Sam Davis Statue


The Sam Davis Statue is a historic bronze statue of Sam Davis, the "Boy Hero of the Confederacy," outside the Tennessee State Capitol in Nashville, Tennessee.

History

Its commission was first suggested by Sumner Archibald Cunningham, the founding editor of Confederate Veteran. It was designed by sculptor George Julian Zolnay. Built with bronze, it is nine feet tall on top of a marble pedestal. The western plaque includes lines from a poem by Ella Wheeler Wilcox. The monument cost almost $8,000 to build. The bronze sculpture cost $4,000 and the marble pedestal $3,000.
The dedication was held on April 29, 1909. It was attended by thousands, including members of the Davis family, Confederate veterans in uniform, and members of the United Daughters of the Confederacy. Major Eugene C. Lewis introduced Governor Malcolm R. Patterson, who gave a speech praising Davis. Lewis then read a letter by Colonel Hume R. Field. It was followed by a prayer by Reverend James Hugh McNeilly of Glen Leven Presbyterian Church. Finally, Davis's grandniece, Elizabeth Ewing Davis, unveiled the statue by taking off the Confederate flags covering it.

2017 protest

On August 28, 2017, in the wake of the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, protesters covered the statue, but the Tennessee Highway Patrol and the Nashville Fire Department uncovered it half an hour later.