More Sauta Cave Data

MORE SAUTA CAVE DATA

Marion 0. Smith

Since my April, 1986, Chronicles update regarding people who sold items to or

performed services for the Sauta Cave Saltpeter Works even more data has been lo-
cated. The fragmented nature of this material makes a smooth, flowing narrative
dirticuit, therefore it is only roughly categorized below.

A number of Jackson and adjacent county residents sold ashes to the Sauta
Works to be "Consumed tn the manufacture of nitre." In November and December,
1862, possibly before a potash plant Wee cecablicted on Gunters Mountain, T. W.
Campbell, S. H. Cast, Levi Fairbanks, J. H. Hughen, Mark Kelly, John Kerr, Wesley
Kerr, A. J., John P., and BR. L. Kitby, Jr... Joseph Logan, James Napies, R. W.
Sisk, and Preston Smith, for forty eee each, paneled 9345.50. 260, 30. o;
71.20, 2108.5, Liat oe 2OuG. Loe, oy 12075, 56, and 18.5 bushels. In May and June,
l#o3. 3. F. Skelton was evidently an ashes contractor since he provided to Sauta

the large amount of 1,868-/8 bushels,. at Paieee oii to forty-seven cents each.

On June 1, 1863, E. M° Kirby supplied $260.06 worth of ashes, at an unknown price.+

focal civilians helped supply the Sauta operation with a variety of other items.
On December 11, 1862, John D. Gross provided 106.5 bushels of corn and 3,100 pounds
of fodder to feed the stock. On May 6 and June 20, 1863, Jefferson Gentle likewise ©
supplied 480 and 450 pounds of fodder. The preceding January 15 and 27, W. B.
Taber and Brooks Smith sold to the works 700 pounds of flour and 6,840 pounds of
bade eee subsistence of the laborers. For $2, on November 1, 1862, James Whitlock
furnished a "Drawing chain" for "use of 'car' hauling nitrous earth in Sauta Be
James H, Bibb and J, M. and T. J. Humphrey, on November 17, 1862, and March fo.
1863, delivered 122.5 and 110 pounds of ovenware, for "cooking utensiis for Laborers
at Sauta.’' In addition,. Bibb also furnished a half dozen axes. On August 5, 1863,
tT. B. Gamble, for $500, sold a "Bay mare mule" for "general use" at Sauta. Between

November 19, 1862, and June 20, 1863, Jefferson Gentle, sometimes in association

Oke)

with a man names Hopkins, shoed a number of horses and supplied the following items:
52 bushels coal for “use of black smith shop," a erindstone "for Sharpening tools,"
a skimmer and dipper, six loads of pine for i dentine the cave, and seven shuck
horse collars for use of the tram team. In July, 1863, James ore earned $187.79
in tolls for ferrying many men » cattle, and Wapons across the Tennessee River at
Guntersville, all "Government Property and Laborers from Sauta Cave and District
Office." During November, 1862, Barton B. and H. F. Smith contributed 7,969 feet

of lumber and 205 feet of sheeting "for constructing Tanks - Sheds Nitre Boxes &c

at 'Sauta Gave,'" and the pueeeae December 31 they supplied 2,396 feet of plank
for "making Beer Tanks" and seven loads of pine "For lighting cave." In March,

1863, Barton B. Smith alone sold 1,151 feet of sheeting and 1,866 feet of one inch

plank to be "used at Sauta Cave for making Nitre Boxes & Hoppers." Earlier, on

November 4, 1862, Winston & Bros. sold two picks and two long handled shovels to
the Sauta Works.
Previously unreported hauling tasks were performed at Sauta by Winston & Bros.
and T. W. Campbell. The former, in mid-October, 1862, hauled "7 boxes Potash 4000
lbs from Stevenson to Sauta Cave at » 80 ets per cwt,' and during the next month
hired two and four mule teams to the works. Between August 1 and 12, 1663, the
ieee for $5 per day, supplied himself and a one~yoke team to haul "Furnace
woe got
During the first half of 1863, A. P. Ambrester performed a number of tasks for
Captain William Gabbett, the superintendent of the north Alabama Nitre District.
FiOn J aeeeey 20, CO 2/7 ne was Go iepecial messenger. to Atlanta with a load of Bes
peter, ane February 6-25 he went to TengeeeRe. "to purchase Beeves for bay etence
of Laborers in Dist. No. 9." The beef he then bought and the additional beef plus
pork he bought in March was Seis to feed the laborers at Sauta Cave. On his
Maach 10-22 trip he traveled to Madison and Peveons counties, Alabama. In May
he was reimbursed $191.25 for "2 Beeves weighing nett, 1275 lbs," also for subsis—

tence at Sauta Cave 4

BZ

Some 1862 and 1863 monthly payrolls for the white and slave laborers at Sauta
Cave have been located. However, since a great deal of research must be done to
identify these workers they will not be presented at this time.

NOTES

1. Various files, Confederate Papers Relating to Citizens or Business Firms,
Record Group 109, National Archives; William Gabbett file, Nitre Bureau, Compiled
Service Records, Record Group 109, National Archives. T. W. was probably Thomas W.
Campbell (c1827-£11870), a Tennessean who moved. to near Scottsboro just before the
wax. Samuel H. Cast (b. c1820) was a Kentucky native and farmer who owned land \
west of Wrights Ridge. Levi Fairbanks (01625=211670) was a North Carolinian who
after the war was a "Wood Chopper." Mark Kelly (b. cl1823) was a South Carolina-
born farmer who owned Land next to the Tennessee River four miles southeast of
Sauta. John Kerr (b. c1798) was a Kentucky-born farmer. His son, John Wesley Kerr
(February 14, 1839-January 21, 1879), an Alabamian and farmer who owned land west
of Wrights Ridge, after the war lived in Union County, IJilinois. Andrew J. Kirby
(c1814-£11895), a Knoxville, Tennessee, native, Creek War volunteer (1836), and
physician, after the war lived a while at Seymour, Indiana, before returning to
near Scottsboro. John P. Kirby (b. cl1842) was a gon Gr BR, i. Kirby, Gr.. (b. ¢
1806). Richard L. Kirby, Jr. (January 18, 1818-October 6, 1900) also had a son
named J. P. (b. c1846). Joseph Logan (b. ci806), a native Kentucky farmer, owned
land next to the Tennessee River. Sisk was either Wésley, 5r. (¢1795-£11870), or
In. (¢1839-£133/0). Preston Smith (December 5, 1823-August 25, 1894), a son of
Brooks Smith, was a farmer. James F. Shelton (c1824-£11870) and Edmund M© Kirby
(e1824-f£11870) were also farmers. 1860 Gensus, Ala., Jackson, T4SR5E, 43; 3rd
Dist., 13, 46, 47, 64, 65, 66, 67;. (18/0), 3rd Subdiv., 50/7) Dist. Luger Subdiv..
1; 2nd Subdiv., 67,60; ToGRoE, G6: TSSR5E, 6: Christine FP. Summer, compiler,
Jackson County Alabama Records (3 vols., Scottsboro, S718 76y, 1, 29. Guicli, 79;
Pauline J. Gandrud, Alabama Records (245 vols., Easley, S. C.: Southern Historical
Press, 1981), XXXVI, 69; CLATT, 49-51; John R. Kennamer, History of Jackson County
(Winchester, Tenn.,1935), 151; Jackson County land records in possession of
Merilyn Osterlund, 1815 Inspiration Lane, Huntsville, Alabama 35801.

2, Various. files, Citizens Papers. John D. Gross (c1835-£11870) lived near
Scottsboro; -Jefferson Gentle (c1833-f£11870) was a Kentucky-born blacksmith who
owned land west of Boxes Cove and north of Latham Narrows. William B. Taber.
(c1815-£11883), a Connecticut-born manufacturer, after the war was superintendent
and vice president of a cotton factory in Nashville. Brooks Smoth Cluly, 17396-
July 31, 1877), a native North Garolina farmer, owned land two miles west of Sauta
in the Vernon Cove-Aspel area. John M. (b. cl1823), a farmer, and Thomas ay
Humphrey (b. c1834), a collector, were Madison County residents. Hopkins was either
Holmes: BH. (b., €1823), 4 Clerk, Oc Ay J. (b. cl1830), a farmer. James Lamer (b. c1804)
was a native South Carolina farmer and ferry operator claiming before the war
$23,500 real and $122,660 personal estate. Barton B. (September 17, 182/7-August
22, 1907), a physician, and.Henry F, Smith (September 11, 1832-August 26, 18/1), a
farmer, were also sons of Brooks Smith. Henry F. was a Confederate cavalry captain
and representative in the Alabama legislature immediately after the war. 1860
Census, Ala., Jackson, 3rd Dist., 19, 26, 33, 43, 44: Madison, Ist Dist., 68, /0;
Huntsville, 24;-Marshall, Western Div., 41; (1870), Jackson, T25R3E, 03° 3rd Subdiv.,
40: Nashville directories (1872-83); Gandrud, Alabama Records, XXXVI, 69; Willis
Brewer, Alabama: Her History, Resources . . .; (Montgomery, 1872), 288; Osterlund,
land records. — | co.

3. Winston & Bros. and T. W. Campbell files, Citizens Papers.

4. A. P. Ambrester file; ibid... A. P. Ambrester (d. c1872) may be the same as
Alexander (b. c1828), a son of Mary Ambrester, living in Jackson County in LOU.
Gandrud, Alabama Records, XXXVI, 5; 1850 Census, Ala., Jackson, TLSROL, 20ch Dist. ,

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Li ee Wann