, discovered that the Morse code reported the positions and armaments of the 3rd Ohio Battery
3rd Ohio Battery
3rd Ohio Independent Battery was an artillery battery that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War.-Service:The 3rd Ohio Battery was organized in Canton, Minerva, and Massillon, Ohio November 9, 1861 through March 15, 1862 and mustered in for three years service under Captain William S...
and 11th Ohio Battery
11th Ohio Battery
11th Ohio Independent Battery was an artillery battery that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War.-Service:The battery was organized in St. Louis, Missouri October 27, 1861 and mustered in for a three year enlistment under Captain Archibald G. A. Constable.The battery was attached...
, and sent him to the guard house. Captain George Hanna testified that he interrogated Dodd, and discovered that Dodd was carrying one pocketbook containing Louisiana money
Southern States Confederate Currency
The individual Confederate States of America issued many denominations of banknotes during the American Civil War. These notes supplemented the "federal" issues from the Confederate States of America, and the bank notes that were in wide circulation at the time....
, Confederate money
Confederate States of America dollar
The Confederate States of America dollar was first issued into circulation in April 1861, when the Confederacy was only two months old, and on the eve of the outbreak of the Civil War....
, ten dollars in greenbacks, and some Confederate postage stamps
Postage stamps and postal history of the Confederate States
The postage stamps and postal system of the Confederate States of America carried the mail of the Confederacy for a brief period in American history. Early in 1861 when South Carolina territory no longer considered itself part of the Union and demanded that the U.S. Army abandon Fort Sumter, plans...
; one postal currency holder, one loaded Deringer pistol, and a package between his shirts containing letters. Captain John Baird testified that, per Hanna's orders, he took the prisoner and the papers into Little Rock the next morning to General Davidson. Captain Robert C. Clowery testified that he interpreted the Morse code as containing detailed information about the locations and strengths of Union forces and armaments. First Lieutenant George O. Sokalski then testified about the actual Union troop strength and weaponry, which was a match of Dodd's coded message.
During the trial, Dodd was asked several times to name the Union traitor who gave him the troop information; each time he remained silent. The defense tried to explain the Morse Code information as something Dodd did to exercise his telegraph skills. Dodd did not testify, although his written deposition was submitted. Only character witnesses were called.
By a 4–2 vote, David Dodd was convicted of spying for the Confederacy and was sentenced to be hanged
Hanging
Hanging is the lethal suspension of a person by a ligature. The Oxford English Dictionary states that hanging in this sense is "specifically to put to death by suspension by the neck", though it formerly also referred to crucifixion and death by impalement in which the body would remain...
. He was taken back to the State Prison. General Steele designated Friday, January 8, 1864 for the execution day.
Hanging
The record is unclear about exactly how Dodd died. Some contend that one or two soldiers grabbed his legs to add weight and hasten his death. Others told that a soldier shinnied up the gibbet to grab the noose, twist the rope and raise the condemned off the ground. Military doctors who examined Dodd's body reported death due to "a disrupted spine."
Just prior to the funeral, Union Headquarters ordered no spoken or sung words at the memorial service, and that only Dodd's relatives in Union-held territory (two aunts and their husbands) would be allowed to attend. The town was tense; a riot was possible; there was fear that a Confederate raid would take advantage of the situation. Security around General Steele's Headquarters was increased; no one was allowed to see him except on official business. Calm prevailed, and David O. Dodd was buried in plot Elm 355 in the southeast portion of Mount Holly Cemetery
Mount Holly Cemetery
Mount Holly Cemetery is the original cemetery in the Quapaw Quarter area of downtown Little Rock, Arkansas, and is the resting place for numerous Arkansans of note...
in Little Rock, in a grave donated by a Little Rock resident. This cemetery was also the eventual resting place of R.L. Dodge and General Fagan.
At a time when Union sympathies ran high in Arkansas and a constitutional convention was in session to enable the state to rejoin the Union, Dodd's execution fueled renewed divisions between Union and Confederate factions. Dodd quickly became a folk hero and a force behind renewed Confederate dissension. After hearing the news of their son's execution, Andrew and Lydia Dodd spent the remainder of their lives in ill health. Andrew died of yellow fever
Yellow fever
Yellow fever is an acute viral hemorrhagic disease. The virus is a 40 to 50 nm enveloped RNA virus with positive sense of the Flaviviridae family....
in 1867, while Lydia died in Pascagoula, Mississippi
Pascagoula, Mississippi
Pascagoula is a city in Jackson County, Mississippi, United States. It is the principal city of the Pascagoula, Mississippi Metropolitan Statistical Area, as a part of the Gulfport–Biloxi–Pascagoula, Mississippi Combined Statistical Area. The population was 26,200 at the 2000 census...
in 1885. In March 1864, General Steele was relieved of responsibilities in Little Rock and was replaced by a harsh anti-southern commander.
Legacy
Dodd's story has been told in the poem The Long, Long Thoughts of Youth by Marie Erwin Ward, a full-length play and a 1915 silent Hollywood movie whose film has not survived.There are more monuments to David O. Dodd in Arkansas than to any other of its war heroes, including General Douglas MacArthur
Douglas MacArthur
General of the Army Douglas MacArthur was an American general and field marshal of the Philippine Army. He was a Chief of Staff of the United States Army during the 1930s and played a prominent role in the Pacific theater during World War II. He received the Medal of Honor for his service in the...
. A monument marks the spot of Dodd's hanging, now in the corner of the parking lot of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock
University of Arkansas at Little Rock
University of Arkansas at Little Rock , is a public research university located in Little Rock, Arkansas, United States, and the second largest university by enrollment in the state of Arkansas....
's School of Law. Dodd's grave is marked by an eight-foot marble monument, engraved "Here lies the remains of David O. Dodd. Born in Lavaca County, Texas, Nov. 10, 1846, died Jan. 8, 1864." Nearby is a marble scroll with the words "Boy Martyr of the Confederacy." David O. Dodd Elementary School in southwest Little Rock is located on land that was once a part of Washington Dodd's Farm. A stone marker on school grounds, believed to be the place where he was captured, was erected by the David O. Dodd Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy
United Daughters of the Confederacy
The United Daughters of the Confederacy is a women's heritage association dedicated to honoring the memory of those who served in the military and died in service to the Confederate States of America . UDC began as the National Association of the Daughters of the Confederacy, organized in 1894 by...
, Pine Bluff, Arkansas
Pine Bluff, Arkansas
Pine Bluff is the largest city and county seat of Jefferson County, Arkansas, United States. It is also the principal city of the Pine Bluff Metropolitan Statistical Area and part of the Little Rock-North Little Rock-Pine Bluff, Arkansas Combined Statistical Area...
, and is dedicated to "Arkansas' Boy Hero of the War Between the States."
In 1908, the Arkansas Division of the United Daughters of the Confederacy starting raising funds for a stained-glass window in Dodd's honor. The window was built by the Charles F. Hogeman Company in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
and depicts Dodd as Southern saint and martyr with curly blond hair, even though his only known photograph shows him with straight black hair. The David O. Dodd window was unveiled at the Museum of the Confederacy in Richmond, Virginia
Richmond, Virginia
Richmond is the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the United States. It is an independent city and not part of any county. Richmond is the center of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Greater Richmond area...
on November 7, 1911 where it was displayed for several years. In 1988, it was found in storage and was moved back to Arkansas. The David O. Dodd window debuted at the Arkansas Museum of Science and Industry in January 1990. The Dodd window was returned to Richmond in 1998. In January 2004, the Museum of the Confederacy
Museum of the Confederacy
The Museum of the Confederacy is located in Richmond, Virginia. The museum includes the former White House of the Confederacy and maintains a comprehensive collection of artifacts, manuscripts, Confederate imprints , and photographs from the Confederate States of America and the American Civil War...
again loaned the Dodd window to Arkansas to commemorate the 140th anniversary of Dodd's trial at the renamed MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History
The Tower Building of the Little Rock Arsenal
The Tower Building of the Little Rock Arsenal, also known as U.S. Arsenal Building, is a building located in MacArthur Park in downtown Little Rock, Arkansas. Built in 1840, it was part of Little Rock's first military installation. Since its decommissioning, The Tower Building has housed two museums...
(formerly the Little Rock Arsenal).
Each January, the Sons of Confederate Veterans
Sons of Confederate Veterans
Sons of Confederate Veterans is an American national heritage organization with members in all fifty states and in almost a dozen countries in Europe, Australia and South America...
honor Dodd in a ceremony at his grave site. In November 1984, the Sons of Confederate Veterans awarded the Confederate Medal of Honor to Dodd, one of only twenty-two persons so honored.