Confederate Gold-Stories of others and any Help with this one

[Bigcypresshunter]

HOLA amigos,

Is this the story we are researching?
quote
KGC GOLD IN THE EVERGLADES

In 1862, under the auspices of a hot Florida sun, Confederate Major Thomas Reynolds was on the run from Union troops. His mission was simple enough, get a shipment of gold coins estimated to be nearly $200,000 worth to a secret location near Jupiter Lighthouse, where a Confederate blockade runner waited to transport the hoard for shipment to banks in Europe. This gold was from members of the secretive Knights of the Golden Circle in Ohio.

To avoid capture, Major Reynolds reached Lake Okeechobee and decided to head South. He and his men found a small village in the Everglades, about 30 miles South of the lake, where a group of Baptists from South Carolina had established a sugar plantation in the 1830's. Figuring this was a safe spot, Major Reynolds instructed his men to bury the chest of gold coins for safekeeping.

For one reason or another, the chest of gold was never recovered. Shortly after World World 2, a pilot flying over the Everglades about 30 miles West of Fort Lauderdale spotted an island where banana trees were growing, something highly unusual for this area. He led a small party who rented an airboat and spent the next 3 weeks combing the region, recovering a number of CSA rifles, canteens, bullet molds and other misc Confederate military equipment.

Most treasure experts say this is the location where Major Reynolds buried the Knights of the Golden Circle chest of gold coins. Some have even suggested that the cache may have been divided and buried between 2 islands at this location. But, would they have had time to do this? I feel if they buried the cache here on this island and knowing full well that Union troops were scounting nearby for them, Major Reynolds would of only used one location. Using logical sense would make the difference. If they had returned to salvage the chest of coins I don't feel Major Reynolds would of spent the extra time digging in two spots when he could of just dug in one.

There are numerous accounts of treasure being stored or lost in the Everglades and one smart treasure hunter with a sense of direction could probley find this island and the original location of the sugar plantation. Who knows what else may be hidden there? Only the alligators and snakes know for sure and I doubt they are going to provide any answers!
by By Randy Sumpter ( Offering FREE research help ! )
[email protected]

unquote

I presume this is the story? If it is, we have enough info to determine if it is truth or bogus now. Let me know if this is the same story, and thank you in advance,
Oroblanco

Yes very good Mr. O. This appears to be the same story. I dont know about the dates. There seems to be several different versions of it or maybe there is another missing shipment.

 

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[Bigcypresshunter]

Todays airboat trails were made over old Indian dugout canoe trails. The Army used these same canoe trails. The Everglades will reclaim the trails in a few years. You are correct, the sheet flow was changed when the dikes were built to divert the waterflow. Everglades restoration is now attempting to correct the errors made by the Army Corps of Engineers and restore the natural sheet flow.

Mindspark, why would there be Poinsietta Trees on Horseshoe Head in 1949?

 

[mindspark]

Royal Poinciana trees were brought to South Florida via the Bahamas and other Carribbean Islands. They originally came from Madagascar as did the gumbo limbo tree. They are a beautiful fast growing tree valued for it's shade. If there were any women on Horseshoe head they might have been trying to beautify the area where they lived and brought seeds. I have read references to people seeing these trees that were fully grown as far back in the early 1870's, maybe evern further if I do a little research. They probably grew them mostly for the shade. Also could have been for a landmark. Just about every hammock out there looks the same, but you can see a flaming red canopy for miles. Anyone who's been in the glades in August knows what value the cool that a big shade tree brings.

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

The GumboLimbo tree is native. I think you mean the Rubber Ficus tree with the crazy roots.

Here is a map of where I believe Horseshoe Head is; in the gap between the L-28 interceptor and the L-28 tie-back canals. I worked for Ellis Tower Co. and we installed the Florida Flood Control Tower at the north end of the L-28 tie-back canal levy way back in the early 70's. Beautiful country. It is on Miccosuki Indian land. The only way to get close to it would be by boat down the canal or bicycle down the L-28 levy. The levy entrance will have a locked gate but you can go around it. But you cannot access Indian lands without permission(the dark green line is the boundary). Mindspark, is this the location? ...and how did you discover the Confederates campsite to be on this island?

http://library.fgcu.edu/caloo/repopt1.pdf

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

BTW I thank you Mindspark, Mr.O., BridgEndFarm, Ivan, sabre, SWR and everyone else for contributing to this effort.

 

[sabre15]

I can't imagine what it took to get through all of this 140 years ago. Especially if you lugged around the treasure and all your gear, and to have to fight off snakes , gators, panthers, Boar etc!

 

[Kentucky Kache]

I wonder why people can't see "cache hunting" at the top of the page. If they don't like cache hunting, or discussing cache hunting, I wonder why they visit.

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

So…are we adding “The fleeing Confederate’s rapidly grew trees for shade” to this yarn?

No. I think the area was cleared for farming. After it was abandoned, the disturbed soil was prime habitat for the exotics to thrive. Somewhere between 1860 and 1940 the Poinsietta Seeds were planted. People back around the turn of the century were importing all kinds of exotic plants to Florida. The man that dicovered this island was sprinkling water loving Malelueca tree seeds across the Everglades from his airplane in an attempt to dry it up a bit!

What the Confederates were doing, I am not yet sure. They were not planting trees. Maybe the Baptists were. I am hoping it was not just a band of deserters on that island. I have received more clues in the past month than I have in the past 35 years. I remember reading about this cache as a child in the library and I xeroxed the page and kept it all these years in a box with other treasure related newsclippings.

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

I wonder why people can't see "cache hunting" at the top of the page. If they don't like cache hunting, or discussing cache hunting, I wonder why they visit.

Opposing points of view are welcome IMO. It may lead to a stronger effort searching for the truth.

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

I can't imagine what it took to get through all of this 140 years ago. Especially if you lugged around the treasure and all your gear, and to have to fight off snakes , gators, panthers, Boar etc!

Snakes may have been a problem, more so to animals. A panther would be shot on site. Alligators maybe and especially DeSotos pigs would have been welcome food. The biggest problem would be the mud, sawgrass and mosquitos. I read that the mosquitos and biting flies could kill a mule and Im sure its true. The heat can be escruciating in the Summer. I dont know what month they were travelling.

 

[ivan salis]

humans by and large like animals are creatures of habit -- they tend to use and reuse the same trails over and over ----the game and indain trails of old logically tended to follow the dry areas and ridge lines (for ease of travel)-- and linked indain settlement areas to one another ---as whitemans towns replaced indain settlements and hard roads replace trails these "hard" roads were often built along the routes of these old game trails / indain trails. --- a prime exsample -- an old florida indain trail --becomes the english "kings highway" plank road -- then later on it becomes the paved road known as US 1.

some settlements died out long ago and thus never made it to the "paved" road era - and their roads / trails were swallowed up by nature over time but in some cases clues to where they went and ran to can be found on the maps of old and by hunting them down.

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

Article in yesterdays paper has nothing to do with the Confederates gold but it does help explain the history of the area. http://www.palmbeachpost.com/localnews/content/local_news/epaper/2009/03/15/a1a_riverbend_0316.html

 

[Bridge End Farm]

I met the man today that owns the land and surronding area in Georgia
where the train depot of the last stop and capture of Jefferson Davis and company. He
said the money (Confederate Treasury) is on his land buried somewhere though he hasn't pin pointed and found it yet

Maybe it didn't make it to florida, but it isn't found so my money is on Sunshine State. Told him we would be glad to help him look and left my number

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

Nice article.

I find this part biased, skewed and misinformed reporting:

Their black allies, who joined the Seminole cause after escaping from Southern plantations, could be sold back into slavery.

So….the slaves who escaped from up North were exempt, or there were no escaped slaves in Florida from the North? This is the kind of crap that frosts my Lucky Charms….so to speak

Oh yeah, the bullet is not period, either.

I dont understand what you mean. I would imagine its safe to say the large majority of escaped slaves in Florida came from southern slave states. The Seminole tribe today is made of a mixture of blacks. Thats right, I think the bullet is later era. http://www.sonofthesouth.net/slavery/slave-maps/map-free-slave-states.htm
This is an original 1857 Map of the United States Showing the Free and Slave States. The Dark green states are the free states. The light green are the free "Territories", which were not yet states. The Red States were Slave Importing States, and the Pink States Were Slave States that Exported Slaves. Part of the dispute which helped trigger the Civil War was how to dispose of the territories . . . would they join the union as Slave or Free? The answer to this would tip the balance of power in the Congress, which is what made it such a difficult issue.

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

Were there many slaves in the North in the 1840's?

 

[ivan salis]

as a run away slave from a northly slave or "free" state --would you run toward "free states (where many anti slavery type people lived) and later on to canada ( who had no slavery at all) via the underground railroad ") or would you run the long hard gaunlet thru the of southern states (all pro slavery) to get to florida's panhandle area --were former creek indains ( known to day as SEMINOLES) were driven off of their traditionial home ranges in georgia and alabama by white slave owning settlers -- harboring a deep hatred against these settlers the indain welcomed runaway slaves to strenghten their numbers --they often raided inti georgia and alabama --freeing slaves and killing and robbing these slave owning settlers -- "america" pressed spain to "handle" the problem --spain was too weak / unwilling to do so ---so andrew jackson with indain tribal foes of the creeks (who wanted to show what "loyal allies" they were to andrew jackson & america -- a poly that did not help as andrew jackson later on shipped his indain "allies" of to resevrations out west as a reward for their service) while in florida jackson fought anyone he ran across that didn't give in to him --it showed how very weak the spanish really were and later on lead to spain basically giving up florida to the US. -- in exchange for the USA covering up to 5 million dollars worth of losses that americans claimed against spain for failing to control / stop the raiders in "their" land from attacking americans and their "property"

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

Were there many slaves in the North in the 1840's?

Not as many as in the South...that's for sure.

I didn't want to highjack the thread...just venting.

No its not really hijacking because its all related to South Floridas Everglades where many escaped slaves hid in the swamps along with Indians and later CW deserters. Criminals, pirates and renegades of all kinds sought refuge in this area.

 

[mindspark]

Back to topic #75 from Big Cypress Hunter --

The original article appeared in a treasure magazine back in the early 80's.
Hully Sterling was giving flying lessons over the everglades when he found the royal poincaniana trees; flying closer saw the remnants of cabins. The article said he was about 30 miles from Ft. Lauderdale. There was no Alligator Alley back then so it took him 3 days by airboat to actually locate it.

I took that lead, measured about 30 miles on a topo map and circled an area to search. I had a friend who flew and I paid him for his gas and he flew me out to look around. There is only one head that has the royal poinciana trees. So that is how I was able to find the name of the head on the map.

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

Back to topic #75 from Big Cypress Hunter --

The original article appeared in a treasure magazine back in the early 80's.
Hully Sterling was giving flying lessons over the everglades when he found the royal poincaniana trees; flying closer saw the remnants of cabins. The article said he was about 30 miles from Ft. Lauderdale. There was no Alligator Alley back then so it took him 3 days by airboat to actually locate it.

I took that lead, measured about 30 miles on a topo map and circled an area to search. I had a friend who flew and I paid him for his gas and he flew me out to look around. There is only one head that has the royal poinciana trees. So that is how I was able to find the name of the head on the map.

OK thanks. I respect your opinion which is based on the Poinciana Trees. I have heard a different version with a different tree however. I remember first reading about this gold in the library in the late 70's. I think the treasure book was older.

 

[ivan salis]

if I remember correctly some folks think that the confederate gold was carried by train (to * washington, ga ) and then at that point some of the gold was transfered into wagons -- with the remainer of the gold being buried near by the train depot area where the switch from train to wagon occured .