The Confederate Niter Works, personnel, and probable modern name of pack cave

THE CONFEDERATE NITER WORKS, PERSONNEL, AND
PROBABLE MODERN NAME OF PACK CAVE

Marion O. Smith

During the Civil War the Confederate government, under the auspices of the Nitre and Mining
Bureau, worked numerous caves for saltpeter. One such site was Pack Cave, located somewhere west
of Chattanooga, Tennessee. Although incomplete, enough records exist to outline the mining efforts at
that cave and to correlate it, within a reasonable degree, to a known 1990s cave.

The earliest known mention of Pack Cave is in a May 24, 1861, letter from Robert Cravens of
Chattanooga to Samuel D. Morgan of Nashville. Morgan was an agent of the Tennessee State Military
Board and Cravens was reporting on progress in setting up saltpeter mining operations at Lookout,
Nickajack, and other caves. "The Pack Cave, I find will prove a failure," he wrote.’

Some nine months after the Nitre Bureau was created in April, 1862, there was a more serious
effort to mine Pack Cave. Sometime about the tenth or fifteenth of January, 1863, a labor force of
fourteen men was sent from Nickajack Cave to renew operations at Pack Cave. All these men remained
at their new assignment through June, 1863, with John C. Edmondson serving as superintendent. In July
the number of workers dropped to eleven when Edmondson and two laborers were either reassigned or
dropped from the rolls. Samuel C. Steadman, who had been boss boiler, then became superintendent.
In August, 1863, there were two new laborers, S. Murphy and Thomas R. Hutcherson, who only worked
three days each. Soon afterwards the cave was abandoned because of the approach toward Chattanooga
of the Union army under Major General William S. Rosecrans.”

Pack Cave’s complete roster of employees with their other known Nitre Bureau assignments are
as follows:

Christopher C. Brewer (February 11, 1833-January 4, 1902), a Gwinnett County, Georgia,
farm laborer before the war, labored at Ringgold Cave [possibly GSS 106, Chickamauga Cave],
Catoosa County, Georgia (June 1862); Ravenel Cave [Jolley Cave], Bartow County, Georgia
(June-Aug. 1862); Lookout Cave, Hamilton County, Tennessee (Aug.-Sept. 1862); Nickajack
Cave, Marion County, Tennessee (Oct. 1862-Jan. 1863); Pack Cave, Georgia (Jan.-Aug. 1863); .
Camp near Kingston, Bartow County, Georgia (Oct. 1863); Big Spring Nitre Works [Guntersville
Caverns], Marshall County, Alabama (Jan.-Feb.-Mar. 1864); and fourteen days at Blue Mountain
Nitre Works [Lady-Weaver Cave], Calhoun County, Alabama (Feb. 1864). In addition he was
a cook twenty-three days at Big Spring Nitre Works, Alabama (Dec. 1863). Alice S. McCabe,
ed., Gwinnett County, Georgia Deaths 1818-1989 (Lawrenceville, Ga., 1991), 73; 1860 Census,
Ga., Gwinnett, 406th Dist., 740; Confederate Payrolls, RG109, NA.

C. C. Caldwell reportedly was from Decatur, DeKalb County, Georgia. He was a laborer at
Parten Cave, Floyd County, Georgia (May-July, 1862); Ravenel Cave, Georgia (July-Aug. 1862);
Lookout Cave, Tennessee (Aug.-Spét. 1862); Nickajack Cave, Tennessee (Oct. 1862-Jan., July,
1863); Pack Cave, Georgia (Jan.-June 1863); Camp near Kingston, Georgia (Oct. 1863); Blue
Mountain Nitre Works [Horse-Adcock Caves], Blount County, Alabama (Mar. [414 days], July,
Sept. 1864, Feb.-Mar. 1865); Prater’s Cave, county unknown, Alabama (Apr. [12 days] 1864);
and Long Hollow Nitre Works [Cave Mountain Cave], Marshall County, Alabama (Apr.-May
1864). He was also shoemaker at Blue Mountain Nitre Works, Alabama (Mar. 1864). John Riley
Hopkins Papers, Georgia Archives, Atlanta; Confederate Payrolls, RG109, NA.

David B. Carr (c1830-/11882), an Abbeville, South Carolina, native, was a laborer and farmer
who before the war lived in Floyd County, Georgia. During his association with the Nitre Bureau
he was a laborer at Ringgold Cave, Georgia (May-June 1862); Ravenel Cave, Georgia (June-Aug.
1862); Lookout Cave, Tennessee (Aug.-Sept. 1862); Nickajack Cave, Tennessee (Jan. 1863); Pack

Cave, Georgia (Jan.-Aug. 1863); Camp near Kingston, Georgia (Oct. 1863); and Fort Payne Cave
[Manitou Cave], DeKalb County, Alabama (Dec. 1863-Feb. 1864). Captured February 2, 1864,
he was held prisoner of war at Rock Island, Illinois, until the following October 17, when he
joined Company F, 3rd U.S. Volunteer Infantry for western frontier service against the Indians.
He was mustered out of that duty at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, November 29, 1865. By 1870
he resided in Fulton County, Georgia, and sometimes was a citizen of Atlanta, dying between
1882 and 1885. 1860 Census, Ga., Floyd, Flat Woods Dist., 204; (1870), Fulton, 219; Compiled
Service Records of Confederate Soldiers . . . Raised Directly by the . . . Government, Nitre and
Mining Bureau, RG109, NA; Confederate Payrolls, RG109, NA; Compiled Service Records,
RG94, NA.

John C. Edmondson was carpenter (Nov. 1862) and boss carpenter (Dec. 1862-Jan. 1863) at
Nickajack Cave, Tennessee, before serving as superintendent of Pack Cave, Georgia (Jan.-June
1863). During the first half of July, 1863, he was “exploring for Caves in Dist. No 8," and from
the 17th to the 31st of that month he received and shipped pig iron at Bridgeport, Alabama. The
next month he was “coal agent" in charge of a coal train on the Nashville and Chattanooga
Railroad, and in December, 1863, he was a carpenter building for the Nitre Bureau an office and
new military storehouse in Atlanta. Confederate Payrolls, RG109, NA; J. C. Edmondson file,
Confederate Papers Relating to Citizens or Business Firms, RG109 (Microcopy 346, Roll 275),
NA.

J. T. Greer was a laborer at Nickajack Cave, Tennessee (Jan. 1863), and Pack Cave, Georgia
(Jan.-June 1863). Confederate Payrolls, RG109, NA.

Thomas R. Hutcherson (b. c1829) was possibly from Henry County, Georgia. He was a
laborer at Bartow Cave [Kingston Saltpeter Cave], Bartow County, Georgia (July 1862);
Chattanooga Potash Works, Hamilton County, Tennessee (Sept. 1862-Aug. 1863); Pack Cave
(Aug. [3 days] 1863); Camp near Kingston, Georgia (Oct. 1863); Blue Mountain Nitre Works,
Alabama (Nov. [7 days] 1863); and Big Spring Nitre Works, Alabama (Nov. 1863, Jan.-Mar.
1864). Also, he was a boiler at Big Spring Nitre Works (June 1864). J. R. Hopkins Papers,
Georgia Archives; Confederate Payrolls, RG109, NA.

Joseph Kelley was a laborer at Nickajack Cave, Tennessee (Nov. 1862-Jan. 1863), and Pack
Cave, Georgia (Jan.-Aug. 1863). Confederate Payrolls, RG109, NA.

John Ledbetter was a laborer at Nickajack Cave, Tennessee (Nov. 1862, Jan. 1863); Pack
Cave, Georgia (Jan.-Aug. 1863); Camp near Kingston, Georgia (Oct. 1863); and Little River
Nitre Works [Daniel Cave], Cherokee County, Alabama (Nov. 1863, Jan. 1864). He also served
as a mason at Little River Nitre Works (Dec. 1863); Big Spring Nitre Works, Alabama (Feb.-
Mar. 1864); Blue Mountain Nitre Works, Alabama (Mar. [16 days] 1864); Prater Cave, Alabama
(Apr. 1864); and Long Hollow Nitre Works, Alabama (May 1864). Confederate Payrolls,
RG109, NA.

William A. Maloney (b. c1834), a Gwinnett County, Georgia, farmer, was a laborer at
Ringgold Cave, Georgia (June 1862); Nickajack Cave, Tennessee (Jan. 1863); Pack Cave,
Georgia (Jan.-Aug. 1863); Camp near Kingston, Georgia (Oct. 1863); Little River Nitre Works,
Alabama (Nov. 1863-May 1864); Blue Mountain Nitre Works, Alabama (June-July 1864); Cedar
Mountain Nitre Works, Alabama (late July, Sept. 1864, Jan.-Mar. 1865); and Blountsville Nitre
Works [probably Posey Cave], Blount County, Alabama (Apr. 1865). His last day on the job was
April 26, seventeen days after General R. E. Lee’s surrender. 1860 Census, Ga., Gwinnett,
404th Dist., 184; Confederate Payrolls, RG109, NA; J. R. Hopkins Papers, Georgia Archives.

S. Murphy worked at Pack Cave, Georgia, three days in August, 1863. Nothing further is
known about him. Confederate Payrolls, RG109, NA.

Charles Plummer (b. c1832), an Irish-born Chattanooga school teacher, was a laborer at
Nickajack Cave, Tennessee (Jan. [14 day only] 1863), and Pack Cave, Georgia (Jan.-Aug. 1863).
1860 Census, Tenn., Hamilton, 14th Dist., 122; Confederate Payrolls, RG109, NA.

Andrew C. Russell was a laborer at Nickajack Cave, Tennessee (Jan. 1863); Pack Cave,
Georgia (Jan.-Aug. 1863); Camp near Kingston, Georgia (Oct. 1863); Little River Nitre Works,

Alabama (Dec. 1863-Apr. 1864); Big Spring Nitre Works, Alabama (May 1864); and Blue
Mountain Nitre Works, Alabama (June-July 1864). Confederate Payrolls, RG109, NA.

M. Steadman was cook at Nickajack Cave, Tennessee (Nov. 1862-Jan. 1863), and Pack Cave,
Georgia (Jan.-Aug. 1863). The August, 1863, payroll lists S. C. Steadman twice and not M.
Steadman. It is assumed a mistake was made and the latter was really still a cook. Confederate
Payrolls, RG109, NA.

Samuel C. Steadman worked at Nickajack Cave, Tennessee, as cook (Aug. 1862), laborer
(Nov.-Dec. 1862), and boss boiler (Jan. 1863), before becoming boss boiler (Jan.-June 1863) and
superintendent at Pack Cave, Georgia (July-aug. 1863). Confederate Payrolls, RG109, NA.

Luke W. Turner (b. c1844), a Henry County, Georgia, farm worker before the war, was a
laborer at Ringgold Cave, Georgia (June 1862); Nickajack Cave, Tennessee (Nov. 1862-Jan.
1863); Pack Cave, Georgia (Jan.-Aug. 1863); Camp near Kingston, Georgia (Oct. 1863); Little
River Nitre Works, Alabama (June 1864). Also at Little River Nitre Works he was commissary
(Jan. 1864) and cook and commissary (Apr.-May 1864). 1860 Census, Ga., Henry, Bersheba
P.O., 86; Confederate Payrolls, RG109, NA.

James C. Wright was a laborer at Nickajack Cave, Tennessee (Nov. 1862-Jan. 1863); Pack
Cave, Georgia (Jan.-Aug. 1863); Camp near Kingston, Georgia (Oct. 1863); Little River Nitre
Works, Alabama (Nov.-Dec. 1863); and Blue Mountain Nitre Works, Alabama (June 1864). He
also was a boiler (Feb. 1864) and "cave supt" or "foreman cave" (Jan., Mar.-May 1864) at Little
River Nitre Works, and "foreman" at Little Warrior Nitre Works [Crumps-Second Caves], Blount
County, Alabama (July 1864). Confederate Payrolls, RG109, NA.

Little is known about the daily operations at Pack Cave. In January and February, J. Kelley,
probably the Joseph Kelley who was a laborer, supplied bacon, corn, and meal for “use of Hands" at the
cave. In February Daniel Kaylor, a Chattanooga merchant, provided three barrels, and in May and June
Superintendent Edmondson furnished lard “for burning in Lamps" at the cave.°

Nothing whatever is known about how much saltpeter was produced at Pack Cave.

Now, what currently known cave is Pack Cave? Although one of the 1863 payrolls is headed
“Pack Cave Tenn.," it is the opinion of this writer that Pack Cave is the same as GSS 90, Hooker Cave,
at the extreme northern border of Dade County, Georgia, only a quarter mile or less south of the
Tennessee line. In support of this supposition two strong items of contemporary documentary evidence
are offered .*

First, Lieutenant Bolling A. Stovall was the principal assistant in Nitre District No. 8, consisting
of southeastern Tennessee and northern Georgia. In the course of his job he traveled throughout the
district. Vouchers for August, 1863, show that on the nineteenth he was “at Trenton Ga to examine
Caves in [that] vicinity." Then about the twenty-third and twenty-fourth he went on a "trip to Pack Cave,
with [the] intention of visiting Shellmount,Tenn" near Nickajack Cave, but that the "Enemy Prevented"
the second part of this plan. From this it can be inferred that Pack Cave was somewhere north of
Trenton and east of Shellmound, where it was still safe for Confederates.°

Second, and most important, is the fact that R. M. Paris was paid by the Nitre Bureau ten dollars
a month for "Rent of one House, with Kitchen for accomodatin of hands at Pack Cave, and one Stable
for use of Mules at Pack Cave" from January 15 through June "30, 1863. Also, he supplied "100 Cords
of standing wood for fuel for furnaces at Pack Cave." Paris must necessarily have lived very close to
Pack Cave. An examination of the 1860 and 1870 censuses shows that Robert M. Paris (b. c1812)
indeed lived in northern Dade County, and that he was one of the more wealthy citizens, owning twenty-
one slaves before the war, with four slave houses. The exact location of Paris’s property is not yet
known, but interestingly, the modern Hooker topographic map shows that Interstate twenty-four is routed
through Paris Hollow some two and a half to three miles west of the Georgia Highway 299 interchange.
The odds are very high that Paris Hollow is named for either Robert M. Paris or some of his
descendents.°

P2836

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Hooker Cave, with a surveyed length of 1267 feet, is in the locality where the Confederates’ Pack
Cave should have been. Significantly, it is the only cave in that neighborhood known to have been mined
for saltpeter. Although in August, 1982, the cave was flooded to the ceiling with an influx of much
debris, mining evidence still survives. There are tally marks, pick impacts on the walls, stacked rocks,
and above the twenty-four foot crack to the lower level eight and fifteen inch drill marks where blasting
was done.’

The only problem with the thesis that Hooker Cave is Pack Cave is the lack of a clear correlation
of names on the wall with those from the payrolls of Confederate Nitre workers. There is Civil War
graffiti in Hooker Cave, but on neither of his 1983 and 1987 visits did the writer yet have copies of the
payrolls. Perhaps another visit with the list of employees would be profitable. "EF Wheeler 1863 July,
the 5" and "E R Jul 8 1863" are wall signatures made when Confederates controlled the area, but which
do not match the payrolls. They are assumed to be the name and initials of curious visitors. So far, the
only name found in the cave which even remotely matches one of the saltpeter miners has been
deciphered as "W A Melon," which possibly may be the signature of the laborer William A. Maloney.
But in spite of the paucity of in-cave documentation, the overall circumstantial evidence presented earlier

~iS significant enough to still convince the author that Pack Cave of 1861 and 1863 is Hooker Cave of
today.

FOOTNOTES

1. Cravens to Morgan, May 24, 1861, Samuel Dold Morgan Papers, Tennessee State Library and Archives, Nashville.

2. Confederate Payrolls, Nickajack and Pack Caves, Record Group 109, National Archives.

3. J. Kelley, D. Kaylor, and J. C. Edmondson files, Confederate Papers Relating to Citizens or Business Firms, Record Group
109 (Microcopy 346, Rolls 537, 533, 275), National Archives. Daniel Kaylor (b. c1826) was a New York native who had been
in Tennessee since the mid 1850s. 1860 Census, Tenn., Hamilton, 14th Dist., 118.

4. Confederate Payrolls, Pack Cave, August, 1863, RG109, NA; Georgia Speleological Survey.

5. B.A. Stovall file, Compiled Service Records of Confederate Soldiers Raised Directly by the . . . Government, Nitre and
Mining Bureau, Record Group 109 (Microcopy 258, Roll 113), National Archives.

6. R. M. Paris file, Citizens Papers, RG109 (M346, Roll 771), NA; Nathaniel C. Hughes, Jr., The Civil War Comes to Dade
County (Chattanooga, 1975), 40, 72, 112, 189, 190; Hooker 7'4 minute topographic map. Robert M. Paris was originally from
near McMinnville, Tennessee, and in 1866 he was a Georgia state senator. Memorial and Biographical Record: An Illustrated
Compendium of Biography (Chicago: Geo. A. Ogle & Co., 1898), 505; Macon Daily Telegraph, February 20, 1866.

7. Georgia Speleological Survey; Diaries of Marion O. Smith, February 20, 1983, December 5, 1987.

8. Ibid. There are Union soldier names on the walls of Hooker Cave, including: "E R Kennedy Co H 9 Ind Sept 15" 1863,"
"J RM 6 Ky Cav," "Oliver Holm [Heslm? Heslar?] 3rd __ Sept 15 1863," "G A[?] Brown[?] C° 2 [Q or C?] 6" Ohio," and
"W Cork[?] 1864."