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Exhibition Reviews
"Recovering Their Story: African Americans on the Davis Plantation, 1850–1925." Sam Davis Home, Smyrna, Tenn. http://www.samdavishome.org/.
Permanent exhibition, opened Dec. 7, 2006. 240 sq.ft. Anita Teague, executive director; Sarah Elizabeth Hickman, educational director.
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| On December 7, 2006, the Sam Davis Home in Smyrna, Tennessee, held a grand opening for "Recovering Their Story," the newest exhibit in its museum and visitor center. The exhibit is the latest addition to the ever-expanding interpretation of the history of this antebellum home, a landmark in middle Tennessee for more than a century that continues to be a favorite destination for Civil War tourists. Until recently, the site served mostly as a Confederate shrine to Sam Davis, "Boy Hero of the Confederacy." With the introduction of a new museum on the site in 2004—designed, researched, and fabricated by Lapaglia & Associates and Studio Lapaglia—the Sam Davis Home began to integrate into its exhibits and programs the diverse agricultural history of the site, the divided nature of the Civil War in Tennessee, and the stories of all the people who had lived on the land. This latest shift toward telling a wider range of stories from this historic site corresponds with rapid changes in the surrounding community. Rutherford County is one of the fastest growing counties in the nation, and the Sam Davis Home has featured prominently in the community's discussion of who controls the interpretation of history and which memories deserve to be memorialized in a public forum. |
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Sam Davis, born in 1842, was the eldest child of Charles L. Davis and his second wife, Jane Simmons Davis. Charles, a successful farmer and land speculator, owned the property and house along Stewarts Creek that is now known as the Sam Davis Home. On May 10, 1861, young Sam joined Company I of the First Tennessee Infantry, better known as the Rutherford Rifles. After fighting at Shiloh and Perryville, the Army of Tennessee retreated to Shelbyville, where Sam and his half brother, John, joined the Coleman Scouts. |
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The Coleman Scouts were headed by Henry B. Shaw, a Davis family friend and an expert of disguise. Shaw's company recruited men who were excellent horsemen and intimately familiar with middle Tennessee. Their information-gathering efforts were so successful that they became a primary target for the Union general Grenville Dodge. When Sam was captured, Dodge offered him a reprieve if he would name the source who provided him with the sensitive documents that had been stolen directly from Dodge's desk. Sam refused, saying, "I would die a thousand deaths before I would betray a friend." He was executed on November 27, 1863. His family recovered his body a month later, and he was quietly buried on the family property. |
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Amid the other horrors of the Civil War, the story of Sam was largely lost until it was told to Summer A. Cunningham, the editor of the Confederate Veteran. Although he initially dismissed the account because it was one of many similar stories, Cunningham eventually decided that Sam would serve as an ideal icon for the Lost Cause movement. He printed his first retelling of Sam's story in 1894, and Sam Davis became a regular feature for the life of the publication. This revival of Sam's memory resulted in the construction of monuments and memorials to him across the South, particularly in Tennessee. Cunningham's crowning achievement was the public fundraising campaign for a statue of Sam Davis in front of the Tennessee capitol, which was finally dedicated in 1909. (Cunningham even successfully solicited Grenville Dodge for a contribution.) |
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