From the Annals of the True Heroes of the Civil War -In 1863, former Texas State Sen. Martin Hart was executed in Fort Smith, Arkansas for his supposed treason against the Confederate States of America.  Hart was an attorney from Hunt County who had served in the Texian Army during the Revolution at age 15.  He later served in the Texas Legislature as a representative and senator.  He was opposed to secession.  After the Texas Legislature passed the vile screed known as the “Ordinance of Secession”, he resigned from the Legislature and organized the Greenville Guards, pledging the company’s services “in defense of Texas whenever she is invaded or threatened with invasion.”   In the summer of 1862 he received a Confederate commission with permission to raise a company and conduct operations in northwest Arkansas.   However, he used his commission to travel through Confederate lines leading his followers to Missouri where they joined Union forces.  He returned to Arkansas where he led a series of rear-guard actions against Confederate forces, and is alleged to have murdered at least two prominent secessionists. He and others were captured on January 18, 1863, by Confederate forces, hung five days later and buried in an unmarked graves under the hanging tree.  After Fort Smith was recaptured by Union forces, his remains were moved to the National Cemetery there.  Contributions from Union soldiers paid for his headstone.