Confederate Payroll at Dollar Hill

[jonesy2012]

Hello everybody! Hope all is well for each of you. I am curious to know if anybody has searched for the lost Confederate payroll cache at Dollar Hill? I've read several legends/stories concerning this particular cache and to my knowledge it has never been recovered. I am interested in researching it further with my partner and just curious as to anybody's progress on this one! Thanks!

 

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[feidzd]

Sorry,I don't known info now.

 

[Salvor6]

Jonesy, could you tell us where Dollar Hill is located? I might have some info if its the same place.

 

[jonesy2012]

It is located in Clarksburg, Tn. And the title of this thread is actually somewhat misleading as my research has shown me that the payroll was not in fact confederate but it was a Union payroll.

 

[Salvor6]

The payroll was suppusedly buried near a spring. Are there any springs near Dollar Hill? There is also some question as to the truth of this legend. Would Colonel Dunham leave the payroll without a small guard?

 

[jonesy2012]

Salvor--yeah definitely some question, although per the Official Records the payroll did exist.story is that he buried it 200 ft due east of one of the 5 springs there and went into battle the next day. If you start to research the pay for union soldiers, and start to realize the regularity with which they got paid, it becomes clear that the amount of 15,000.00 is not far fetched for the payroll. Also, they paid the soldiers in "specie" which i have read is mostly meant as gold coins. Sometimes some silver mixed in. I am very actively researching this story and would be interested in any info on it. I am within range of making this search. Pretty easy drive to the area. Cheers!

 

[Salvor6]

Tes, the payroll did exist according to the Official Records of the Rebellion and $15,000 is not too much for a payroll. If you go 1.78 miles north of the Clarksburg courthouse you will find Dollar Hill Rd. on the left and Laws Lane on the right. The next road north, turn right. At the end of that road is a spring. Theres nothing but woods there.

 

[jonesy2012]

Salvor~do you live in the area and have you hunted for this?

 

[nickmarch]

There are no hot (thermal) springs in TN Thermal Springs

Learn how to use: USGS TNM 2.0 Viewer Search for 35° 53.800'N 88° 25.070'W

On the left click transportation & hydrography & Contours & Imagery. Then unclick Imagery & click Scanned Topo Maps.

On top right click between Base Map, Imagery & Blank

You will see ponds that they may be calling hot springs.

 

[jonesy2012]

Cool! Thanks for the tip. I knew there werent hot springs. I think they were referring to just natural springs/creeks. This was during the civil war so no tellin how the topography and water have changed in that time

 

[tercellhunter]

would like to know where to go for the payroll records surely thered be a report if this much was lost plus everything ive seen says nothing about dollar hill really anywho im interested in more info as well

 

[ECS]

THE BATTLE AT PARKERS CROSSROADS AND THE LOST UNION PAYROLL

On Dec 30,1862 during the WAR OF NORTHERN AGGRESSION,Union Col C L Dunham of the 39th IOWA REGIMENT was ordered to seek out and destroy the CSA 7th TENNESSEE CALVARY BRIGADE of Gen Nathan Bedford Forrest.
Forrest was known to never give or expect quarter (Re: FORT PILLOW MASSACRE),so before the engagement,Dunham had two Lts and a Sgt bury the payroll strongbox of $15,000 of gold US coins at a spring at Dollar Hill,where the Union had pitched camp.
The next morning,Dec 31,1862,Dunham's regiment met Forrest's at Parker Crossroads,and heavy casualities were inflicted on the Union.As Dunham ordered retreat,a rain storm flooded the area.
Dunham and his remaining men returned to Dollar Hill to retrieve the strongbox,only to find the area was "a sea of mud and standing water",and quickly departed to avoid CSA patrols .
This is one of the few lost gold stories of the Civil War to be real.
Allen Chambliss,a teenager from Huntington,Tn,who Dunham hired as a scout,witnessed the burying of the stongbox and the battle,and lived to tell this tale.
It was also confirmed in Col Dunhams report of this encounter with CSA Gen Forrest.

 

[bluehunter1973]

I know of a few people from around there. They think it was later recovered after the war by a few soldiers who actually did know. But thats heresay.

 

[jonesy2012]

See, that's what i've wondered. Did somebody who was in the regiment who heard or guessed the location go back and pick it up? If so, there would be absolutely no way of knowing.

 

[bluehunter1973]

Had a brother in law say that they put houses around that site? no clue though I thought about researching it but I got a few more interesting ones with more promise.

 

[nickmarch]

The current Dollar hill is not the same dollar hill. Search "old dollar hill" it should be the first result.

 

[Connecticut Sam]

Tes, the payroll did exist according to the Official Records of the Rebellion and $15,000 is not too much for a payroll. If you go 1.78 miles north of the Clarksburg courthouse you will find Dollar Hill Rd. on the left and Laws Lane on the right. The next road north, turn right. At the end of that road is a spring. There is nothing but woods there.

That is what you want, all woods and all treasures and nobody around. Silent is golden.

 

[RevolutionaryPatriot]

I live close to dollar hill and believe i know where a few springs are

Hello everybody! Hope all is well for each of you. I am curious to know if anybody has searched for the lost Confederate payroll cache at Dollar Hill? I've read several legends/stories concerning this particular cache and to my knowledge it has never been recovered. I am interested in researching it further with my partner and just curious as to anybody's progress on this one! Thanks!

Have you continued on this search or given up? This post is a long time ago, but I am going to start working on this one in a few weeks when I return home to Tn.

 

[franklin]

Have you continued on this search or given up? This post is a long time ago, but I am going to start working on this one in a few weeks when I return home to Tn.

Go for it. $15,000 does not sound like much but when one rare coin could be worth a Million Dollars well worth the search.

 

[sdcfia]

Go for it. $15,000 does not sound like much but when one rare coin could be worth a Million Dollars well worth the search.

A $20 double eagle or its equivalent contained an ounce of gold in those days. $15,000 face value = 15,000/20 = 750 ounces of gold x $1,200 = $900,000 in today's values.