David O. Dodd

Hanged on School Grounds

When David left for home, he was stopped just outside the city by federal officials, and searched.

Marker erected on Stagecoach Road at the David O. Dodd Elementary School.

He had a memorandum book containing notes in the Morse code on the strength of the federal forces in Little Rock – and he was returning to Confederate territory. General Steele offered to release him if he would tell who gave him the information he had taken down. But he refused, and on January 8, 1864, he was hanged, on the grounds of the St. John’s academy, where he had gone to school.

"In Memory of
David O. Dodd
The boy hero of the Confederacy
This marks the place of his execution January 8, 1864
Erected by the memorial chapter U.D.C. 1926" - Marker erected at the current Arkansas School of Law and formerly St. John's College.

It was a sorrowful scene, even for that sorrow-laden time. Schoolmates of the poor, doomed lad, followed him as he rode on his own coffin to the place of execution. He went to his death, showing no fear when the rope was placed about his neck. Arkansas hearts were heavy for many a day after that mournful event. A marble slab marks his grave in Mount Holly cemetery, and throughout the state today David O. Dodd is a name pronounced with reverence and pride.

To all the other difficulties in Arkansas and the South faced as the war flamed and rumbled along to its dark end, there was added the affliction of rapidly depreciating currency. Prices, which would have been high enough from scarcity of goods alone, soared as the Confederate money dropped ever lower in value.

By October, 1864, Confederate currency was worth only two cents on the dollar. Meal cost $50 to $60 a bushel, and flour $300 for 100 pounds. Even a year earlier, ordinary cloth was priced at $1 a yard, and a package of sewing needles for $1.50.

A historian, writing of conditions in the state, says: “By the end of 1862…all such articles as tea, coffee, spices, and the like, had become exhausted, and inefficient substitutes were resorted to. Sugar was scarce. If meal or flour could be had, with potatoes, it was as much of a repast as usually could anywhere be found. If anyone had a milch cow it was regarded as a veritable fortune…For medicines roots and herbs were used. In addition, the money of the Confederacy steadily declined in purchasing power. A pair of boots of the poorest homemade leather sold for $80; a pair of shoes, $35; a sheep $50; a turkey, $20.”