Copyright 2023 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. Almost every Southern state has a legend of Confederate gold lost/stolen/buried in the chaos of the Civil War's end. google037df74da6aab727.html In the 1939 movie "Gone With The Wind," the Union Army believes Rhett Butler to have the missing Confederate gold, and they threaten to hang him. It was never recovered. [6], Last edited on 31 December 2022, at 01:37, Learn how and when to remove this template message, Confederate States Secretary of the Treasury, "The Georgia Odyssey of the Confederate Gold", "OUR ARMIES. Confederate gold refers to hidden caches of gold lost after the American Civil War. A Colorado company, hired by a private individual, performed a geophysical survey and employed pulse induction instruments to identify the locations of the silver (and a small amount of gold). Corroborating evidence found in Semples letters to Julia Gardiner Tyler, depicted a man on the run, carrying on underground activities for Davis. I have not heard of both of these stories. His wife sold the ferry and went to live with relatives in Georgia. If you would like to change your settings or withdraw consent at any time, the link to do so is in our privacy policy accessible from our home page.. Of what was taken, only $140,000 was recovered. Watch Live: Closing arguments underway in double murder trial of Alex Murdaugh, Top McCarthy aide, House Oversight chair each met with Ashli Babbitt's mother, Colon cancer rates rising in younger age group, study finds, Garland testifies before Senate panel amid ongoing special counsel probes, Ex-Georgia star Jalen Carter was racing in deadly crash, arrest warrants allege, Fiery train crash in Greece kills dozens, many of them students. The whereabouts of his home are under debate. The ferry was used by Confederate and Union troops during the Civil War. Two large metal boxes containing over $100,000 in Confederate gold were hidden near Athens. Rawlings himself has seen evidence of what appeared to be part of that buried Confederate loot. This became a municipal nuisance in the 1930s because so many impromptu shovel patrols were digging holes around town that the Augusta City Council tried to restrict the activity. But, the first story sounds very familiar with a post I put on Treasure Legends-"swamp gold." This story takes place around Florence, Alabama. Jean Lafitte the French Privateer and Pirate is said to have spent a considerable amount of time visiting Fort Morgan, Alabama. var FIX=FIX||{}; One time in Montgomery, in the late '80s, or early '90s, I was finishing some sheetrock in a small business, in sort of a row of businesses in the same long building. Confederate gold refers to hidden caches of gold lost after the American Civil War. By all accounts, he stayed by the tracks between Atmore and Bay Minette Alabama stealing from the trains every chance he got. This was probably done to increase the incentive to Union soldiers combing the villages and roads of the Carolinas and Georgia for the treasury, and for Confederate President Jefferson Davis, who had fled Richmond. Named after one president, Thomas Jefferson, he went on to marry the daughter of another, Zachary Taylor. Twice a week we compile our most fascinating features and deliver them straight to you. The attack happened in March of 1865. Those products, whether pictures of a service or a product contain links to the seller.What companies do I work with and promote?I work with Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, Clickbank, and MyTopo, affiliate advertising programs designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to these websites.I also promote Solo Build It Site Built It, because it's the product I used to build this website. La Bellone ran aground at the entrance of Pelican Bay in September of 1724 which is on the east end of Dauphin Island. It would have taken a large amount of troops to dig and hide all the treasure, and as poor as alot of those soldiers were after the war, why not go back and dig up the treasure? Two more Union soldiers were killed along with the two rebels that had been with Hansen. But on May 10, when members of the 4th Michigan Cavalry captured Davis group near Irwinville, Georgia, they had only a few dollars with them. Keep in mind most of these lost treasure stories have been handed down by word of mouth over the centuries. This dental device was sold to fix patients' jaws. So they filled a strongbox full of gold coins that the town had stored up as the treasury. [OFFICIAL. In April 1865, Confederate President Jefferson Davis and members of his cabinet evacuated the city by train and headed south. The FBI says it came up empty at the rural Pennsylvania site where Civil War gold is rumored to be buried. Morris was formerly a skilled circus performer and had an athletic build which made getting on off trains a breeze. Confederate Pots of Gold . They fought with the Indians and ended up taking their gold and jewels and then going onto Alabama. I got the Keel Mountain story from a treasure hunter in west Tennessee, and it was a small, one-paragraph statement. In Semples mind, if the U.S. could be drawn into a war with Great Britain, the North would need the South and would ease up on letting the former Confederate States back into the Union. The lost gold also played a key role in the legendary 1966 Western film, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. And chances are good people are searching for it at this very moment. At the time, it was reported hed dressed as a woman to avoid capture, but was later said to have been wearing it due to his severesensitivity to cold weather. I have hunted the area with only minor finds but there was alot of activity in the area. She says that some Confederate gold was hidden there and some is still being found today. Jefferson Davis, a Congressman from Mississippi and former Secretary of War, was named its president. Henry refused to tell the soldiers where the treasure was and was beaten again. There are many lost treasures and legends of Alabama and I encourage you to visit this state and enjoy the rich history that Alabama presents. The first carried Davis and other Confederate officials, along with the governments most important documents and other archived materials. They left Richmond with a bunch of money, and when [Davis group] was captured six weeks later, they didnt have it. What Confederate Money (paper notes) that they had was burned at Washington, Ga. in the middle of town by Brig. When he was captured, he had almost nothing. He sketched the symbols . The coins are buried on city-owned land, and Danville officials, concerned about disturbing graves, continue to refuse all requests to dig, even test holes. The Confederacys capital city was initially located in Montgomery, Alabama, but soon changed to Richmond, Virginia. He would then bury the wine casks in various areas around his homestead. Women sent jewelry, and there were hundreds of containers filled with gold and silver. The mystery thus began when Semple and Tidball disappeared. One theory suggests it was stolen by the Michigan Cavalrymen. Posted on December 5, 2020 December 31, 2020 by Terry W. Platt. So Hardy decided to bury the treasure late at night when everyone was asleep. (The fleeing Confederates also carried about $450,000 in Richmond bank gold, but wouldnt touch those funds, as they didnt belong to the Confederate government.). An ardent Confederate, Julia had made a difficult decision late in the war to leave Virginia for her mothers home on Staten Island, New York. The gold became a lost legend. This small island holds many lost treasure stories. Visit here for more information on State laws regarding relic hunting, treasure hunting, and artifacts. He ended up in prison until the end of the war. Near Athens there may be a Confederate treasure. In the other were cash and gold reserves and jewelry, estimated to be worth around $1 million. The duo focused on a spot where they say their instruments detected a large metallic mass. Every legend that has any long-term staying power has a modicum of truth in it, and certainly this one does, says William Rawlings, an author of numerous nonfiction books and novels about Southern history. Im not sure of the accuracy of this story but here it goes. It is said that he would only accept gold coins as payment for the ground corn and flour that he sold. The FBI has since dragged its feet on the treasure hunters' Freedom of Information Act request for records, their lawyer said Wednesday. Semple was drawn to Julia, and she to him, by circumstances of war and the aftermath. ; Official from Secretary Stanton. The treasure was secured in the false bottom of a carriage. Jean and his older brother Pierre stole a lot of loot over the years in and around the Gulf of Mexico in the early 1800s. The below mentioned George Trenholm incidentally, accompanied Davis on part of his flight but dropped out prematurely due to ill health, which was taken as circumstantial evidence by his Union accusers, when they later accused Trenholm of theft. HISTORY reviews and updates its content regularly to ensure it is complete and accurate. He also contracted pneumonia and had an infection that contributed to his death. So I can't totally discount the story. The Ghost Town of Old Cahaba located on route 22 approximately 14 miles southwest of Selma, was used as a Confederate Fort during the Civil War. An example of data being processed may be a unique identifier stored in a cookie. The Chief agreed but he had other intentions as well. You see people didnt trust the banks back then because they were often robbed and the insurance programs of the Federal Government were not that good. There are a few instances of the plantation ruins that still remain to this day including the spring where the cotton gin was. With both her husband and her mother deceased, Julia was alone on Staten Island with the children, surrounded by Yankees unhappy with a Southern sympathizer in their midst, even though she had been a First Lady. During the months he was trying to stay ahead of his would-be captors, Danville became an encampment for the Union army. This would be a nice area to use a metal detector in. Near Demopolis is an area named White Bluff. In fact, during a recent renovation of Linden Farm by its owner, a document found hidden in a wall confirms Tidballs possession of a portion of the gold. In their book The Rebel and the Rose (2007), Wesley Millett and Gerald White tracked the path of that chunk of the Confederate treasure, part of which they believe one of the navy officials, James A. Semple, spent on his love affair with Julia Tyler, the widow of President John Tyler, as well as a failed plot to provoke war between Britain and the United States. The phrase "Lost Confederate Gold" has a romantic ring. With enemy soldiers occupying the town, any effort to dig up the some 160,000 8-reale coins would have certainly been seen. With Union troops closing in on the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia, in early April 1865, President Jefferson Davis and the rest of his government fled southward, allegedly carrying with them a considerable amount of gold, silver and other coins. With the technology of today, why does the specie remain buried? In the 1938 book, Flight Into Oblivion, by A.J. What happened to it, however, no one knows, and this has created a mystery thats spanned over 150 years. As soon as they spent all the gold and silver they came back for more. They filled two wooden boxes full. Then, after the Justice Department ordered a more thorough review, the FBI said its records were exempt from public disclosure. They filled two wooden boxes full. JavaScript is disabled. What happened to the Confederate money? Looking For a Top Rated Metal Detector That Wont Cost You Thousands of Dollars but works like a $2000 machine? While on the route to Columbia the wagons and horses started to get bogged down on the marshy ground 4 miles North of Athens, Alabama. "From the outset, it seems as if the FBI is doing everything it can to avoid answering the question of whether they actually found gold," Weismann said. FACT CHECK: We strive for accuracy and fairness. Todd Neikirk is a New Jersey-based politics, entertainment and history writer. So as you can tell it was a great hiding spot for soldiers. Several legends, actually. Here is an OP that I posted on it a couple of months ago, to include sharing a couple of photos of one of the coins that he was paid on 4 May 1865, once they crossed the Savannah River and Breckinridge was more . It may not display this or other websites correctly. He went to Fort Rosalie and told a friend about the treasure. This Metal Detector Has all the top features you would expect in a quality metal detector. In the Cumberland mountains of central Tennessee a small Confederate detail had hidden the gold in a mountain cache. Many posses were formed looking for Railroad Bill. The story goes that when she was forced to leave she had so much gold and silver her horses couldnt carry the load so she was forced to bury the gold and silver where she stood. The Fenian Brotherhood, which was preparing to attack Canada with a growing army, seemed to be an opportunity; and with the apparent blessing of Jefferson Davis, with whom he was somehow able to exchange messages, though Davis was securely locked up in prison at Fortress Monroe, Virginia, Semple became a courier for the Fenian movement. Hanna, The Long Surrender by Burke Davis in 1985, and in 2001, An Honorable Defeat: the Last Days of the Confederate Government by Williams C. Davis, the mystery of the disappearing gold was unresolved. Hardy grew his small acres of land into whopping 9000 acres by 1850. (Published 1865)", Last Sighting of the Lost Confederate Gold in Georgia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Confederate_gold&oldid=1130607928, A series of western adventure novels written by, This page was last edited on 31 December 2022, at 01:37. They worked hard to get good lands out west which the U.S. Government was trying to move them to. 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