Porters Cave: Its identification and Civil War Personnel

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PORTERS CAVE: ITS IDENTIFICATION AND CIVIL WAR PERSONNEL
Marion O. Smith

During the Civil War numerous caves in the South were mined for saltpeter (KNO,), the

main ingredient of gunpowder. This was done by either the Confederate government, through

: the Nitre Bureau, or by private contractors. Porters Cave was one of over fifty Bureau managed

caves and probably was only worked for a few months. The only evidence of its existence is

found in surviving July and August 1862 payrolls and a September 22, 1862, voucher to W. W.
Wallace, who hired a slave to work at the cave.’

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When the Porters Cave payrolls were found in the National Archives during the early
1990s no clues were provided as to the cave’s location other than the names themselves.
Because "Captain R. H. Temple" was shown as the payer of the laborers, that was an indication
that Porters was an East Tennessee cave, since Temple, superintendent of Nitre District No. 7,

was headquartered in Knoxville.’

Until 1997 nothing further occurred to solve the mystery of Porters Cave. On November
18 of that year the writer went with Chris Kerr, Doug Luther, and Joe Parrott to Harper Cave,
150 feet from Martin Mill Pike, in the northern part of Blount County about a mile southeast
of Rockford. The objectives of the group were to observe the saltpeter diggings and to complete
the map. The eight foot high by twenty-five foot wide entrance led to passages totaling 703 feet.

The main saltpeter section was along the right-most passage, toward the back, some
eighty feet in length. There were two trenches dug into the floor, the front one some one and
a half feet wide and deep and eighteen feet long, and the other twenty-three feet long and up to
three feet wide and deep. Beyond the second trench was a dry area up to seven feet wide, three
to four feet high, where dirt had been removed with pick marks plainly visible.

On the walls of a parallel passage just beyond the in-cave end of the second trench, was
some nineteenth century grafitti. This included "1846" without a legible accompanying name,
“Abe Lincon waged war," "T E O 1861," and "Harris" with a difficult to read
surname which appeared to be "Boe__th." The significance of these names was not understood
at the time.°

During 1999 the author made a genealogical investigation of the six laborers who were
assigned to Porters Cave in 1862, as well as the slave owner. The result was that six of these
men, and perhaps all seven, lived in Blount County before the war. Five of the laborers had
a tie to the 11th Civil District near the northern boundary with Knox County. All five lived in
that district in 1850 and three still were there in 1860. Arthur Scott, the 1862 foreman of
Porters Cave, was not found under that name in Blount or any other surrounding East Tennessee
county in the prewar census. However, there was a Joseph Scott (b. c1837) in the 15th District
of Blount County, who may be the same as Arthur J. Scott who quietly enlisted in the Union
army at Knoxville in November 1862. William W. Wallace (b. c1829), the man who hired his
slave to Porters Cave, was also a native of Blount County, and the brother of Jesse G. Wallace,
the Confederate district attorney for East Tennessee. *

Suspicions were now aroused that the modern Harper Cave might be Porters Cave.
Research continued. In 1860 there were six Porter families or individuals in Blount County.
From this number James (b. c1803) in the 12th District and Andrew (b. c1832) and Dr. William
S. Porter (March 25, 1812-July 1, 1861) in the 11th District seemed the most likely candidates
to have owned Porters Cave. A deed search revealed the Dr. William S. Porter was probably
the man in question. Although it is unclear when he acquired the property, but certainly by
1852, he did not hold possession at the opening of the Civil War. On September 4, 1858, for
$5,000, he sold 412 acres in the 11th District, on the waters of Little River, adjoining the lands
of David Caldwell, Calvin Roddy, and several others to Thomas E. Oldham.

A return visit to Harper Cave became necessary, to learn more from the owner, Mr.
Crum C. Harper, and to re-examine the grafitti in the cave. It was thought that the partially
deciphered "Harris Boe__ th" might really be "Harris Badgett," which, if it was, would correlate
a name with the 1862 Porters Cave payroll.

Chris Kerr and the hopeful researcher made this excursion on October 27, 1999. Mr.
Harper was extremely busy in the field and did not have time to talk. A couple of quick
questions gained the information that his farm was in the 11th District, and that his grandfather,
O. C. Cusick (February 11, 1875-September 30, 1964) had acquired the property about 1918.
Back inside Harper Cave they did indeed make out "Harris Badgett" on the wall, not once but
twice. In addition, they were able to better read another inscription only partially noted in 1997,

"T E Oldham 1861." Now, both the documentary and physical data combined to indicate a
strong likelihood that Harper Cave of today is Porters Cave of 1862.°

It is not known how long Thomas Edward Oldham (October 3, 1830-January 1, 1896)
owned the property, but he was no doubt the proprietor when he scratched his name in the cave
in 1861. He was a native of Lexington, Kentucky, who at the start of the war had charge of the
Rockford cotton mills in addition to being the postmaster. But he had earlier lived in Knoxville,
and probably before 1865 he permantly made that city his home. For a while he was a partner
in a drug store, then for twenty or more years he worked as a salesman and credit manager for
the dry goods firm of Cowan, McClung and Company.’

All of the 1862 Porters Cave laborers left Blount County after the war. Half served in
the Union army and half either soldiered for the Confederacy or belonged to a family which
sympathized with the South. Persecution by Unionists probably accounts for the disappearance
of the McNabb and Badgett families. That was certainly the reason William W. Wallace moved
to Atlanta, Georgia. The Porters Cave laborers are identified in the following biographical
sketches:

Arthur Scott may be the same as Arthur J. Scott (c1839/44-/11890), a private in Company
A, 3rd Tennessee Cavalry, USA, November 10, 1862-August 3, 1865. During early 1863 he was
on courier duty and between October that year and February 1864, he was twice on other
unspecified detached duty. In 1865 his regiment was at Pulaski, Tennessee, where in January he
was a wagoner. After the war he moved to Tipton County, Tennessee, where he farmed.’

Robert J. McNabb (b. c1842), son of William and Agnes McNabb, for thirteen and a half
days in August 1862, was also a laborer at Hodsden Cave in Sevier County. Between October
1862 and February 1863 he was apparently a saltpeter contractor, delivering a small amount each
month, totaling 108 pounds. On March 24, 1863, he became a private in Company I, 37th
Tennessee Infantry, CSA. From October 1863 through April 1864 he was listed as "sick & in
hospital," and after then there is no record."

John Vinyard/Vineyard (c1840-f11890), a farmer, was a son of Green Washing and Mary
Vineyard. He married Elizabeth, a sister of Jacob Cupp, on January 25, 1860. He enlisted as
a private in Company D, 2nd Tennessee Cavalry, USA, September 1, 1862, and served until July
6, 1865. He was sick at Bowling Green, Ky., December 1862, and Stevenson, Ala., September
1863. In June 1864 he was on detached duty at Chattanooga. In 1870 his and Jacob Cupp’s
families were next door neighbors in the portion of Monroe County which was soon to become
Loudon County.”

Jacob Cupp (c1838/39-f11880), son of George and Elizabeth Cupp and a laborer or
farmer, married Clarinda Rogers on January 3, 1860. He became a private in Company D, 2nd
Tennessee Cavalry, USA, at Maryville on September 1, 1862. He was mustered in at Nashville
January 26, 1863, and served until July 6, 1865. He was sick at Stevenson, Ala., during fall
1863, and late in the war was a teamster. After his military service he moved to a part of Monroe
County which became incorporated in the new county of Loudon.”

Elijah Harrison Badgett (January 1, 1837-December 5, 1919), a son of James and Susan
Badgett, was listed as a "labourer" before the war. On October 4, 1862, he became a private in
Company G, 63rd Tennessee Infantry, CSA. He was consistently present for duty and was
captured April 2, 1865, during the Union Army’s all-out assault on Petersburg, Virginia, and held
prisoner of war at Point Lookout, Maryland, until June 23, 1865. By 1870 he was farming with
his parents in Maury County, Tennessee, and in 1880 he lived with his brother James M. Badgett

at Blooming Grove, Texas, and helped with the farm. He remained in Texas and apparently never
married. '?

Rufus C. badgett (c1846/48-/11880) was the youngest son of James and Susan Badgett.
In 1870 he lived with his parents and siblings in Maury County, Tennessee, and ten years later
he was a farmer and widower in Navarre County, Texas, with two young daughters."

SOURCES

1. Confederate Payrolls, Record Group 109, National Archives; Confederate Papers Relating to Citizens or Business Firms,
Record Group 109 (Microcopy 346, Roll 1067), National Archives, W. W. Wallace File.

2. Knoxville Daily Register, July 22, 27, October 1, 1862.

3. Diary of Marion O. Smith, November 18, 1997; Personal communication from Chris Kerr, November 12, 1999.

4. 1850 Census, Tenn., Blount, 11th Dist., 174, 175, 176, 187; 9th Dist., 137; (1860), 11th Dist., 1, 5; 7th Dist., 12; 9th
Dist., 46; 13th Dist., 119; 15th Dist., 143; Athens Post, April 18, 25, 1862; Jesse G. Wallace to Andrew Johnson, July 6, 1865,
Case Files of Applications from Former Confederates for Presidential Pardons ("Amnesty Papers"), 1865-1867, Record Group
94 (Microcopy 1003, Roll 51), National Archives, Jesse G. Wallace File.

2. 1860 Census, Tenn., Blount, 5th Dist., 98; 9th Dist., 56; 1ith Dist., 15, 19; 12th Dist., 31; 13th Dist., 115: WPA,
Tombstone Records of Blount County (June 1938), 85; Blount County Deeds, Book X, p. 37; Book Z, pp. 192-93.

6. Diary of Marion O. Smith, October 27, 1999; In the Shadow of the Smokies (Sevierville, Tenn., 1984), 591.

7. 1860 Census, Tenn., Blount, 11th Dist., 2; (1870), Knox, Knoxville, 3rd Ward, 3; Thomas E. Oldham to Andrew Johnson,
June 20, 1865, Amnesty Papers (M1003, Roll 50), Thomas E. Oldham File; Knoxville directories (1869-95); Blount County
Deeds, Book AA, pp. 558-59; Knoxville Weekly Journal, January 8, 1896.

8. W. Todd Groce, Mountain Rebels: East Tennessee Confederates and the Civil War, 1860-1870 (Knoxville, 1999), 145.

9. Compiled Service Records (CSR), Record Group 94, National Archives, Arthur J. Scott; 1880 Census, Tenn., Tipton,
157th Enum. Dist., 35; Byron and Barbara Sistler, trans., 1890 Civil War Veterans Census-Tennessee (Evanston, Ill., 1978),
279.

10. 1850 Census, Tenn., Blount, 11th Dist., 174; (1860), 1; Citizens Papers (M346, Roll 642), R. J. McNabb File;
Confederate Payrolls, Hodsden Cave; CSR, RG109, NA, Robert J. McNabb.

11. 1850 Census, Tenn., Blount, 11th Dist., 187; (1860), 7th Dist., 12; (1870), Monroe, Sth Dist., 10; Edith B. Little, Blount
County, Tennessee Marriages 1795 to 1910 (Evansville, Ind., 1982), 289; CSR, RG94, NA, John Vinyard; Sistler, 7890
Veterans Census-Tennessee, 325.

12. 1850 Census, Tenn., Blount, 11th Dist., 176; (1860), 13th Dist., 119; (1870), Monroe, 5th Dist., 10; (1880), Loudon,
216th Enum. Dist., 2; WPA, Blount County Marriage Records 1854-70 (December 28, 1936), 54; CSR, RG94, NA, Jacob
Cupp.

13. 1850 Census, Tenn., Blount, 11th Dist., 175; (1860), 5; (1870), Maury, 22nd Dist., 40; (1880), Texas, Navarre, 130th
Enum. Dist., 72; Navarre County Cemetery Records (8 vols., Corsicana, Tex., 1981-90), 8: 59; CSR, RG109, NA, E. Harrison
Badgett.

14. 1850 Census, Tenn., Blount, 11th Dist., 175; (1860), 5; (1870), Maury, 22nd Dist., 40; (1880), Texas, Navarre, 130th
Enum, Dist., 72.