CBS News affiliate WTAJ-TVreported members of the Elk County Historical Society say they believe the gold is just an old wives' tale. Some of the add-ons on this site are powered by. The officer brought troops to Henrys home in the hopes of getting Henry to tell them where his treasure was hidden. One of the first settlements of Alabama is called Dauphin Island. He and his friend decided to head out to recover the treasure. Near Demopolis is an area named White Bluff. Rawlings himself has seen evidence of what appeared to be part of that buried Confederate loot. Young refused to release it, but was compelled to do so by force. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding. FACT CHECK: We strive for accuracy and fairness. One night two braves took the trapper, tied his hands and feet, and blindfolded him. Then, after the Justice Department ordered a more thorough review, the FBI said its records were exempt from public disclosure. The Mexican coins had been transported to Danville, Virginia, and when the Davis party was forced to move further south, primarily by wagon, the more than 9,000 pounds of silver would have considerably slowed down the procession. Davis was arrested on May 10 by members of the 4th Michigan Cavalry. The gold (or some of it) in their treasury came with them. Mysteries endure, too, including the ultimate disposition of the Confederate treasury. 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. Even into the 1930s, the pages ofThe Augusta Chronicleincluded stories of impromptu inner city treasure hunts sparked by a variety of rumors that someone had found part of a hoard hastily hiddenfrom the Yankees. It was an E-mail he sent to someone and it found it's way to being an article on several sites. What Confederate Money (paper notes) that they had was burned at Washington, Ga. in the middle of town by Brig. Postmaster General John Reagan, who was with Davis in Danville, added more detail, recalling that the gold was to be hidden in the false bottom of a carriage. Around that time (and probably because he could no longer finance his travels), he finally began to realize there was nothing to be gained for the South, that the Fenian army was more rhetoric than substance and was ill prepared to precipitate war between the U.S. and Great Britain. Two trains left from the capital that night. [5], George Trenholm, who was Confederate States Secretary of the Treasury for the last year of the Civil War, was arrested after the war and accused of making off with millions in Confederate assets. He came to Alabama in 1815 and set up a ferry for crossing the Perdido River that has banks of the Alabama and Florida side. If its there Im all for digging it up. Union soldiers were invading the countryside around Sherwood Forest, the Tyler plantation, and the safety of her young children was paramount. Hansen ended up killing one of the Union scouts. Ultimately, he took refuge in the North at the home of Julia Gardiner Tyler. People like to believe theres something out there, Rawlings says. So the gold could have been buried anywhere, or perhaps in different locations. If you are venturing on to State or Federal lands you should know the laws of that State. Sharps had a nephew named Grady Sharps who witnessed his uncle go into his 100 acres of forest that he owned south of Whites Mill. Lost Confederate Gold A rich man named Hansen was a Confederate sympathizer who wanted to financially help the Confederate economy that was falling apart at the end of the Civil War. His work has been featured in psfk.com, foxsports.com, politicususa.com and hillreporter.com. Davis had nothing on him when he was captured in the end on May 10 in Irwinville, Georgia. Posted on December 5, 2020 December 31, 2020 by Terry W. Platt. Henry Nunez buried near what used to be his house on the Alabama side of the river. After the decision was made to disband the Confederate government on May 4, 1865, Davis entrusted $86,000 to two Confederate navy officials, whom he tasked with smuggling the money to England. They filled two wooden boxes full. Davis was on the run for much of April 1865. Some of the Southern leaders . Also, a Spanish galleon ship broke up near the east end of Dauphin Island in 1801. Sharps bought a mill there called Whites Mill in 1897. The troops were trying to keep the gold and silver away from Union soldiers. During the autumn of 1864 it was clear the Confederacy was losing the Civil War. I would keep a close I on the eastern shore of Dauphin Island. The folk ballad by Lonnie Donegan was named after him. Many names and records have been lost to time. [3][4], Davis did in effect take with him $528,000 in gold and silver bullion (some of it in Mexican silver coinage) when he fled the city on 3 April 1865 by train. But with 100 acres to cover and now metal detectors back then it was never found. This little island has been cut off from the outside world until just recently when a bridge was built that goes from the mainland of Alabama across the Mississippi Sound to Dauphin Island. Many attempts at recovering her gold and silver cache have come up empty. Knowing that he was wealthy and owned half of the town the legend has it that the gold could be buried anywhere in Fort Payne. Demopolis is an abandoned town on the Tombigbee River, near the intersection of rout 43, and 80. And like all good stories of lost treasure, this one has staying power. The plantations were called Vale Royal and Springfield. 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. In the film, a thief goes back in time to hijack the money using advanced technology. General Dukes Brigade. C.E. Dauphin Island held many camps over the centuries including a British army camp, a Spanish army camp, a Federal army camp, and a French army camp. The gold and silver coins are said to be buried east of his old homestead. Your email address is safe, and unsubscribing is easy. Hardy grew his small acres of land into whopping 9000 acres by 1850. One treasury clerk in particular, Micajah Clark provided a detailed accounting of the disposition of the funds. The Confederate States of America were formed prior to Abraham Lincoln taking office in March 1861. Confederate Pots of Gold . They never made it. In Washington, Georgia, a small town untouched by the war, he was entrusted with $86,000 in gold coin and bullion (about $1 million in today's money) and disappeared into the night. Levi Colbert who lived from 1759 to1834 was the bench chief of the Chickasaw Nation. In the 1966 Spaghetti Western movie "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly," the protagonists get information about lost Confederate gold hidden in a . After meeting with the treasure hunters in early 2018, the FBI brought in a contractor with more sophisticated instruments. Looking For a Top Rated Metal Detector That Wont Cost You Thousands of Dollars but works like a $2000 machine? The treasure may be Hansen and the two soldiers went on their way dressed as farmers. All Rights Reserved. Some believe it was stolen by the Union soldiers who arrested Davis, while others speculate it was hidden long before his arrest, with the aim of keeping it out of the Norths hands. This small island holds many lost treasure stories. There was even a systemto such pursuits. Legend of the Lost Confederate Gold. 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. The crew members that survived and made it to shore said there was a million dollars worth of gold and silver aboard. A man by the name of C.E. Louina was forced to leave Alabama during the Trail of Tears and sold her trading post Isham T. Weathers. He was very skilled at evading the police. You must log in or register to reply here. Jean Lafitte the pirate supposedly buried gold coins on a beach in what is now Bayou la Batre. It definitely would be worth taking a metal detector to the beach, Two wooden boxes full of gold and silver bullion and coins, Buried deep in a bog nearAthens, Alabama, NearFlorence, Alabama south of Whites mill, Hardy Clemens plantation ruins nearCoaling, Alabama on the shores of Big Sandy Creek, Dawson, Guntersville, Gadsden, and Mentone Alabama in the Sand mountains, Ghost town of Louina inRandolph County Alabama, the caves between Atmore and Bay Minette Alabama, N 3030 38 W 872651 which is close to U.S. Highway 90 bridge that now crosses the Perdido River, 40,000 crowns of gold and silver bullion and coins, Near the entrance to Mobile Bay near Dauphin Island, Cave full ofgold and silver bars, coins, and jewels, Underwater cave near Muscle Shoals, Alabama along the Tennessee river. The legend of the Confederate gold is referenced in many films. Generally, it went like this:An individual or his friends would get a tip or a hunchthat some vacant plotheld the secret wealthand out would come the shovels. If you are ever in Muscle Shoals, Alabama along the Tennessee river you might want to take a look around for limestone caves although the Red Bone cave is more than likely underwater now and you will need to bring your scuba gear and do some underwater metal detecting. That is a crazy amount of money even by todays standards. It would be a great place to find all kinds of history and relics that might still be strewn about by all those army camps. Over the years the trapper kept trying to find Red Bone Cave and the treasure without avail. Union soldiers happened by and demanded that Hansen and his men unload the cargo in their wagons because they became suspicious that the cargo in the wagons might be guns and ammunition. The area was then abandoned around 1830. It is said that John Buried $100,000 worth of gold there. Instead of Liverpool, Semple eventually got as far as Nassau, after hiding out in the Okefenokee Swamp along the Georgia-Florida border for months. So with Jesse James spending time and hiding out, its only natural that many believe that he would have buried treasure in and around these areas of Alabama. After he retired, Bob Brewer embarked on an adventure to find the missing Confederate gold, supposedly hidden by the mysterious Knights of the Golden Circle of the late 1800s to finance a second Civil War. De Soto and his men fled and left the treasure they had stolen from the Cherokees behind. He was a war hero, fighting in the Mexican-American War of the 1840s, and looked set for a long, happy career as a statesman. The legend states that DeSoto and his men cant to the Bay of Espiritu Santa which is now Tampa Bay Florida. (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. The Confederates got away or won the little skirmish or what have you but the men who hid it had been killed. Ole Louina was a community during early settlement of Randolph County which was settled after the Battle of Horseshoe Bend in 1814 when the Creek Indians were defeated by . So if you are ever in that area you might want to have your metal detector and shovel ready because there might be something worth finding buried in the ground there. In the 1938 book, Flight Into Oblivion, by A.J. But on the night of May 24, as the group made camp for the night in Lincoln County, Georgia, near Danburg Crossroads, some 20 armed men on horseback invaded the camp and carried off as much gold as they could carry. With them was the remainder of the Confederate treasury, including crates of gold and silver coins, gold bullion from Richmond bank reserves and jewelry that had been donated to the Southern cause. Where did the loot go? There is also a story of a cross embedded with jewels that were put in a well by pirates that never came back to claim it. I am sure some of your readers are from that area and are familiar with the Prattville, Montgomery area and of course, the Alabama River. ANCIENT VOICES: Ditlihi's Journey Into The Truth Of Ancient Treasure In The Southwest. She made her money by running a trading post and she was one of the only Indian women to have owned slaves. The location was described (by him) as being in northern Alabama, between the towns of Bellview and Booneville, at or near Keel Mountain. With the Davis party was a navy paymaster, James S. Semple. There are a few instances of the plantation ruins that still remain to this day including the spring where the cotton gin was. Levi and his brother George were interpreters and negotiators that worked with U.S. Indian Agent John Dabney Terrell Sr. of Marion County Alabama. So as you can tell it was a great hiding spot for soldiers. He sketched the symbols . Davis and His Gold. Bill Kirby has reported, photographed and commented on life in Augusta and Georgiafor 45 years. A man named Hardy Clemens who was a rich businessman, politician, and farmer bought a few acres of land in Coaling, Alabama on the shores of Big Sandy Creek in 1845. The team arrange for Brian Abbott to do additional sonar scans of the lake while Kevin, Al, and Brad are in Georgia with Alex Lagina and Gary Drayton. Newton Alabama in Dale County came under attack by the 1st Florida Calvary that was led by former Confederate captain Joseph Sanders who lived in Dale County. Twice a week we compile our most fascinating features and deliver them straight to you. The question is, what happened? It happened between the Confederate Armory which was not over run during the war and present day, Wall Street . Jefferson Davis fled Richmond with multiple wagons filled with gold and silver. HISTORY reviews and updates its content regularly to ensure it is complete and accurate. C.E. I have not heard of both of these stories. The story of this lost treasure dates back to 1540 when the Spanish explorer Hernando De Soto was in this part of the New World. 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. He also contracted pneumonia and had an infection that contributed to his death. He would then bury the wine casks in various areas around his homestead. The story begins in Richmond on Sunday, April 2, 1865, when Confederate President Jefferson Davis received an urgent message from General Robert E. Lee while attending a church service. near a point where route 90 crosses the river. But during heavy rains, the river would rise fast and recede slowly so during those times people could not cross. Hansen now alone with the two wagons of treasure knowing that the soldier would soon return with more union troops decides to use the horses to overturn the wagons into the deep swamp. The trapper ended up not marrying the chiefs daughter and he went away freely although he killed two braves to make sure he was able to leave. An example of data being processed may be a unique identifier stored in a cookie. 's don't mention anything about the skirmish. 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