On September 1, 1862, A.I. Thornburg Heath joined Col. James D. Bennett's 9th Tennessee Cavalry (CSA) under the command of then Col. John Hunt Morgan. He was wounded and captured at the Battle of Hartsville, Tennessee, on December 7, 1862. Incarcerated in a Federal prison in Bowling Green, Kentucky, Heath led the escape of 20 Confederates to southern lines. Prior to the war, Heath had established his blacksmith shop at Heath Springs beside Sulphur Fork Creek, where he established his reputation as a rifle maker. Heath's wife, Martha Johnson (1848-1926), lost her father, 1st Lt. Richard E. Johnson (1821-1862) of the 20th Tennessee Infantry, Co. F, on January 19, 1862, at the Battle of Fishing Creek, Kentucky, where he, like his commander, Gen. Felix Zollicoffer, fell to Union fire.