Additional Testimony for the Commissioners of Claims at Washington

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

Deposition of D. B. Oneal

Aged 46 years, residence Cleveland. I am a merchant. I am not related to the claimant and have no interest in his claim.

I was made Deputy Clerk of the County Court of Bradley county, Tennessee about the 1st of the year 1862 and acted as Deputy till I left for the Union lines in the summer of 1863.

I recollect that the office of the County Court Clerk – Joseph H. Davis, was the usual place of meeting of the Union men of Cleveland and surrounding country, and I recollect that the claimant was one of the Union men that constantly met at the office. I also recollect that these Union men frequently contributed to aid the Union men that were reported to them to be lying out to wait for pilots to conduct them through to the federal lines.

I cannot now recollect any particular instance but I recollect that he did his part in contributing to aid these men. These Union men were not associated together under any oaths of security but bound together by Union ties and sympathies and we never trusted any man that we did not think true, and we seldom after the spring of 1862 ever talked together on the street and when several of us met we shut the doors and went out one by one. Such men met at this office as Dr. G.B. Thompson, J. H. Gaut, esq., James H. Norman, A.A. Clingan, Elijah Wize, Samual Wyrich, William Cate, William Craigmiles, John F. Hayes, William Low, A(he) Henry, Dr. A. McNabb, and many others often met there.

Question by claimant – Did you ever see Justus C. Steed, J.F. Larrison, Leonard Carrouth or Captain A.E. Blount present at any of these meetings of Union men?

Answer – I don’t recollect ever seeing any of them there.

Question – How long have you known me and what do you know about my loyalty?

Answer – I have known William Cate for about 22 years and have lived all that time, except the few months that the rebels ran me away, within about two and a half miles of him and have been all the time well acquainted with him and I always recognized him as a Union man and I never doubted his loyalty nor did I ever hear of its being doubted till a few weeks ago. And I was never more surprised at a report than at the report that he was not loyal. I thought I knew his public reputation for loyalty about Cleveland and I never heard his loyalty with Union cause doubted.

signed,
D.B. Oneal
before, John W. Ramsey – Spec. Comm.

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.