Civil War Figure. He was a member of Company D, Terry's Texas Rangers 8th Reg Texas Cavalry, Confederate States of America, serving from December 4, 1862 to January 1, 1864. He was captured by Federal Troops, who accused him of being a spy because of his personal diary and the mixed clothing he was wearing behind enemy lines. He was tried and found innocent but was condemned to be executed by hanging anyway. The first time he was hung, the rope broke and he fell to the ground breaking his leg. He was carried back to the scaffold and a double noose was used. He was dropped a second time to his death. Just before his death, he said, "I die innocent of the charges against me". In his history of "Terry's Texas Rangers," Mr. L. B. Giles narrates the following tragic incident of the East Tennessee campaign: "It was during this winter that one of the saddest events in all our career happened: the hanging of E. S. Dodd by the enemy. He was a member of Company D. He was of a good family and well educated. For many years he kept a diary, setting down at night the happenings of the day. He was taken prisoner with this diary in his pocket. On that evidence alone he was condemned and executed as a spy."
Civil War Figure. He was a member of Company D, Terry's Texas Rangers 8th Reg Texas Cavalry, Confederate States of America, serving from December 4, 1862 to January 1, 1864. He was captured by Federal Troops, who accused him of being a spy because of his personal diary and the mixed clothing he was wearing behind enemy lines. He was tried and found innocent but was condemned to be executed by hanging anyway. The first time he was hung, the rope broke and he fell to the ground breaking his leg. He was carried back to the scaffold and a double noose was used. He was dropped a second time to his death. Just before his death, he said, "I die innocent of the charges against me". In his history of "Terry's Texas Rangers," Mr. L. B. Giles narrates the following tragic incident of the East Tennessee campaign: "It was during this winter that one of the saddest events in all our career happened: the hanging of E. S. Dodd by the enemy. He was a member of Company D. He was of a good family and well educated. For many years he kept a diary, setting down at night the happenings of the day. He was taken prisoner with this diary in his pocket. On that evidence alone he was condemned and executed as a spy."
Bio by: Wayne Sampson
Family Members
Advertisement
See more Dodd memorials in:
Explore more
Sponsored by Ancestry
Advertisement
