Additional Testimony for the Commissioners of Claims at Washington

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

Deposition of John W. Witcher

Aged 43, residence Cleveland Tennessee. I have been for years engaged as a clerk in Cleveland. I am not related to the claimant and have no interest in his claim.

I have known the claimant about twenty years, though not very intimately. I have been intimately acquainted with him since I came out of the Federal army at the close of the war.

Question by claimant – Did you know Leonard Carrouth before he came from Murray County, Georgia to Bradley County, Tennessee and if you had any conversation at anytime about my being a strong Union man?

Answer – I had a slight acquaintance with Carrouth before he came to Bradley county, but was not intimate with him but after I came from the army. I went to clerk for the house of W.S. Montgomery and Company in Cleveland. Carrouth did most of his trading at that house and I have been on intimate terms with him ever since. At one time I ran for County Trustee of Bradley County, Tennessee on the Republican ticket, and as I was well acquainted with Carrouth and on very intimate terms. I was talking with Carrouth and I asked him about how the claimant stood. Carrouth told me that the claimant was a strong Union man and a Republican and if not pledged to the opposite candidate who was also a Republican, he was satisfied claimant would vote for me. This was prior to the election in August (ten?) years ago.

From what Carrouth said in that conversation as well as from what I had heard before, I was satisfied that he then regarded claimant as a Union and loyal man.

Question – State what you know about my loyalty.

Answer – Both from what I have seen and heard myself and from what I have heard from other Union men, I always regarded the claimant as a Union man. In fact, I never heard his loyalty questioned by Union man or rebel.

Question – What do you know about the intimacy between myself and Capt. A.E. Blount for some years after the war was over.

Answer – I know claimant and Capt. Blount were on very intimate terms after I came back from the army till about the time Capt. Blount was appointed Post Master at Cleveland in the spring of 1869.

signed,
John. W. Witcher
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.