Let me first state that this story is true.
I used to be very into gold prospecting. I live in central North Carolina and have found some nice chunks of gold over the years. Not enough to make a living of course but more than enough to keep me interested.
Back in the late 90s I was wandering around in the woods about 50 miles from my house, panning for gold when I found a civil war era cannonball, imbedded in solid clay in the creek bank. Not knowing anything about this story at the time, I took the cannonball to several old timers, who practically fell over themselves trying to get me to tell where I found it. I had a conversation with one person in particular who threatened me with physical violence if I didn?t tell him where exactly I found the cannonball.
The cannonball itself has never been fired, according to a friend of mine. He said it would have been flattened slightly and have minute grooves in it had it been fired, neither of which is the case. It is however heavily rusted and pitted.
Some time later I heard of a story about Confederate soldiers retreating south through North Carolina in the closing weeks of the Civil War. They were supposed to be carrying a lot of gold bullion, and a cannon. Anyway the story went something like this?.
They were somewhere in central NC with Union Calvary hot on their trail. With so much heavy cargo they couldn?t make good time and so they melted the gold and poured it into the cannon barrel and then tossed the barrel over the side of a very large embankment into a creek or river. Of particular interest to me is the Confederate soldiers apparently stated that the river or creek that they dumped the cannon in was ?whitewater rapids?. The Confederate soldiers were eventually captured and imprisoned for several years in an attempt to find out where the gold was but they either didn?t tell or couldn?t remember well enough to find the place again.
There was a PBS documentary on this that aired several decades ago, back in the early 1980s I think. I don?t suppose anyone would have a database of old documentaries? The only good information I can find is from people who remember the documentary.
The area where I found it is extremely remote. You might think that?s impossible in an eastern state but the area in question was unmapped until around 1910.
I?ve tried to research this off and on over the years. I found records of lots of confederate units retreating through here in the final weeks of the war, but there is no concrete mention of any of them carrying gold, at least that I can find. I do know that President Jefferson Davis passed near me in the final days of the war and it is strongly rumored that he brought a lot of valuables with him. The closest civil war battle or skirmish that I know of occurred well over 75 miles from where I found the cannonball.
I have contacted various historical societies, museums, etc but they were of pretty much no help whatsoever. Most of them are very intent on finding out where I found the cannonball, so you can possibly understand why I don?t mention it much anymore.
I used to be very into gold prospecting. I live in central North Carolina and have found some nice chunks of gold over the years. Not enough to make a living of course but more than enough to keep me interested.
Back in the late 90s I was wandering around in the woods about 50 miles from my house, panning for gold when I found a civil war era cannonball, imbedded in solid clay in the creek bank. Not knowing anything about this story at the time, I took the cannonball to several old timers, who practically fell over themselves trying to get me to tell where I found it. I had a conversation with one person in particular who threatened me with physical violence if I didn?t tell him where exactly I found the cannonball.
The cannonball itself has never been fired, according to a friend of mine. He said it would have been flattened slightly and have minute grooves in it had it been fired, neither of which is the case. It is however heavily rusted and pitted.
Some time later I heard of a story about Confederate soldiers retreating south through North Carolina in the closing weeks of the Civil War. They were supposed to be carrying a lot of gold bullion, and a cannon. Anyway the story went something like this?.
They were somewhere in central NC with Union Calvary hot on their trail. With so much heavy cargo they couldn?t make good time and so they melted the gold and poured it into the cannon barrel and then tossed the barrel over the side of a very large embankment into a creek or river. Of particular interest to me is the Confederate soldiers apparently stated that the river or creek that they dumped the cannon in was ?whitewater rapids?. The Confederate soldiers were eventually captured and imprisoned for several years in an attempt to find out where the gold was but they either didn?t tell or couldn?t remember well enough to find the place again.
There was a PBS documentary on this that aired several decades ago, back in the early 1980s I think. I don?t suppose anyone would have a database of old documentaries? The only good information I can find is from people who remember the documentary.
The area where I found it is extremely remote. You might think that?s impossible in an eastern state but the area in question was unmapped until around 1910.
I?ve tried to research this off and on over the years. I found records of lots of confederate units retreating through here in the final weeks of the war, but there is no concrete mention of any of them carrying gold, at least that I can find. I do know that President Jefferson Davis passed near me in the final days of the war and it is strongly rumored that he brought a lot of valuables with him. The closest civil war battle or skirmish that I know of occurred well over 75 miles from where I found the cannonball.
I have contacted various historical societies, museums, etc but they were of pretty much no help whatsoever. Most of them are very intent on finding out where I found the cannonball, so you can possibly understand why I don?t mention it much anymore.
