David O. Dodd
David Owen Dodd (November 10, 1846 – January 8, 1864), also known as David O. Dodd, was an Arkansas youth executed for spying in the American Civil War.
David Owen Dodd | |
|---|---|
| Born | November 10, 1846 Lavaca County, Texas, U.S. |
| Died | January 8, 1864 (aged 17) St. Johns' College, Little Rock, Arkansas, U.S. |
| Cause of death | Execution by hanging |
| Burial place | Mount Holly Cemetery, Little Rock, Arkansas, U.S. 34°44′15.3″N 92°16′42.5″W |
| Alma mater | St. Johns' College |
In December 1863 Dodd carried some letters to business associates of his father in Union-held Little Rock, Arkansas. While traveling to rejoin his family at Camden, Arkansas, he mistakenly re-entered Federally-held territory. Discovering that he did not have a pass, U.S. soldiers questioned him and found that he was carrying a notebook with the locations of Federal troops in the area. He was arrested and tried by a military tribunal, with minimal defense offered for his actions. Dodd was guilty of spying and sentenced him to death. He was hanged on January 8, 1864. While he did not reveal the source of the information, a young girl named Mary Dodge and her father were summarily escorted back to their home in Vermont. These events have led to him being called the "Arkansas Boy Martyr of the Confederacy".