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He was born in 1846 in Texas, but moved with his family to Benton at age 10. He attended school there and moved to Little Rock in 1861. At the beginning of the Civil War he worked as a clerk in a telegraph office. When Little Rock fell to Federal forces in 1863, the family “evacuated” to Camden.

On Christmas Eve 1863, his father, who thought he would be safe because he was underage for military service, sent him to Little Rock on family business. While there he met and socialized with a teenage girl, Mary Dodge, whose home was occupied by Union officers. He was granted a pass to return to Camden, but, as he was crossing the lines, a Union guard destroyed his pass, saying it would no longer be needed.

He was captured the next day wandering in the woods, having crossed back into Union territory. For identification he gave them a small leather notebook that had his birth certificate and a page with dots and dashes — Morse code that detailed Union troop strength in the city. After a four-day trial, he was found guilty of spying for the Confederacy. He was hanged in what is now MacArthur Park on Jan. 9, 1864, before a crowd of more than 5,000. Mary Dodge and her father were transported to Vermont for the duration of the war.

There was a growing sentiment for Arkansas to withdraw from the Confederacy and rejoin the Union, but the execution of this boy reversed many Arkansans’ sympathies. Who was this 17-year-old known as the boy martyr of the Confederacy? Answer on Page 6E