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THE SAUTA CAVE CONFEDERATE NITER WORKS Marion O. Smith Sauta, a white man's corruption of the Cherokee word usati, "of unknown signification," is the name applied to a well-known cave located about six and three-fourths miles southwest of Scottsboro, Alabama, on a northeastern spur of Gunters Mountain.1 Although only one of approximately 2,200 recorded caves of the limestone regions of the state, Sauta is considerably larger than average. Its total length has been computed to be 14,794 feet, all within linear dimensions of about 4,600 feet. It has two entrances, 135 vertical and 400 horizontal feet apart. The lower passage has a stream while the upper corridor is dry. These two levels are connected by steep climbs and a pit. Much of the upper level, about half a mile, is nearly a hundred feet wide and several body lengths high.2 It was not Sauta's size that made it important, however, but the fact that it contained huge amounts of dirt containing niter or saltpeter, the major ingredient of gunpowder. It was mined at intervals for many years and was the most productive of the more than fifty known saltpeter caves of the state.3 During the late eighteenth century a faction of the Cherokee tribe had a settlement known as Sauta near the cave. According to one source, a Cherokee named Winford settled there in 1784 and started the manufacture of gunpowder. Years later, at an April 1804 meeting of the National Council of the Cherokee Chiefs at Oostenaulah, a resolution "permitted " certain white men "to continue [living] in the Nation," including "Colonel Ore & man at Sauta, working saltpeter caves." During the War of 1812, mining operations were expanded by William Robinson, some 1 William A. Read, Indian Place Names inAlabama (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State Univ. Press, 1937), 56. 2 A computer listing of Alabama caves is maintained by an association ofcave explorers known as the Alabama Cave Survey. The majority of Sauta's passages were mapped in 1956 by Huntsvillians William W. Vamedoe, Jr., and Dr. Charles Lundquist, amended by more accurateresurveys during subsequent years. Some passages, however, were not surveyed until 1982. During these latter efforts assistance was rendered by Carey Wilson, Douglass Thompson, Robert Lee, and others. Letter from William W. Varnedoe, Jr., October 23, 1982. 3 Carol A. Hill et al, "Saltpeter Caves of the United States," National Speleological Society Bulletin 43 (October 1981): 84, 86. 294CIVIL WAR HISTORY details of which were revealed in a court case several years later involving the pay of one of the miners.4 At the conclusion of the War of 1812 demand for gunpowder, and consequently for saltpeter, fell sharply, which led to the closure of many of the large operations. This was the case at Sauta, and except for vague references to occasional mining, essentially nothing is now known about the activities there between 1815 and 1861. After secession and the formation of the Confederacy, both state and Confederate officials, as well as many concerned citizens, realized that the South did not have an adequate supply of gunpowder if war came. The 1860 census listed only two small powder mills in the entire South— one in Cheatham County, Tennessee, and one in Pickens District, South Carolina—while one newspaper claimed in April 1861 there were sixtyseven powder mills in Pennsylvania alone.5 The procurement of sulphur and charcoal, the two other ingredients of gunpowder, presented no problem for the new Confederacy. When Louisiana seceded there were "large quantities" of sulphur stockpiled for use in refining sugar. General David E. Twiggs seized "several hundreds of tons of sulphur, stored in New Orleans" which could be put to government use.6 Also, sulphur could be obtained by roasting iron pyrites in "stone-ware cylinders."7 For charcoal, there was no scarcity in the South, although for making "gunpowder charcoal" it was recommended that the "lighter woods, such as thewillow, dogwood, and alder answer best."8 Saltpeter, comprising three-fourths of gunpowder, was the critical component, however. Without it the defense of the South was jeopardized , and consequently there were efforts by both state and Confederate authorities to see that supplies were acquired...

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