Additional Testimony for the Commissioners of Claims at Washington

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

Deposition of Joseph Calloway

Son of Thomas H. Calloway of Cleveland, my age is 27 years, I reside in Cleveland. I am a farmer and am not related to claimant and have no interest in his claim,

Question by claimant – Where did you live during a part of the war and what was the character of the neighborhood in which you lived for loyalty?

Answer – I lived most of the time in Murray county, Georgia but I lived a small part of the time in the border of Polk county, Tennessee. Just before the close of the war my father and his family including myself came back to Cleveland, Tennessee.

Murray county was considered a Union county and voted largely Union and the district I lived in which adjoins the Tennessee line was very strongly Union. There was but few rebels in it.

Question – How near did you live to Leonard Carrouth when you lived in Murray and Polk counties?

Answer – When I lived in Murray where I lived most of the time, I lived in three miles of Carrouth and when in Polk about four miles or four miles and a half miles from him.

Question – Were you well acquainted with Leonard Carrouth, and did you know his public reputation for loyalty to the United States in his neighborhood? in Murray county, Ga.?

Answer – I was well acquainted with Leonard Carrouth, and know that he did not have the confidence of the true Union men of his neighborhood in Murray county Ga., while he lived there during the war.

Question – State what transaction you had with Carrouth during the war.

Answer – At one time some rebel soldiers stole and took off six of my hounds, and myself and all of father’s family were afraid to go after the hounds, and father got me to go and see Carrouth and engage him to go and get the hounds back from the rebels. Carrouth was on good terms with the rebels and could safely go among them. I hired Carrouth and he went down near Spring Place and got the dogs and brought them back to us.

Question – State as near as you can when Carrouth left that part of Murray county, Ga., where he went to and the cause of his leaving Murray, and when he came into the neighborhood of Cleveland.

Answer – My recollection is that Carrouth left Murray county Ga. about the middle of 1863, he left his family there and went into East Tennessee.

His family left there and came into this county in 1864. My recollection is that the Union men of his neighborhood had become embittered against Carrouth because they understood that he had reported several of the Union men to the Enrolling Officer and they were against him. I know this was the talk among the Union men.

Question – How long have you known me and how intimate and how near to me did you live?

Answer – I have known Mr. Cate at least 20 years, having lived nearly all my life at Cleveland except the short time I lived during the war in Murray and Polk. Although my father lived part of the time in Murray and Polk, yet he was much of his time about Cleveland and I know that father always regarded the claimant as a Union man and at one time when I started to go to the federal lines from the part of Polk county, Tennessee near the Georgia lines, father directed me to go to the claimant’s house and the claimant would send me over to John McPherson’s who would send me forward on my way, but I was captured before I got to Cleveland.

signed,
Joe. Callaway
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.