Additional Testimony for the Commissioners of Claims at Washington

Claim of William Cate of Bradley county, Tennessee no. 15.774 and 20702

Deposition of Col. D. M. Nelson

My name is David M. Nelson, aged 30 years, residence Cleveland Tennessee. I am not related to the claimant and have no interest in the claim.

I was a Captain and (?) Lt. Col. on the staff of Alvin C. Gillain in the Federal army. I was Elector for (General?) Grant in 1868, and was by him appointed Assessor of the Second District, and was the nominee of the 3rd Congressional District of the Republican Party last year.

I was not acquainted with the claimant during the war but I heard him frequently spoken of, by men that were in the federal army, and who never questioned his loyalty, and I never heard his loyalty questioned till this contest about it got up. And I have associated with him and those that have known him well over since the war. I am a native Tennessean and was arrested July 1861 and kept eleven months in prison.

When I was Clerk of the Senate of the State of Tennessee and had some experience in the collection of government claims, Mr Cate the claimant, if I recollect right in 1867 came to me with a claim against the government and asked my opinion in regard to its collection.

I stated to him that the account ought to be graded. That some items charged in the account were too high while others were to low according to the government prices at the time of the taking of the property. But thought when properly graded he would have no trouble in its collection under the new acts of congress in regard to Southern Claims.

If I recollect right, I adjusted the prices as best I could to the prices that I understood they were allowing as I had been acquainted with government prices during the war.

I recollect that I talked to Dr. G.B. Thompson about the claim of the said William Cate, and that he told me that he had been out to Mr. Cate’s house and saw the federal soldiers taking his property. And I know that Dr. Thompson did not doubt his loyalty.

signed,
D.M. Nelson
before, John W. Ramsey -Special Commissioner

Links to each section of the transcribed file:

• Introduction & Part VIII — Conclusion
• Part I — William Cate’s Claimed Losses
• Part II — Notes from the Office of the Commissioners of Claims
• Part III — Depositions Taken in 1875 Regarding Claimant’s (Cate) Loyalty
• Part IV — Opinion Submitted by John B. Brownlow, U. S. Special Commission
• Part V — Additional Testimony for the Commissioners of Claims at Washington
  • Depositions:
    William Cate ~ Joseph H. Davis ~ Leonard Carrouth ~ Capt. A. E. Blount ~ John A. Steed ~ J. F. Larrison ~ Mrs. Sidney Henderson ~ Col. D. M. Nelson ~ Samuel Grigsby ~ Andrew J. Maples ~ John A. Hague ~ Herman Foster ~ Thomas L. Cate ~ James McGhee ~ Thomas Rains ~ D. B. Oneal ~ Thomas A. Cowan ~ C. L. Hardwick ~ Joseph Calloway ~ J. C. Steed ~ Joseph R. Taylor ~ William W. Wood(s) ~ James H. Brown ~ James S. Robertson ~ John H. Craigmiles ~ John H. Parker ~ John McReynolds ~ John W. Witcher
• Part VI — Summary of All Evidence for and Against Cate’s Loyalty
• Part VII — Opinion of Witnesses by John W. Ramsey
• Part VIII — William Cate’s Letter to Judge A. O. Alder

The information in these articles was formerly linked from Bradley County TNGenWeb to a site owned by Danny Roy Williams at Geocities.  The site was last available in 2009.  It is available through the Internet Archive here.  No copyright infringement is intended.