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THE JOURNAL OF

Spelean History

OFfICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE AMERICAN SPElEAN HISTORY ASSOCIATION

VOLUME 19, No. 3

JULY-SEPTEMBER, 1985

- - - THE JOURNAL OF SPELEAN HISTORY - - -

Vol. 19, No. 3

July-September, 1985

THE ASSOCIATION

THE JOURNAL

The American Spelean History Association is chartered as a non-profit corporation for the study, dissemination, and inter­ pretatio~ of spelean history and related purposes. All persons who are interested in those goals are cordially invited to become members. Annual membership is $5.00; family membership is $6.00; and library subscriptions are $4.00. ASHA is the official history section of the National Speleological Society.

The Association publishes the Journal of Spelean History on a quarterly basis. Pertinent articles or reprints are wel­ comed. Manuscripts should be typed and double-spaced. Submissions of rough drafts for preliminary editing is en­ couraged. Illustrations require special handling and arrangements should be made with the editor in advance. Photos and illustrations will be returned upon re­ quest.

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**** BACK ISSUES FRONT COVER:

The entrance to Russell Cave, Kentucky,

as it appeared in the nineteenth century.

(From and by permission of Archives,

University of Kentucky Libraries.)

BACK COVER:

Samuel E. Chamberlaints painting of

the "Massacre of the Cave" IMexico,

1847.] (From My Confession.)

All copies of back issues of the Journal are presently available. Early issues are photocopied. Send requests to Jack H. Speece (address given below, with officers). Indexes are also available for volumes 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. All issues of volumes 1-7:2 are available on microfiche from Kraus Reprint Com­ pany, Route 100, Millwood, New York 10546.

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Officers

Official Quarterly Publication of AMERICAN SPELEAN HISTORY ASSOCIATION

History Section

National Speleological Society

President: Joel M. Sneed, 4300 Maner St., Smyrna, Georgia 30080 1st Vice President: Larry O. Blair, 192 Sequoia Dr., N.E., Marietta, Georgia 30060 2nd Vice President: Gary K. Soule, 224 S. 7th Ave., Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin 54235 Secretary-Treasurer: Jack H. Speece, 711 East Atlantic Avenue, Altoona, Pennsylvania 16602

Journal Staff Editor: Marion O. Smith, P. O. Box 8276, UT Station, Knoxville, Tennessee 37996 Printer: Byron's Graphic Arts, 712 E. Harper Ave., Maryville, Ten­ nessee 37801 (Jim, Callie, & Mike Whidby)

1985 SPELEAN HISTORY SESSION The 1985 NSS Convention Spelean History Session was held June 25 at the audi­ torium of Hathaway Hall, Kentucky State University, Frankfort, Kentucky, with aBout forty persons in attendance. No one was present to conduct the session, so the session "ran" itself, in that the speakers got up and gave their papers following the order of the Convention Program. The papers actually presented were: Angelo 1. George, "Geographic Distribution of Kentucky Saltpeter Sites."

Cato Holler, Jr., "Linville Saltpeter Cave INorth Carolina.]"

Angelo 1. George, "Samuel Brown and His 1806 Memoir on Saltpeter and

Gunpowder." Larry E. Matthews, "Shelah Waters [an 1869 explorer of Higginbotham Cave (Cumberland Caverns, Tennessee.]" George Zachariasen, "The Lost Caves of Maribel [Wisconsin.]" (The co­ author, Norbert H. Kox, was unable to be present.) Gary A. O'Dell, "A History and Description of Russell Cave, Fayette County, Kentucky." Angelo 1. George, ''Monk Estill: Kentucky's First Experienced Powder Maker." Harold Meloy, who was seriously ill, and Jack H. Speece were absent and their papers entitled "Captain Synnnes and Mannnoth Cave" and "Durham Cave, Pennsylvania" were of course not presented.

********** SPELEAN HISTORY LUNCHEON Also on June 25, after the Spe1ean History Session, the History Section Lunch­ eon was supposed to take place. But, because it was not announced at the morn­ ing session, and the difficulty of finding the correct room in the Carl M. Hill Student Center, only Don Glasco Inew member], Cato Holler, Jr., Merilyn Oster­ lund {non-member], Marion O. Smith, and Gary K. Soule attended. No business was conducted, but an extended discussion about ASHA problems was indulged in.

********** PETER M. HAUER SPELEAN HISTORY AWARD The 1985 recipient of the Peter M. Hauer Spe1ean History Award, Dr. Trevor R.

Shaw, was announced at the NSS Convention banquet in Frankfort, Kentucky, June

29. Dr. Shaw, an ASHA member, was recognized for his 500 page study [his dis­ sertation] on the history of cave geology and hydrology to 1900. Congratulations, Dr. Shaw!

II 11111111 1111111111 Modern U. S. vertical discoveries which will be remembered in spelean history: Surprise Pit I437 feet], Fern Cave, Jackson County, Alabama, 1961. Fantastic 1510 feet] and Incredible [440 feet] Pits, Ellison's Cave, Walker County, Georgia, 1968 and 1969.

Mega Well 1308 feet], Jackson County, Alabama, 1983.

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A HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION OF THE RUSSELL CAVE, FAYETTE COUNTY, KENTUCKY Gary A. O'Dell It was a hot August afternoon in 1843 at Russell Cave, an attractive and popular l~~ation a few miles north of Lexington, Kentucky. Robert Wickliffe, of Lexington, was speaking to a gathering on the lawn above the cave spring, charging dishonesty on the part of the Whig party in the recent congressional district revision. Cassius Marcellus Clay, a fiery abolitionist and supporter of the Whig candidate, interrupted to present a refutation. Standing near Clay in the crowd was Samuel Brown, a former Lexington attorney who has been descriBed as a Hnoted fighter with a quick tember." Turning to Clay, Brown shouted, "Sir, it is not true!" The impetuous Clay responded quickly by call­ ing Brown a liar, whereupon Brown heatedly accused Clay of being a "damned liar!" In a moment the fight was on, and proved vastly more entertaining to the spectators than the oratory it had interrupted. l Accounts of the battle vary greatly as to the succeeding course of events, but all agree that it was brief and bloody. It is unclear who struck the first blow of the exchange. In an interview half a century after the event, Clay maintained that Brown had rushed upon him and began striking him with an um­ brella. Brown and his supporters insisted that the first blows were delivered by Cassius Clay with a leaded horsewhip. This charge was denied vigorously by Clay, who insisted that he had no whip in his possession at the time. 2 The conflict escalated rapidly from this first exchange. Clay drew the enormous Bowie knife he often carried and rushed upon Brown with the formidable weapon. A friend of Brown's in the crowd thrust a pistol into the hands of Brown, who fired point-blank into Clay's chest. Undaunted by the ball, the enraged Clay began to slash and hack at the upper body of the now defenseless Brown. Before the bystanders could separate the two, Brown had lost his right eye and left ear, and Blood poured down his face where his nose had been cleaved in two. Clay- brought the razor edge of the huge knife down in a tremendous blow on the top of his adversary's skull, gouging down through bone nearly into the brain and removing a large piece of the scalp. The violent encounter came to an end when the mutilated body of Samuel Brown was thrown over a low wall that guarded the cliff by the Russell Cave entrance. However, it is not cer­ tain who sent Brown on the terrible fall into the cave spring. Some accounts hold that Brown was tossed over the wall by his own friends as being a lesser evil than continued punishment from the hands of Cassius M. Clay, which version Clay himself supported. In another published account, it is held that Clay, prevented from inflicting further damage with the knife, picked Brown up from the ground and tossed him over the bluff into the stream. While the friends of Samuel Brown rescued him from the water, the victorious Clay retired to the nearby farmhouse to examine his own wounds, having received a pistol ball from only armts length: "I thought I had killed him IBrown], but I felt no remorse as I thought he had also killed me." Clay proved to be uninjured, for in a miraculous stroke of luck, the ball had struck the silver knife scabbard that he wore beneath his coat, leaving only a red spot over his heart. 3 Cassius Clay was indicted by the Fayette County Circuit Court in an attempt to verify the circumstances of the incident. For his defense, Clay retained the services of his famous cousin, Henry Clay, possibly the most brilliant and Vol. 19, No.3

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Clay as a young man, a few years after the affair at Russell Cave. From and by permission of Archives, University of Kentucky Libraries. successful attorney of the day. One of the foremost questions was that of the pistol that Brown had fired at Clay; the latter asserting that the entire affair had been premeditated and deliberately provoked by Brown. In an impassioned and eloquent defense, Henry Clay sought to prove that his client had acted in his own self-defense and was therefore innocent of any crime. He played masterfully upon the sympathies of the jury; "with the fatal pistol of conspired murderers pointed at his heart, would you have him meanly and cowardly fly? . . • he would not be worthy of the name which he bears!" Cassius Clay was acquitted, and his renowned kinsman maintained his spotless record of having not lost a single case during the last forty years of his legal practice. 4 Less fortunate was Samuel Brown, who after a partial and painful recovery was killed a year later in a boiler explosion aboard the steamboat Lucy Walker. Mason Brown later wrote that his grandfather had "fully intended as soon as his JOURNAL OF SPELEAN HISTORY

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health would permit to meet Clay, and fight it out by Clay's method of fighting." On the day of the trial, Cassius Clay sent Samuel Brown a letter in which he apologized for his behavior, his suspicions. of· a murder plot, and for the in­ juries he had infli cted. Brown initially responded favorably to this overture and called Clay's gesture "magnanimous," but reconsidered after a few weeks and sent a letter to Clay, saying in part, "it requires a much stronger effort than any you have yet made, before you will be held to be 'magnanimous' by me, or even to inspire me with sufficient confidence to throw me off my guard when in your presence."S There are few caves in Kentucky that can boast a more interesting and color­ ful history that the Russell Cave in Fayette County, located just north of the intersection of Huffman Mill and Russell Cave roads. The tract that included the cave was a land grant given to ' Colonel Henry Russ,el1 for services in the French and Indian ~r. This military grant of ' two thousand acres of choice Bluegrass land was given posthumously and passed to Colonel Russell's brother William. William Russell's son, William, Jr.~ " settled the land near the cave, giving up the greater portion of the , .acreage to his brother Robert in order to possess the cave and its fine ' ~pring 6f water. 'Wi1~iam Russell, Jr., chose the name of Mount Brilliant for his newly settled lands, thus honoring one of the estates of a noted family frienb!ish' h " ~r" " .: .: short distance, but communi dte'~{' bj 'narroW- (c'hasJ!isJ w1 tb~ the· 'l:' thet-- · :;"'! ( I::; cave. 7 r_) ~: {"" np _; .......- :'~. ~ .. ;~J{Jj" ~'=, . .. ..:.-.q~'."':-: ' J' -~. ' .~(o: ; 1'1/,.'C

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a later trip, Jim-o Whidhy" took-; s:ome) soill samples>--.fr0md :lhe cave; .as , par:t:ro,f l 8:"saltpe:t:er :research! p.roject whi;ch~, hecd s .~ engaged ,i n. l, Ronn,i e Ni:kon~: b L tneuHunts­ vill ~ Groyte was kihdi. en0,ugh l.to Janalyzl?fl.these\ sampl-e-s.., :.; and,: :theiI hl1Lrate-' readings were the highest of the·,,,tbirty saltp.eter 'eaves ~ whi,ch' lJ :i:ml.Ilad~1 sampl-edv tli-rou.ghout the southeastern United States. On

Percentages by weight were as follows: Beneath overhang of the shelter, 1.82; near natural br-idge, 2.88; back of cave, 4. 48. It should be ~plained tha-t any r.eading over O ~ 75 . is considered high. J'he , cave wit:hthe second highest·, reading in - Ji~t~ -~ t~dy - ~~s S~uta Cave, Alabama, with measurements of 2.38 and 2.~:9% • JOURNAL OF SPELEAN HISTORY

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It is interesting to note that one sample straight from a vat in Tennessee's Big Bone Cave measured only 0.26%. Oral history interviews with a number of senior citizens of the Ashford community have managed to shed a little light on who may have mined the earth from Linville Saltpeter Cave. Mr. Gene Denny recalled his grandfather telling him of a Mr. Peter Chapman who lived at the base of Humpback Mountain in the late 1800's in a log house which stood on what is now the Denny farm. Gene's grandfather, Gabe, would often set a beartrap high on the mountain below the saltpeter cave, and on several occasions ran across Chapman coming from the cave in the wee hours of the morning carrying the saltpeter. Peter was not satisfied with the commercially available gunpowder in his day and he discov­ ered that by using the rich nitrates from the cave he could make his own pow­ der which possessed a more controllable, slower burning quality. Chapman would also mine lead from the nearby area and make his own bullets. It is said that he was quite secretive about the sources of his saltpeter and lead since he would trade or sell these products to other settlers. (We have actu­ ally found traces of lead on the mountain during our recent ridgewalks which adds further substance to the story. Peter's main source of lead, however, was reported to be down in neighboring Linville Gorge. Few, if any, people today know of the exact whereabouts of these secret lead mines.) Apparently, in time, others did find out about Chapman's saltpeter and lead sources, however, as Mr. Roy Denny recalls hearing of the Holtsclaw family and Jim Franklin using these raw materials about the same time (late 1800's). De­ scendents of Doth families still live nearby. In closing, it should be added that an unexpected bonus has been gained in researching this small historic cave. Before learning of its existence, very little ridgewalking had been done on this mountain, since current geological maps fail to show any dolomite in this immediate area. After finding the first two caves and seeing the true geological picture, members of the North Caro­ lina Cave Survey have located an additional eighteen caves on the mountain, one of which is over a half mile in length and still being explored. One never knows where spelean history studies will lead them. REFERENCES Denny, Eugene. Tape recorded interview March 17, 1985.

Denny, Roy. Interview April 7, 1985.

English, W. G. Tape recorded interview March 17, 1985.

Franklin, Terri. Interview April 7, 1985.

Holtsclaw, Joe. Tape recorded interview March 17, 1985.

Smith, Marion O. Letter dated October 28, 1980.

Townsend, Ellen. Numerous interviews over several years.

The author is also indebted to the many members of the Flittermouse Grotto and

the North Carolina Cave Survey for accompaniment in the field, and especially

to Jim Whidby and Ronnie Nixon for the saltpeter analyses.

********** ASHA member Angelo I. George has recently published an interesting seventy­ two page treatise entitled Mummies of Short Cave, Kentucky, and the Great Cata­ comb Mystery, wherein he concludes that Thomas Ashe's 1806 description of the Lexington Catacombs was in fact that of Short Cave, over a hundred miles to the west. Copies can be purchased from Bob & Bob or Angelo for about two dollars. Vol. 19, No. '3

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CAVE IN SOUTHERN KANSAS [Reprinted from Lawrence, Kansas, The Herald of Freedom, October 16,1858, p. 4, c. 1.] Lewis M. Tappan of this city, visited the southern portion of Kansas in August last, and made a report of his trip, over the signature of "Bay State," in the Philadelphia Bulletin. After mentioning his arrival at Eldorado, Hunter county, he states that a party of five left that place, and went four miles distant to a point where a cave has recently been discovered, but not entirely explored. "On our arrival," says Mr. Tappan, "we found that body of Osages had camped the night previous. !I~ found the cave to be under the highest ridge made by the rolling prairie. Its entrance is at the head of a ravine, the bottom of which is thirty feet be­ low the surrounding prairie. The ravine is made quite picturesque by its shrub­ bery, and trees, and a rippling stream of ice-water issuing from the side of the cave, about ten feet from its entrance, which is four feet wide and eight feet high, the top being handsomely arched. This entrance forms the centre of a semi-circle measuring about 100 feet, and shelving forward to the height of thirty feet. The whole structure is of limestone and bears the apperance of a work of art. Divesting ourselves of our coats, and each taking a candle, we proceeded to explore this work of nature. A few feet from the mouth we found a right and left wing which extended but a few yards; with these exceptions the avenue continued uninterrupted and of the size of its mouth or entrance for a distance of 100 feet, when we came to a small, oval room, handsomely arched overhead. A short distance further on, through a smaller avenue we found another room about 10 by 18 feet. Near this was still a larger one; its width being from 10 to 12 feet,its length 20 feet. It is quite high and of dome shape. Soon after leaving this, we were obliged to crawl through a passage 20 feet long and just large enough to admit a man's body. One of the party alarmed us a little by crying out "I'm stuck, can't go any further." Another twist of the body set him all right again, and he was ready to go ahead, feel­ ing confident that he could not get into a place that he could not get out of. Various conjectures existed in reference to the extent and condition of the cave beyond the point it had been explored by others, which was one-eight of a mile; we were therefore determined to solve the problem, and pushed on. We were soon informed by the leader, that he had come to a "jumping off place." How deep it was he could not judge, as he could not reflect his light down. As we had no rope, we took hold of each others hands and slowly lowered the first ones down. At a distance of ten feet he said he could touch water. A few inches farther let him on terra firma. We continued to push on until we reached the terminus, finding several rooms, but none larger than those des­ cribed. The distance from the mouth we judged to be upwards of a quarter of a mile.

Many of the rooms are magnificent. In addition to their beautiful form, they are embellished with stalactites, hanging like icicles, amid incrusta­ tions of carbonated lime, reflecting the light of our candles like folds of sparkling snow. Along the avenues may frequently be seen what appear well formed tunnel shaped ventilaters. The air was very cool and pure, and we ex­ perienced no ill effect from our adventure, save being decidedly dirty." JOURNAL

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NOTE: This cave is not definitely identified. It may be 9,106 plus foot Spring Cave, but James J. Young, NSS 21999, of Lawrence, Kansas, says, "If it is Spring Cave, the cave has changed a great deal!" Spring Cave has water is­ suing directly from the entrance, the "straight" passage is "completely blocked at less than 400 t , " there is no "jumping off place," and the only formations currently known are "in the water passage." Young further notes that there are "cave locations 4 miles from El Dorado in almost every direction," al­ though most "are vertical entrances." Exploration in this area has been hampered by unsympathetic landowners. The cave in question "could be hiding behind some­ one's barn or oil tank."

MASSACRE OF THE CAVE The following rather embellished account of an atrocity by American soldiers during the Mexican War is from Samuel E. Chamberlain, My Confession (New York, Harper and Brothers, 1956), pages 86-88. Chamberlain (1829-1908), a native of New Hampshire, moved to Illinois (1844) and in 1846 served briefly in an Illinois regiment before joining the 1st U. S. Dragoons. Listed as a deserter in 1849 he went to California before moving to Boston five years later. Between then and the Civil Wi3.r he wrote his "Confession" but never published it. During the Civil War he served again and rose to brevet brigadier of volunteers. Later he was for many years warden of the state prisons in Charlestown, Massachusetts, and Wethers­ field, Connecticut. One day in midwinter I was on General [John E.] Wool's escort, and returning from a trip to the Encantada ranch--our communications point with Saltillo--when the sound of fire arms in the mountains back of camp attracted our attention. General Wool sent his Aide, Irvin McDowell, to find out the cause of the alarm. . • . [McDowell promptly fell off his horse seat first onto a cactus plant!] Hearing more shots away up in the mountain, General Wool ordered Sergeant Clifford to proceed with the guard to the place of firing and arrest all soldiers he found there. Taking a trot we reached the steep ascent of the mountain, where we dismounted and led our horses up. Soon we were obliged to leave our horses. Three men were left in charge and now we only numbered nine men and the Sergeant. All was quiet; overhead circled a cloud of zapilotes, or Vultures, that would occasionally dart down on something on the ground ahead. On reaching the place we found a "greaser" shot and scalped but still breathing; the poor fellow held in his hands his Rosary and a medal of the "Virgin of Guadalupe, and only his feeble motions kept the fierce harpies from falling on him while yet alive. A Sabre thrust was given him in mercy, and on we went at a run. Soon shouts and curses, cries of women and children reached our ears, coming apVol. 19, No.

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parently from a cave at the end of the ravine. Climbing over rocks we reached the entrance, and as soon as we could see in the com­ parative darkness a horrid sight was before us. The cave was full of our volunteers yelling like fiends, while on the rocky floor lay over twenty Mexicans, dead and dying in pools of blood. Women and children were clinging to the knees of the murderers and shrieking for mercy. Sergeant Clifford ordered the volunteers, mostly from Ijames] rell ': s Cavalry, to come out and give themselves up as prisoners, which order was received with shouts of derision and threats of cleaning us out if we interfered. Clifford gave the command and we dropped behind rocks and took aim on the foremost ruffians, when our Sergeant again ordered them to file out or we would fire. They became silent, not knowing our strength. Soon a brutal looking Rackensacker advanced towards us brandishing a huge knife dripping with gore in one hand, and a bunch of reeking scalps in the other, and cried out:

"y' yer, you F.egulars! I'm Bill Stamps, I'm! We don't a muss with you, we don't! I raised this 'ere har from the d--d yellow bellies that had on poor Archy's clothes. I did! Take me to 'Old Fussy' IGeneral Wool] and I "11 be responsible for the whole." With this the savage cutthroat marched out with a swagger, gave a fancy Indian dance and subsided in tears. With curses and threats, more than a hundred volunteers filed out of the slaughter pen and with the muzzles of our CarBines bearing on them they sul­ lenly marched down the mountain. We soon met our Squadron, who took charge of our prisoners while the Officer of the Day ordered us back to the cave with several surgeons. On reaching the place we could hear the low groans of the dying mingled with the sobs of women and cries of children. A fire was burning on the rocky floor, and threw a faint flickering light on the horrors around. Most of the butchered Mexicans had been scalped; only three men were found unharmed. A rough crucifix was fastened to a rock, and some irreverent wretch had crowned the image with a bloody scalp. A sickening smell filled the place. The surviving women and chil­ dren sent up loud screams on seeing us, thinking that we had re­ turned to finish the work! No one was punished for this outrage; General Wool, in a gen­ eral order, reprimanded the Arkansas Cavalry, but nothing more was done. The direct cause of the massacre was the barbarous mur­ der of a young man belonging to the Arkansas Regiment. But this murder was undoubtedly committed in retaliation for the outrages committed on the women of the Agua Nueva ranch by the volunteers on Christmas day. Official accounts reported that four Mexican men were killed and one wounded February 10, 1847, in revenge for a guerrilla killing which occurred the day before.

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