Christmas Day passed uneventfully–”dull” was how Dodd described it. Conditions in the prison were harsh, Dodd wrote, “no wood hardly–freezing and starving by inches.” Fortunately there was hope for the Rebel captives. They had been told they would soon be transferred to Northern prison camps, most likely to Camp Chase in Ohio. As late as New Year’s Day, Dodd thought he would be among the prisoners sent north the next day.

Subscribe Today

• Did you enjoy our article?
• Read more in Civil War Times magazine
• Subscribe online and save nearly 40%!!!
 

Suddenly the unusual clothing he had been wearing when taken captive became an issue. Like many Confederate soldiers, Dodd wore a captured Yankee overcoat. He also wore blue pants, which he claimed were part of his regular uniform. Completing the outfit were a Mexican serape, which he donned throughout the war, and a broad-brimmed Ranger hat, which prominently displayed the star of Terry’s Texas Rangers. Curiously, no one mentioned Dodd’s eclectic outfit during the first fortnight of his captivity. Perhaps that was because the Rangers were famous for their colorful dress, as one Ranger observed, “Some in Red, some in Blue–Brown, Green, yellow.”

The odd attire gained new meaning after Federals found his diary. They discovered that many entries referred to the placement of Union pickets (natural enough comments for a scout to record) and, more importantly, to an occasion earlier that month on which Dodd had passed himself off as a Yankee when traveling through Loudon County. Dodd probably wrote the remark with a gleeful touch, delighted to have outwitted a pro-Union civilian and ensured safe passage. His comments were made in reference to securing his escape, not to acquiring military information. However, when Federal authorities read the entries with his blue pants and coat in mind, the words took on new meaning. It probably did not help Dodd’s cause to have mentioned that before his detachment broke up, it had stolen horses and weapons and released slaves from households.

Convinced a spy was in their midst, the Yankees moved swiftly. Official records show that Dodd was tried “on or before January 5th.” In fact, the charges, findings, and sentence of his court-martial were not announced until January 5, 1864. But new evidence shows clearly that Dodd was rushed before a tribunal on New Year’s Day, the date of the diary’s last entry and the day Federal authorities discovered and confiscated the pocket volume. Word spread through Knoxville of Dodd’s January 1 trial, but the verdict attached to the spreading gossip was acquittal. Dodd himself wrote to his father, “I was tried by the court-martial as a spy, but the charge and specifications could not be sustained.”

Not until 11:00 a.m. on January 6 did Dodd learn he was to be hanged. Up to that time, he still thought that he was destined for Camp Chase. Ellen House, a young pro-Confederate woman who had been supplying clothing to Dodd and other prisoners, received Dodd’s request for toiletries and assorted small items on January 5. “It was after dark when I got [the letter],” House recorded in her diary. “So I will have to wait till tomorrow morning.”

The next morning snow fell on Knoxville. House sent the requested items before breakfast. By the time the toiletries reached Dodd, he probably had been given the grim news: he would be hanged on Friday, January 8. “Oh it is terrible, terrible, so totally unexpected,” House wrote. “If I only could do something for him. Were he a spy, badly as I would feel about it, I know it would be perfectly useless to do anything. But for an innocent man to die such a death is awful beyond conception.” House concluded her daily diary entry still in shock, but on a hopeful note: “Oh! I cannot, cannot believe that they will hang him. Something must stop it.”

Other Knoxville Confederates shared House’s sentiments. Many immediately mobilized to save Dodd. The Reverend Joseph H. Martin, pastor of the Second Presbyterian Church, visited Dodd regularly, as did three Federal chaplains. All four ministers believed Dodd’s steadfast claim of innocence, as did his prison guards. The Masons, having failed Dodd once, renewed their campaign for his release. Prominent citizens, including some Unionists, petitioned Brigadier General Samuel P. Carter, a native Tennessean who served as provost marshal in Knoxville, to intercede. As late as Thursday night, January 7, people saw hope of saving Dodd.

Help HistoryNet by bookmarking to