Sam Davis Grave, Home, Museum

Smyrna, Tennessee

Sam Davis, "The Boy Hero of the Confederacy," grew up comfortably on a well-to-do cotton farm. He even had his own slave, who ended up in jail with him. Davis was later hanged for spying. Davis's body was buried not far from the gallows. A few weeks later his brother arrived, dug up the body, and brought it back to Smyrna. "His mother was hoping to see an empty wagon return," states a sign at the Sam Davis capture site in Minor Hill, "but instead it was carrying her son's body."

Sam Davis was buried near the family home, supposedly in the flowerbed, on Christmas Eve. Those last two items may have been embellishments, like the story about his mom, as his story grew into folklore. You can still visit his grave, marked by a granite obelisk, and his house -- purchased by the state of Tennessee as an official attraction -- is open for tours. It contains a small museum of Davis family artifacts, among them Sam Davis's posthumous Confederate Medal of Honor. And on the grounds is a rock with a plaque marking the spot where Sam Davis once hid his horse from the Yankees.