McSpadden's Powder Mill and the Nearby Saltpeter Cave: A genealogical assessment

McSPADDEN’S POWDER MILL AND THE NEARBY SALTPETER

CAVE: A GENEALOGICAL ASSESSMENT
Marion O. Smith

One of Tennessee’s early powder makers was Samuel McSpadden (October 10, 1756-August 3,
1844), who emigrated to what became Jefferson County about 1780. He was of Scotch-Irish descent,
born and raised in the portion of Augusta County, Virginia, which became Rockbridge County, and a
Revolutionary War veteran of two three month enlistments. Eventually, he became a substantial
landowner near the French Broad River westsouthwest of Dandridge not far from the modern day Shady
Grove community. He married three times and fathered, depending on the source cited, either nineteen
or twenty children. In 1804 a handsome brick house was constructed near the river which became
McSpadden’s home. This house still stands and is occupied by his descendants.’

It is not known when or where McSpadden learned to make powder. But by the War of 1812
‘ his powder mill, located in a sink area on the north side of an eighty foot high hill 1,800 feet
northnorthwest of his brick house, was in operation. The McSpadden family has a strong tradition,
published several times since 1861, that Samuel "had a contract with the Government to furnish a certain
quantity at New Orleans, on or before the 20th of January, 1815." McSpadden was conscientious, "and
knowing the dangers and delays of the long journey by water . . . resolved to be on time, and, if possible
to anticipate [precede] it." Therefore, he loaded his powder on a flat boat, and with a “hardy crew of
~ boatmen, the dangerous journey was commenced in the dead of winter." After many privations,
McSpadden and his men “reached their journey’s end about the 1st of January," and were allegedly
"received with joy by Gen. [Andrew] Jackson, who, after his repulse of the British forces, a few days
before [December 23, 1814], in which their advance was checked, was nearly out of powder."
Consequently, as the story goes, McSpadden’s powder arrived in time to help Jackson win the Battle of
New Orleans, January 8, 1815.7

McSpadden’s powder mill was described as "crude" but "within convenient distance of saltpeter
caves," of which Jefferson County has a number. The family tradition that the cave McSpadden used
to obtain His saltpeter was on the “back side" of his farm and was not very far south from his house.
About 1942 Douglas Dam was built on the French Broad River and it was then reported that the “rising
water will cover the cave." Mr. Ben Blackburn, aged eighty-seven in 1989, remembers the cave as not
having a very large entrance, but since he did not go inside over twenty feet, was unable to describe the
interior. He says the cave was definitely flooded by the dam.’

It is not known how much additional powder, if any, McSpadden made at his mill. By the 1820
census only four powder manufactories were listed for all of East Tennessee, none of which were in
Jefferson County. However, decades later, during the first half of the Civil War, the mill was once again
active.*

In September, 1861, it was announced in Southern newspapers that in "one of the counties of East
Tennessee, an old powder mill, which manufactured a part of the ammunition used by Jackson at the
battle of New Orleans, has been again put in operation. It is worked by the grandsons of the owner at
that period. The quantity made is small." In corroboration, many years after the war, Mary E. Johnson
Caldwell, widow of one of McSpadden’s grandsons, David M. Caldwell, stated in a memoir of her
husband:

In the summer of 1861 David and five of his cousins rented the old powder mill that
belonged to his grandfather Samuel McSpadden. They called themselves "The Crooked Creek
Powder Company." They determined they would sell to no one but Union men. They were
successful in this venture but soon found they must stop or be forced to sell to the confederacy.
They realized they would have to flee across the mountains to Kentucky to join the Union army.°

F103

Much of what Mrs. Caldwell wrote was true. Caldwell and many of his McSpadden cousins were
unionists. However, there is evidence that they in fact cooperated with Confederate authorities until mid-
1863, not so much as producers of powder but as saltpeter contractors. In April, 1862, the Confederate
Congress passed a conscript act and created the Nitre Bureau. By the end of the following month it was
announced that bureau workers and private contractors for munitions were among those exempted from
the army. Undoubtedly, the McSpadden descendents took advantage of this avenue to avoid Confederate

military duty. The Confederate papers now housed at the National Archives contain pay vouchers of
many saltpeter contractors, several of which either were or probably were cousins of David M. Caldwell.®

From June 16, 1862, through June 15, 1863, records of five deliveries of saltpeter from R. and
M. W. McSpadden have survived, totaling 962 pounds. A lone voucher from Meek, McSpadden and
Company, September 23, 1862, shows a delivery of forty-three pounds, while four transactions between
June 18 and October 8, 1862, account for 520.5 pounds from Caldwell and Henry, and eight deliveries,
October 21, 1862, through July 15, 1863, from J. A. Caldwell tally 1,295 pounds. The only record of
any of these men selling powder to the Confederate government was by R. and M. W. McSpadden, who
on June 16, 1862, at fifty cents each, delivered 321 pounds to the confederate ordnance officer in
Knoxville. Years later, when M. W. McSpadden was applying for a pension, an examiner asked his
brother-in-law, Lorenzo D. Andes, if he had ever seen M. W. “at work before he [M. W.] enlisted."
Andes answered, "Yes I have seen him hauling wood, at work at powder making and lifting bags of
Saltpetre &c."’

In order to understand whether the above contractors were likely associates of David M. Caldwell
it is necessary to determine their kinship to him. The starting place is the second family of Samuel
McSpadden, by his third wife, Nancy Harris (August 24, 1775-January 1, 1839). Among their many
children were: Polly Berry (July 13, 1800-January 31, 1888), Milton Harris (May 4, 1806-March 13,
1846), and Alvah McSpadden (January 21, 1808-December 13, 1882). Polly Berry married Anthony
Caldwell, Jr. (April 2, 1798-December 12, 1862) on February 16, 1826, and became the mother of David
Moore Caldwell (September 15, 1838-June 8, 1921). Milton Harris McSpadden married Sarah Henry
September 15, 1828, and became the father of Marshall Walker McSpadden (c1836-January 31, 1910).
Alvah McSpadden’s first wife was Sarah Caroline Meek (1812-1852), whom he married January 5, 1834,
and they were the parents of Rufus McSpadden (August 10, 1836-February 8, 1879). Thus, it is clear
that David M. Caldwell, Marshall W., and Rufus McSpadden were first cousins.*

The saltpeter contractors Meek and Henry are unidentified. Likely candidates are John M.
(January 2, 1838-March 4, 1904), Alexander R. (March 27, 1829-/11887), and D. H. Meek (April 3,
1840-11887), and John Henry (January 12, 1836-August 8, 1904), all Jefferson County residents and
probable cousins to Rufus (Meek only) and Marshall W. McSpadden (Henry only). The exact identity
of the contractor J. A. Caldwell is dimmed because there are two choices, both named James A.
Caldwell. The most likely individual is James Anthony Caldwell (February 7, 1820-September 23,
1897), who was a son of James Aiken Caldwell (February 5, 1796-April 13, 1861), an older brother of
Anthony Caldwell, Jr., and therefore definitely a first cousin to David M. Caldwell. However, the
relationship of the other James A. Caldwell (b. c1822) to David M. Caldwell has not been determined,
and it is possible that he too was a cousin. It is not known who the "Caldwell" of Caldwell and Henry
was. It may have been either J. A. or David M. or even someone else. But it is certain that during the
war David M. Caldwell was associated with his saltpeter producing McSpadden cousins. Twenty years
later, in behalf of Marshall W., David stated to a pension examiner that “during eight months of the year
immediately prior to his [M. W. McSpadden’s] enlistment I boarded with him -- I took him through the
lines to Kentucky in 1863." |

Much of the above genealogical data, while perhaps confusing to the casual reader, does generally
support the contention of Mrs. David M. Caldwell that her husband and five cousins were associated with
powder making. David M. Caldwell was definitely a first cousin to one of the James A. Caldwells, as
well as to Rufus and Marshall W. McSpadden. Henry and Meek were likely just cousins to M. W. and

Rufus, cousins of cousins, it might be said, who nearly sixty years after the war might loosely be referred
to as simply “cousins.” The point of all the foregoing is to build a case that these six men, plus possibly
Sylvanus M. Henkle, who claimed he worked with M. W. McSpadden before he [M. W.] enlisted, may
have mined saltpeter from the same now flooded cave south of the 1804 Samuel McSpadden house. The
conclusion is that it is possible but unproven. All 2,820.5 pounds of saltpeter known to have been
produced by Meek, Henry, Caldwell, and the McSpaddens may have come from this cave, but surely the
1,005 pound portion sold by the two McSpaddens and Meek was mined there.”

Within days of their last delivery of saltpeter, June, 1863, David M. Caldwell, Rufus McSpadden,
and Marshall W. McSpadden escaped over the mountains to Kentucky and joined the Union army. All
three served in the 9th Tennessee Cavalry, USA, David M. as captain of Company B, and Rufus as
captain and Marshall W. as first sergeant of Company C."

FOOTNOTES

1. WPA. Jefferson County, Tennessee Bible Records (May, 1938), 285; Lucy W. Bates, compiler, Roster of Soldiers and
Patriots of the American Revolution Buried in Tennessee 1974. Revised by Helen C. Marsh (Brentwood, Tenn., 1979), 122;
Anna B. McSpadden, “Way Back When. . .” (Maryville, Tenn., 1980), 2-7. In September, 1989, Ben and Mary Blackburn,
both descendants of Samuel McSpadden, lived in the 1804 house.

2. Nashville Union, January 9, 1876. Variations of or allusions to the same story are found in Memphis Appeal, September
19, 1861, Knoxville Sentinel, December 9, 1923, Knoxville News-Sentinel, c1942 and June 6, 1965, and McSpadden, "Way
Back When. . .,” 5-7.

3. Knoxville News-Sentinel, June 6, 1965, c1942; McSpadden, “Way Back When. . .," 3; Interview with Mr. Ben Blackburn,
June 7, 1989.

4. Digest of Accounts of Manufacturing Establishments in the United States, and of Their Manufactures (Washington: Gales
& Seaton, 1823), District of East Tennessee. |

5. Mary E. Johnson Caldwell, Sketch of David M. Caldwell (in possession of Mrs. Ben Blackburn at Samuel McSpadden’s
1804 house).

6. The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, 70 vols. in 128
books (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1880-1901), Ser. 4, Vol. 1: 1054-55; 1095-97, 1081, 1139; Confederate
Papers Relating to Citizens or Business Firms, Record Group 109, National Archives, R. and M. W. McSpadden, Meek,
McSpadden and Company, Caldwell and Henry, and J. A. Caldwell files.

7. Ibid.; Deposition of Lorenzo D. Andes, March 11, 1885, Pension Records, Record Group 15, National Archives, Roxie
McSpadden file.

8. Jefferson County Bible Records (May, 1938), 54, 56, 285; WPA. Jefferson County, Tennessee Tombstone Inscriptions
(July, 1938), 51, 210, 265; Edythe R. Whitley, compiler, Marriages of Jefferson County, Tennessee 1792-1836 (Baltimore:
Genealogical Publishing Company, Inc., 1982), 43, 44, 56; David H. Templin and Cherel B. Henderson, transcribers, Stories
in Stone: Jefferson County Cemeteries Volume II (Knoxville, Tenn., 1988), 259; 1860 Census, Tenn., Jefferson, 304; Pension
Records, RG15, NA, Roxie McSpadden file; Bates, Roster of Soldiers of the American Revolution Buried in Tennessee 1974.
Revised by Marsh, 1979, p. 122; Worth S. Ray, Tennessee Cousins (Baltimore: Genealogical publishing Company, 1966
[1950]), 122. |

9. Goodspeed, History of [East] Tennessee (Chicago and Nashville, 1887), 1180-81; Jefferson County Tombstone Inscriptions
(July, 1938), 202; Jefferson County Bible Records (May, 1938), 53, 57, 58, 59; Byron and Barbara Sistler, transcribers, 1850
Census Tennessee (8 vols., Evanston, Ill., 1974-76), 1: 257; Deposition of David M. Caldwell, March 14, 1885, Pension
Records, RG15, NA, Roxie McSpadden file.

10. Deposition of Sylvanus M. Henkle, March 11, 1885, ibid.; R. & M. W. McSpadden, Meek, McSpadden and Company,
Caldwell and Henry, and J. A Caldwell files, Citizens Papers.

11. Compiled Service Records, Record Group 94, National Archives, David M. Caldwell, Rufus McSpadden, and Marshall
W. McSpadden files.