F.M. Cargile, a resident and leading merchant of Saulsbury, was born June 2, 1832, in South Carolina, of which State his parents were also natives. He worked on his father’s farm until he attained his majority, when he began agricultural pursuits on his own responsibility, so continuing in a flourishing condition until the outbreak of the war. He entered the Confederate service as a private, July, 1861, in the Twenty-second Tennessee Infantry. At the reorganization he was transferred to the Twelfth Tennessee Infantry, and was elected first lieutenant, which rank he held during the remainder of the service. July 22, 1864, at Atlanta, Ga., he was shot through the upper portion of the head, disabling him from further duty. With one exception, he participated in every engagement in which his company was drawn. The South had not a braver or more gallant soldier. After the war and entire recovery from his wound, he resumed farming. In 1872 he embarked in general merchandising and the cattle business at Saulsbury, where he has been very prosperous. He is a self-made, enterprising and esteemed man. He began life after the war with nothing but a will of iron and ability. By industry and judicious management he has accumulated considerable property and means. He is a sincere member of the Missionary Baptist Church, the Masonic order and K. of H.; is also a stanch Democrat. December 18, 1858, he married Mary F., daughter of Wm. B. H. and Elizabeth Gatlin. To Mr. and Mrs. Cargile five children were born: James Robert, Ruth, Elizabeth (died December, 1872), Ida and Francis Marion.
Source: “The Goodspeed Publishing Co., History of Tennessee, 1886.”