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Crowd remembers Rebel martyr

17-year-old Dodd, hanged in 1864, compared with Nathan Hale

By Charlie Frago

W. Danny Honnoll (right) leads a prayer Saturday at the grave of David O. Dodd, who was executed by Union troops for being a Confederate spy.

Photo by Steve Keesee

W. Danny Honnoll (right) leads a prayer Saturday at the grave of David O. Dodd, who was executed by Union troops for being a Confederate spy.

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A 17-year-old boy hanged by Union troops for spying during the Civil War was a hero, a leader of the Sons of Confederate Veterans told a small crowd gathered Saturday in Little Rock’s Mount Holly Cemetery.

Mark Kalkbrenner of White Hall gave a brief speech about the legacy of David O. Dodd, the boy who was executed on Jan. 8, 1864, after being found with information on Union troop strength in Little Rock.

Dodd never gave up any names of other spies and his death was a brave one, said Kalkbrenner, commander of the Arkansas Division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans.

Kalkbrenner compared Dodd’s actions with those of Nathan Hale, a Revolutionary War hero hanged for espionage ...

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This article was published January 10, 2010 at 3:24 a.m.

Arkansas, Pages 15 on 01/10/2010

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Comments on Crowd remembers Rebel martyr

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govhater says...

It's nice to see everyone still celebrating the attempted gonocide of my race. I'm from New York and I'm glad we won that war. As far as your spy goes, he deserved to be hung. How many slaves did he beat and rape?

January 10, 2010 at 8:03 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

Vibe says...

None. Genocide? I hardly think so...but then again I didn't vote to elect a president descinded from those that SOLD their brothers into bondage. That's a preposterous statement, but no more preposterous than yours.

January 10, 2010 at 8:34 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

LevitiCuss says...

Yankee go home.

January 10, 2010 at 8:57 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

smartbluedoberman_yahoo.com says...

Nothing annoys me worse than those who would conveniently forget that the civil war was not about slavery. It was about state's rights to make their cummunity their own. Mr. Lincoln freed the slaves because he was a federalist who thought it would help win the war. go back to school oh ye of ignorance!

January 10, 2010 at 9:27 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

themanwithnoname says...

Nothing annoys me more than people actually thinking the Civil war was not about slavery. Yeah it was about states rights....states rights to allow slavery to continue.
The relationship between state and federal government has always been a particulary delicate relationship, but when Mr. Lincoln became president it became too much for the slave states, because they knew his policy regarding the expansion of slavery was opposite of theirs. That is what compelled the south to rebel, to think otherwise is just being naive.

January 10, 2010 at 12:45 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

gruntpain1775 says...

Govhater...

Where was the genocide? Uganda, somali...hmmm. As for the War of Northern Aggression, the "beloved" President Lincoln was nothing more than a criminal. He had no legal authority to order troops into the south. Another point, go read the Emancipation Proclamation. Sure it freed slaves (that he had no authority to free) in southern state...yet all the ones in union control were not free. Your ignorant of your own heritage and past. Go read history instead of believing in the False prophet Obama.

January 10, 2010 at 2:36 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

GoVikes777 says...

gruntpain1775,

Seriously? President Lincoln had no authority to free the slaves? You sound like you think slavery should not be illegal, and the freedoms guaranteed in our Constitution apply only to white men.

I am a white man from the North and my Civil War record is 1-0. What's yours??

January 10, 2010 at 3:02 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

Sluggo71 says...

You may be a white man from the North but you haven't done jack in to have a record in a civil war.
But it is the mark warriors to respect an enemy in any war.
Few warriors around here. The boy was brave and deserves the recognition. Patriotism is and has always been about blood and soil...not contractual agreements and governments.

January 10, 2010 at 5:56 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

themanwithnoname says...

Slugoo71,
I agree that some southerners went to arms only to repel an invading army, but to call Lincoln a criminal is stupid. I admit that his emancipation proclomation was more about winning the war than the morality or lack of morality of slavery, but the ends justified the means. While the founding fathers are to be admired, in my humble opinion they were hypocrites. All of their talk about freedom from tyranny and rights of man only applied to white land owners, if they really believed in their rhetoric, they would have attempted to right the wrongs of slavery in their declaration of independence. I have one question for you, do you honestly believe that slavery would have vanished without the civil war, and do you believe that the freedoms our forefathers fought and died for only applied to whites?

January 10, 2010 at 8:59 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

vanectory says...

I agree with the manwithnoname comment about the end justifying the means. The Civil War in the minds of most Southerners was not over slavery, but, a maneuver of strategies to stop the south from using the labors of the slaves. But, in the history books, the south wanted to count their slaves as part of the census to gain seats and control of Congress. Either way that you look at it, it was over the issue of slavery. For example, the Revolutionary war started over taxation without representation, but, to those loyal to the British, it was over the price and taxes on sugar, coffee and such. The final outcome was that the former British Colonies won their freedom from England. The South had built up legacy of Aristocratic Southern landowners with huge plantations that wanted to insure the survival of a way of life that guaranteed them a superiority to compete with the NOrthern Ivy League Educational Institutions, which the South had known. Their only claim to fame was their superimposed classification of a false aristocratic lifestyle based upon preconceived Noble hierarchy. So, manwithnoname, history has a way of righting wrongs...the civil war was a step toward correcting the human weakness to use whatever is beneficial to the lazy, trifling, and undeserved sinners. Oh,I grew up in the Stagecoach community. I am well aware of the significance historically about the Dodd boy. The community was filled with white racists and bigots.

January 10, 2010 at 10:33 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

HB4 says...

He was a spy, he was hanged. That's how it goes. My only regret is that Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee, Joseph Johnson and others instrumental in the treason were not hanged beside him.

It's true that many (if not most) Southerners were not slave owners and probably would not have entered into this bloody expedition had they known it was about slavery. Most of the poor and uneducated believed this war was about the North trying to make the South it's whore.

Just like today, those with money and a stake in the status quo convinced those in the lower socio-economic level to buy into their crap and vote against their own best interests. The poor fight a war to keep the rich in their mansions.

January 11, 2010 at 7:11 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

manta says...

HB4, you seem to know of what you speak. After the War, blacks have endured more than 100 years of another kind of slavery. What happened to forty acres and a mule? Welcome to the south and freedom.

January 11, 2010 at 10:42 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

Workingpayingtaxes says...

manta,
Blacks are enduring another form of slavery right now and it's one they have willingly walked into. They are being bought with taxpayer money to support the liberal agenda for America.

I love how Yankees come to the south and claim some level of moral and intellectual superiority because of the Civil War. The reasons for the war were many and, as the statement goes, the winner gets to write the history books. Due to this, we get the most simplistic reasoning for the Civil War.

There were villians and heroes on both sides. Respect is due the military heroes on both sides of the war. Unfortunately, very few these days know what the word respect means or how it should be applied.

January 11, 2010 at 11:43 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

manta says...

I think the southern slave owners should have given a portion of their land to the slaves as was being agreed to before Lincoln's murder. These people worked the land and deserved more than 100 years of serfdom and oppression that has followed. This is and was unfair by any reasonable standard.

Because, I don't agree with your view doesn't make me a "Yankee". I was born in Fulton County, Ga. and have more family buried in Clayton County Georgia than you had family in the war. I came to Arkansas through the military and choose it as home.

January 11, 2010 at 12:13 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

Workingpayingtaxes says...

manta,
Sorry, I was unclear in my posting. I was not referring to you as a Yankee. I should have made that clear.

Also, you and I don't disagree totally. Slavery is an unfavorable time in America's history. The '40 acres and a mule' should have been followed through. I almost wish it would have been because it would have been a great point to see how many made the most of it and how many squandered it. If you look at other countries, most large farms broken up into smaller pieces and given to the population by the government results in no farming and starvation for the population.

Unfortunately, you go too far in your comments about having more family buried in Clayton County Georgia than I had family in the war. I don't know how many family members you have buried in Clayton County Georgia or how many of them were in the Civil War any more than you know how many people in my family were in the Civil War. Civility and respect, even in differences of opinion is highly regarded.

January 11, 2010 at 12:46 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

thuggetter says...

Manta girl, I guess your family from Georgia gave all of their slaves 40 acres and a mule. It should give you that warm feeling that one good deed makes up for the past. That is how it works with Libs. Just give me that good warm feeling, no matter if it really means anything. Just like the health care bill, pass one, no matter if it is good or bad...

January 11, 2010 at 12:46 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

silverdog says...

yes, for god's sake, pass one. stop letting people die for lack of a little health care just so some insurance fat cats can get fatter.

January 11, 2010 at 2:26 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

manta says...

I'm sorry too, Workingpayingtaxes. I got my own dander up, without just cause, and I apologize. Your right, I don't have a clue to your families contribution to the war, but like my family, I'll guess its significant.I really don't consider being called a yankee a insult, as I serve in the military with really good soldiers from everywhere. The good hard working people in Arkansas is one reason I settled here.

Thuggetter, for your information I'm not a girl and not one of my family had a slave or forty acres to give away. Perhaps you should read a little about General Sherman.

January 11, 2010 at 3:28 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

Workingpayingtaxes says...

silverdog,
While insurance companies do make money, if you think there are people dying now just wait until the government is totally controlling healthcare.

For anyone thinking the politicians in Washington D.C. really care about their health and wellbeing I have two bridges for sale. One in New York and the other in California.

January 11, 2010 at 4:54 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

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