Confederate Treasure Train

[RTR]

The RR station sure dosent look like this today https://www.civilwar.org/learn/civil-war/battles/appomattox-station

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

Family Maps of Hinds County, Mississippi, Deluxe Edition - Grab it through Amazon!

[Rebel - KGC]

CW Gift Shop on Rt. 460 was torn down, last year; I REALLY liked that place!

 

[Benjamin Gates]

"Posts" #5 & 6... AND! The Rail Road DID go by Appomattox from the Petersburg/Richmond, Va. "area", into Lynchburg, Va. (Virginia & Tennessee Rail Road); once in Lynchburg, Va., it went on to Lowesville/Bedford/Thaxon/Montvale/Roanoke via what is known TODAY, as the Blackwater Creek Hiking & Biking Trail... which is AWESOME! It has carvings on the Bluffs along that old RR "BED". I found "1884", MANY initials, "Scale of Liberty"; Liberty was once the name of the Town of BEDFORD, Va. THAXON SWITCH is "KEY" to the MYSTERY for me; since YOU are from SML (wife & I go there, at times), YOU can do R & I on all this & "see for yourself". HH! Good Luck!

Rebel can you post any pics of those carvings? Such as "Scale of Liberty"?

 

[Rebel - KGC]

MAYBE in 2018; wife is learning how to take "pics" & "up-load"; too dang COLD now (NO SNOW... BUT! FRIGID!). Will also look for OTHER carvings, on the bluffs...

 

[Old Bookaroo]

The history of the War Between the States is very well documented - including the details about the Confederate Treasury. Almost all of the specie and other valuables have been accounted for. Of course, as is the case in almost every war, there are probably some small caches waiting to be found. But the overwhelming majority of the money was never lost in the first place.

Those seeking a vast lost hoard of Confederate gold must embrace what amounts to alternative history. I'll post a list of sources later - it's been a few years since I researched all this.

In the meantime - here's just one example of the documentation available to those interested in the story.

[h=1]Southern Historical Society Papers, Volume 9.
Reverend J. William Jones, Ed.[/h]
Southern Historical Society Papers, Volume 9., The last days of the Confederate Treasury and what became of its specie. – Retrieved Saturday, October 19, 2013

The last days of the Confederate Treasury and what became of its specie.
By Captain M. H. Clark.

[It is the purpose of the Secretary to compile for early publication a full statement of the disposition made of the Confederate specie at the close of the war, which shall forever set at rest the miserable slanders against President Davis, which have been so often refuted only to be revived by the malignity of his enemies. And we ask everyone, who has any facts bearing on the question, to send them to us at once. But, in the meantime, we publish the following clear and conclusive statement by the last Acting Treasurer of the Confederacy, Captain M. H. Clark, only omitting the opening paragraphs, which are not essential:]

Clarksville, Tenn., January 10th, 1882.
To the Editor of the Courier-Journal:
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
I will state briefly as possible my connection with the Confederate Treasury, and run hastily over the route from Richmond, Va., to Washington, Ga.

I left Richmond, Va., the night of the evacuation with all the papers of the Executive office, on the special train containing the President, his staff, his Cabinet (excepting the Secretary of War, General John C. Breckinridge,) and many other government officials, being at the time the chief and confidential clerk of the Executive office. The party reached Danville, Va., next day (General Breckinridge arriving a few days afterwards) where the government officers were partially reorganized and opened, remaining there until the 10th of April, when the news of General R. E. Lee's surrender was received. The next move was to Greensboro, N. C., the headquarters of General G. T. Beauregard's little army. A stay of some days was made there, during which General J. E. Johnston reported for a conference as to the general situation. When the President's party prepared to leave, as the railroads were cut at several points south of us by the Federal cavalry under General Stoneman, who were still raiding to the southwest of our line of travel, by orders of Colonels William Preston Johnston and John Taylor Wood (of the President's staff,) I applied to General Beauregard for the necessary facilities for the journey, who directed Colonel A. R. Chisolm, of his staff, to give me carte blanche orders upon his Chief Quartermaster, Major Chisman, and his Commissary Department for what I needed, from which departments I made up a full train of [543] wagons and ambulances for my papers, the baggage of the party and the provisions necessary for our large following, for many had attached themselves to the party, and I had brought out from Richmond, Va., the “President's guard” --disabled soldiers, commanded by three one-armed officers, Captain Coe and Lieutenants Brown and Dickinson. General Beauregard sent as escort a small cavalry division, under command of that gallant Tennesseean, General George G. Dibrell, comprising Williams's brigade, under command of General W. C. P. Breckinridge; Dibrell's brigade, under Colonel W. S. McLemore, and Hewitt's battery, under Lieutenant Roberts, and perhaps a few detached small regiments. Captain Given Campbell (an active, efficient officer) and his company from the Ninth Kentucky cavalry were detailed for special service with the President, his men being used as scouts, guides and couriers, the cavalry force not traveling as a rule upon the same road as the party.

The party proceeded to Charlotte, N. C., where, after a stay of a week (where we heard of the assassination of President Lincoln), the route was taken to Abbeville, S. C. At Charlotte a large accession was made to the cavalry force--General Basil W. Duke with his brigade, General Vaughn and some other detachments from Southwest Virginia, and General Ferguson, and scattering battalions, making quite a full force, which was taken charge of by General John C. Breckinridge in his position as Major-General.
General Duke had just before won the most complete victory of his career, attacking and driving away from Marion, Va., a large force of General Stoneman's mounted infantry, who left dead and wounded on the ground, man for man, as many as Duke had under his command in the battle — a brilliant sunset in the closing career of this Kentucky soldier.

Of General Breckinridge I saw a good deal, as we occupied the same room at Mr. Heilbrun's, his son, Captain Cabell Breckinridge, being with him. At Charlottee, N. C., I replenished my stores under an order from Hon. S. R. Mallory, Secretary of the Navy, upon the Naval Storekeeper, and an incident occurred which, perhaps, caused the escape of Colonel Wood when the President's party was captured in Southern Georgia--finding a lot of good blue navy shirts among the stores, he suggested taking a few to secure change of raiment to such as might need it. He had on one of these shirts the morning of the capture, and in the dim light was enabled to pass through the blue-coated Federal cavalry, mistaken for one of their own men. Leaving Charlotte, [544] N. C., the cavalry force also took the route South under command of General John C. Breckinridge.

We arrived at Abbeville, S. C., the morning of the 2nd of May. Mr. Haldeman was there, according to recollection, and saw the party come in. While there, the President made his headquarters at Colonel Armistead Burt's, Colonel William Preston Johnston at Colonel Henry J. Leovy's, with that patriotic family, the Monroes, of Kentucky. At Abbeville, S. C., the Treasury officers reported the train at the depot, having been a part of the time under escort of Admiral Raphael Semmes's little naval force to protect it from the Federal cavalry, who were raiding on a parallel line with our route, between us and the mountains. Mr. J. A. Trenholm, the Secretary of the Treasury, having been left quite ill near the Catawba river, the President appointed the Postmaster-General, Hon. John H. Reagan, acting Secretary of the Treasury, who took charge of that department, and placed the train under charge of the cavalry to convoy it to Washington, Ga. The party, except General John C. Breckinridge, left for Washington that night, crossing the Savannah river on a pontoon bridge, stopping for breakfast and to feed horses a few miles from Washington. Colonel Burton N. Harrison had previously left the party to join Mrs. Davis and her family. At our breakfast halt, when the road was taken, Mr. Benjamin came to me and said “good-by,” as he did not intend to go farther with the party, and turned off south from that point. I never saw him again, though traveling on his track over 400 miles. Mr. Mallory left the party at Washington, Ga., going to a friend's in the neighborhood.

President Davis's headquarters were at Dr. Robertson's, whose charming family were profuse in their hospitalities, as were many others, General A. R. Lawton's (the Quartermaster-General,) and General E. P. Alexander's among the rest.

Next morning Colonel William Preston Johnston informed me that Mr. Reagan had applied for me to act as Treasurer, to take charge of the Treasury matters, and I was ordered to report to him, and doing so was handed my commission, which is now before me and reads as follows, viz:

Washington, Ga., May 4, 1865.

M. H. Clark, Esq., is hereby appointed Acting Treasurer of the Confederate States, and is authorized to act as such during the absence of the Treasurer.
Jefferson Davis.

[This was the last official signature President Davis affixed to any paper.] [545]

Returning to my train to get some necessary articles, President Davis rode up with his party, when what I supposed were farewell words passed between us, and my train, under charge of its Quartermaster, moved out. The Treasury train arrived shortly after President Davis's party left, and being reported at General Basil W. Duke's camp, about a mile from town, I went there with the proper authority and he turned the whole of it over to me. Selecting the shade of a large elm tree as the “Treasury Department,” I commenced my duties as “Acting Treasurer C. S.”

Now for the specie assets of the Treasury.

It must be remembered that a month or more before the evacuation of Richmond, Va., for the relief of the people, to furnish them a currency to buy supplies outside of our lines, and also to call in currency to pay off the troops, and for other purposes, the Treasury Department had opened its depositories and had been selling silver coin, the rate being fixed at $60 for $1 in coin. While at Danville, Va., the Treasury Department resumed these sales, the rate there being $70 for $1.

About $40,000 in silver, generally reported (and no doubt correctly) at $39,000, was left at Greensboro, N. C., as a military chest for the forces there, under charge of the Treasurer, Mr. John C. Hendren; all of the balance was turned into my hands, which amounted, in gold and silver coin, gold and silver bullion, to $288,022.90. Adding the $39,000 left at Greensboro, N. C., the Treasury contained in coin and bullion when it left Danville, Va., $327,022.90.

If the Treasury at Richmond had contained $2,500,000 in coin certainly the brave men of our armies would never have suffered so severely from want of sufficient food and clothing as they did during the winter of 1864-‘65, for it had been demonstrated that gold could draw food and raiment from without the lines. With the train at Washington, Ga., however, was the specie belonging to the Virginia banks, which some time before had been ordered to be turned over to their officers, who had accompanied it out from Richmond, and, devoted to their duties, had never left it; but the proper officer had not been present to make the transfer. It had never been mixed with the Treasury funds, but kept apart and distinct, and when Acting Secretary Reagan ordered the transfer to be made, no handling of specie or counting was necessary, but merely permission for the cashiers and tellers to take control of their own matters. I knew them all personally, having been a Richmond boy myself. The papers of this transaction are not before me, and my recollection is not positively [546] clear as to the amount, but my impression is that it was about $230,000. General E. P. Alexander has already given in your columns the afterfate of this fund. As a history of the Virginia banks' specie would make a chapter of itself, and as it was not a part of the Confederate Treasury assets, I drop further mention of it.

While at Washington, Ga., communications were received from General John C. Breckinridge that payments had been promised to the cavalry from the train by him at a halt on the road the night of the 3d. The action of General Breckinridge in the premises was ratified, and President Davis gave some other directions before he left. General Breckinridge arrived in Washington, Ga., an hour or so after President Davis left, and my recollection of his statement was in brief as follows: That during the night of the 3d, en route from Abbeville, S. C., to Washington, Ga., he found the cavalry and train at a halt, resting. Stopping, he learned from the officers that the men were dissatisfied at the position of affairs; that they were guarding a train which could not be carried safely much farther; the Federal cavalry were known to be in full force not a great distance off; the destination and disposition of their own force was an uncertain one; their paper money was worthless for their needs; that they might never reach Washington, Ga., with it, etc. A crowd gathered around, when General Breckinridge made a little speech, appealing to their honor as Confederate soldiers not to violate the trust reposed in them, but to remain Southern soldiers and gentlemen; and that when they reached Washington with the train, fair payments should be made to them from it.

The men responded frankly and openly, saying they proposed to violate no trust; they were there to guard the train from all, and would guard it, but expressed as above what they considered due them in the matter, and, as they would be paid some money in Washington, Ga., and no one could tell what would happen before they reached there, they could give no good reason for delay.

General Breckinridge replied that, if they wished an instant compliance with his promise, he would redeem it at once, and ordered up the train to the house at which he had stopped, and had the wagons unloaded; the quartermasters being ordered to make out their payrolls, when a certain amount was counted out and turned over to the proper officers. The wagons were then reloaded, and, after the rest, the route was taken up, reaching Washington, Ga., next morning, where the quartermasters paid off from their rolls. The boys told me they got about $26 apiece; enough, they hoped, to take them through.

It is this transaction which has produced so many contradictory [547] statements from men and officers, many seeing nothing more, and regarding it as the final disbursing of the Confederate specie. Proper receipts were given and taken at the time, and I rated it as if disbursed by myself, and covered it into the Treasury accounts by the paper, of which below is a copy:

Confederate States of America, Washington, Ga., May 4, 1865.--
Hon. J. C. Breckinridge, Secretary of War:
There is required for payment of troops now on the march through Georgia, the sum of one hundred and eight thousand three hundred and twenty-two dollars and ninety cents ($108,322.90), to be placed to the credit of Major E. C. White, Quartermaster.
A. R. Lawton, Quartermaster-General.
[Indorsed.]
The Secretary of the Treasury will please issue as requested.
John C. Breckinridge, Sec'y of War.
[Indorsed.]
M. H. Clark, Acting Treasurer, will turn over to Major E. C. White the mount named within, preserving the necessary vouchers, warrant hereafter to be drawn when settlement can be regularly made.
John H. Reagan, Acting Sec'y Treasury.
[Indorsed.]
Washington, Ga., May 4, 1865.
Received of M. H. Clark, Acting Treasurer, C. T., the sum of one hundred and eight thousand three hundred and twenty-two dollars and ninety cents ($108,322.90) in specie, the amount called for by within paper.

My own transportation having gone forward, General Breckinridge kindly gave me his own ambulance, team and driver, which I used in driving back and forth from town to Duke's camp as my duties called me. I obtained permission from General B. and Mr. Reagan to burn a mass of currency and bonds, and burnt millions in their presence.
After the cavalry were paid there was a general order that all unattached officers and men should receive a month's pay, and below are copies of some of the receipts; but some receipts quoted are in different form; comment on these will be made later on. [548]

Estimate of funds required for the service of the Quartermaster's Department at Washington, Ga., by Captain John M. Garnett, A. Q. M.: Specie, $5,000.
[Indorsed.]
Respectfully submitted to the Secretary of War.
Approved:
A. R. Lawton, Q. M. Gen.
Secretary of the Treasury is requested to furnish within funds.
John C. Breckinridge, Secretary of War.
M. H. Clark, Acting Treasurer, will turn over to Captain Garnett the amount within named, taking the proper vouchers, a warrant to be drawn when settlement can be regularly made.
John H. Reagan, Sec'y of Treasury.

Washington, Ga., May 4, 1865.
Received of M. H. Clark, Acting Treasurer, the amount of within estimate, five thousand dollars, in specie.
John M. Garnett, Capt. and A. Q. M.

Washington, Ga., May 4, 1865.
I require for the payment of the officers and men of the President's Guard fourteen hundred and fifty-four dollars ($1,454) in specie.
C. H. C. Brown, Lieutenant Commanding. Approved: Wm. Preston Johnston, Colonel and A. D. C., A. R. Lawton, Q. M. G.

M. H. Clark, Acting Treasurer, will pay the within fourteen hundred and fifty-four dollars in silver, retaining this paper and the proper receipt subject to future regular settlement.
John H. Reagan, Acting Secretary Treasury.

M. H. Clark will pay in addition to the within requisition, eighteen dollars, one month's pay, for E. H. Burns.
John H. Reagan, Acting Secretary Treasury.

Received of M. H. Clark, Acting Treasurer, C. S., fourteen hundred and seventy-two ($1,472) in full of within requisition.
C. H. C. Brown, Lieutenant Commanding President's Guara.

[549]
Washington, Ga., May 4, 1865.
M. H. Clark, Acting Treasurer:
Pay to A. G. Cantley, a clerk in the Post-office Department, fifty dollars in specie and preserve necessary vouchers until warrant can be drawn and settlement regularly made.
John H. Reagan, Acting Secretary of the Treasury.

Received the within fifty dollars in specie from M. H. Clark, Acting Treasurer, C. S. A.
A. G. Cantley.

Washington, Ga., May 4, 1865
The Secretary of the Treasury is requested to turn over four thousand dollars to Major J. Foster, C. S., to be used for the support of the troops now under my command.
John C. Breckinridge, Secretary of War.

M. H. Clark, Acting Treasurer: Turn over the above-named amount of money as requested, keeping necessary vouchers, warrant to be drawn when regular settlement can be made.
John H. Reagan, Acting Secretary of Treasury.

Washington, Ga., May 4, 1865
Received of M. H. Clark, Acting Treasurer, C. S., four thousand dollars ($4,000) in gold, on within requisition.
J. M. Foster, Major, C. S.

Abbeville, S. C., May 3, 1865.
Assistant Paymaster J. F. Wheless, C. S. N.
Sir,--You will proceed to Washington, Ga., and there present to the Hon. Judge Reagan, Acting Secretary of the Treasury, estimates of the amount required to pay off the officers of the Naval School for one or more months, as he may specify.
Respecfully, your obedient servant,
Wm. H. Parker, Lieutenant-Colonel Commanding.

M. H. Clark, Acting Treasurer, will pay over to J. F. Wheless the sum of $1,500 in silver, to be by him paid out pro rata, according to rank, to the officers of the navy and midshipmen who were employed in guarding the specie from Richmond to Abbeville, as shown by the accompanying petitions and list of names, and take his receipt and retain these papers.
John H. Reagan, Acting Secretary Treasury.

$1,500. Received of M. H. Clark, Acting Treasurer, C. S., $1,500 in gold, in full of within requisition.
J. F. Wheeless, Assistant Paymaster. Washington, Ga., May 4, 1865.

[550]
M. H. Clark, Acting Treasurer: Pay over to Assistant Paymaster Wheless, in addition to the sum of $1,500, called for to pay Naval officers, etc., three hundred dollars in silver, to be paid to First Lieutenant Bradford, of the Marine Corps, taking receipt and retaining this.
John H. Reagan, Acting Secretary Treasury.

Received, at Washington, Ga., May 4, 1865, of M. H. Clark, Acting Treasurer, C. S., three hundred dollars in gold, to be turned over to Lieutenant Bradford, of the C. S. Marine Corps.
J. F. Wheless, Assistant Paymaster.

Washington, Ga., May 4, 1865.
M. H. Clark, Acting Treasurer:
Will pay over to General Braxton Bragg, two thousand dollars in coin for transmission to the Trans-Mississippi Department; and warrant for the same to be drawn when settlement can be regularly made; taking his receipt therefor.
John H. Reagan, Acting Secretary Treasury.

Washington, Ga., May 4, 1865
Received of M. H. Clark, Acting Treasurer, two thousand dollars ($2,000) in coin, called for by within paper.
Braxton Bragg, General C. S. A.

Washington, Ga., May 4, 1865
* * * * Received of A. R. Lawton, Quartermaster-General C. S. A., the following pay funds in specie: $806 for payment of five commissioned officers and twenty-six men, belonging to Brigadier-General L. York's Louisiana Brigade.
Leigh Watkins, Acting Assistant Quartermaster. Approved: D. Gatley, Lieutenant-Colonel.
Respectfully referred to the Secretary of War. Approved: A. R. Lawton, Quartermaster-General.
Secretary of Treasury, please issue. John C. Breckinridge, Secretary of War.

M. H. Clark, Acting Treasurer, will please pay over to Captain Watkins for payment to the troops specified, taking proper vouchers. Warrant to be drawn when settlement can be regulary made.
John H. Reagan, Acting Secretary Treasury.

Washington, Ga., May 4, 1865
Received of M. H. Clark, Acting [551] Treasurer, eight hundred and six dollars ($806), in full of within requisition.
Leigh Watkins, Captain and Acting A. Q. M.

Estimate of funds required for the service of the Quartermaster's Department at------by Captain Joseph M. Brown. * * * * Specie $3,000.
Respectfully submitted to the Secretary of War, approved for the sum of five hundred and twenty dollars ($520).
A. R. Lawton, Quartermaster-General.

May 4, 1865.
Secretary of Treasury:
Please issue.
John C. Breckinridge, Secretary of War.

M. H. Clark, Acting Treasurer, will turn over to Captain Brown the amount specified within, preserving the necessary vouchers. Warrant to be drawn when a regular settlement can be made.
John H. Reagan, Acting Secretary of Treasury.

Washington, Ga., May 4, 1865
Received of M. H. Clark, Acting Treasurer C. S., five hundred and twenty dollars ($520) in gold on within requisition.
Joseph M. Brown, Captain and A. Q. M.

We, the undersigned, are officers in the First Auditor's office, and desire to draw one hundred dollars in gold for our services to this date, May 4, 1865.
S. Brittain.

M. H. Clark, Acting Treasurer: Pay fifty dollars to each, keeping vouchers until warrants can be drawn.
John H. Reagan, Acting Secretary of Treasury.

Washington, Ga., May 4, 1865
We, the undersigned, have received fifty dollars each in gold on within order.
S. Brittain, Jas. Miller, J. B. Macmurdo.

Washington, Ga., May 4, 1865.
M. H. Clark, Acting Treasurer:
Turn over to John C. Breckinridge, Secretary of War, one thousand dollars for transmission to the Trans-Mississippi Department, taking his receipt therefor. Warrant to be drawn when regular settlement can be made.
John H. Reagan, Acting Secretary Treasury.

[552]
May 4, 1865
Received the within sum from M. H. Clark, Acting Treasurer.
John C. Breckinridge, Secretary of War.

The above are examples of the receipts taken. About sunset I took leave of General Duke, with two wagons containing coin and bullion, and a little iron safe in my ambulance, he giving me an escort of twenty or thirty men, whose silver dollars were jingling in their saddlebags. Before reaching town I was halted by Major R. J. Moses to turn over to him an amount of specie which President Davis, before he left, had ordered to be placed at the disposal of the Commissary Department to feed the paroled soldiers and stragglers who were passing through, to prevent their being a burden to a section already well stripped of supplies. I went through the wagons, removing to my ambulance the gold coin and gold bullion, and turned over to Major Moses the wagons and silver bullion, and all of the escort except about ten men. The amounts stated on the boxes footed up $40,000, but Major Moses claimed that possibly some of their contents might have been disturbed. I opened the most of them, finding the contents intact, but as a compromise wrote the following receipt:

Washington, Ga., May 4, 1865
Received of M. H. Clark, Acting Treasurer C. S., twenty (20) boxes of silver bullion, supposed to be worth in coin from thirty-five to forty thousand dollars, upon requisitions of the Quartermaster-General and the Commissary General of Subsistence.

To this Major Moses added:
The same having been delivered in Washington, Ga., uncounted, to be counted and weighed before two officers and certified to, a copy of certificate to be forwarded to Judge Reagan.
R. J. Moses, Major and Chief Commissary.

It was after dark when I reached Washington, and failing to find General A. R. Lawton, Quartermaster General, and General I. M. St. John, Commissary General, I made the following endorsement on the receipt:

This property was turned over to Major R. J. Moses by verbal order of Hon. John H. Reagan, acting Secretary of the Treasury, and in his presence the proper requistions were promised to be furnished by Generals Lawton and St. John, which promise was not fulfilled.
M. H. Clark, Acting Treasurer, C. S. Washington, Ga., May 4, 1865.

[553]
In my statement of the specie assets of the Treasury being $288,022.90, I counted the payment to Major Moses as being $40,000.

My last payment in Washington, Ga., was of eighty-six thousand dollars ($86,000) in gold coin and gold bullion, to a trusted officer of the navy, taking his receipt for its transmission out of the Confederacy, to be held for the Treasury Department.

Judge Reagan and myself left Washington, Ga., about 11 o'clock P. M., taking with us a few of Duke's men as guides, who we dismissed with thanks a few hours afteward, and joined President Davis' party next morning, as they came out of their bivouac about sunrise.

After greetings, I found the party consisting of the President and staff and a few others, Captain Given Campbell and twelve of his men, my train and its quartermaster and party. (After Duke's command had been paid off, the men learning that full freedom was given to their action, some sixty formed themselves into a company, among them my fellow-townsmen, Messrs. W. R. Bringhurst and Clay Stacker, and rode to town and offered themselves to President Davis as an escort just as he was leaving; but it seems that he declined their courtesy, and they afterward left town with General J. C. Breckinridge.) We traveled together that day and went into camp that evening a few miles south of Sandersville, Ga. There the President heard disturbing reports from Mrs. Davis' party, they fearing attempts to steal their horses by stragglers, and decided next morning to take his staff and join her party for a few days. As everything on wheels was to be abandoned by him, and as it was decided that I was to remain with my train, the chances of the capture of which were steadily increasing, the Federal General Wilson having spread his large cavalry force out like a fan from Macon, I called the staff together, and inquiring as to their funds, found that they had only a small amount of paper currency each, except, perhaps, Colonel F. R. Lubbock, A. D. C., who had, I believe, a little specie of his private funds. Colonel Wm. Preston Johnston told me that the President's purse contained paper money only. I represented to them the chances of capture of my slower-moving train, which would be compelled mainly to keep the roads in case of danger — that they would need money for their supplies en route, and to buy boats in Florida, etc., and that I wished to pay over to them funds to be used for those purposes, and they consenting I paid, with the concurrence of Hon. John H. Reagan, the acting Secretary of the Treasury, $1,500 in gold each to Colonel John Taylor Wood, A. D. C.; Colonel Wm. Preston Johnston, A. D. C., Colonel F. R. Lubbock, A. D. C., and Colonel C. E. Thorburn (a naval [554] purchasing agent who was with the party), taking a receipt from each one, but as they were all of the same verbiage I merely give one, as follows:

Sandersville, Ga., May 6, 1865
$1,500. Received of M. H. Clark, Acting Treasurer, C. S., fifteen hundred dollars ($1,500) in gold coin, the property of the Confederate States, for transmission abroad, of the safe arrival of which due notice to be given the Secretary of the Treasury.

I also paid to each $10 in silver for small uses, from a little executive office fund, which I had obtained in Danville, Va., by converting my paper when the Treasurer was selling silver there. For this I took no receipt, charging it in my office accounts. I also called up Captain Given Campbell and paid him for himself and men $300 in gold, taking the following receipt:

Received of M. H. Clark, Acting Treasurer, C. S., three hundred dollars ($300) in gold, upon requisition of Colonel John Taylor Wood, A. D. C.
given Campbell, Captain Company B. Second Kentucky Cavalry, Williams's Brigade.

I then went to Judge Reagan with a bag containing thirty-five hundred dollars ($3,500) in gold, and asked him to take it in his saddle-bags as an additional fund in case of accidents or separation. He resisted, saying that he was already weighted by some $2,000 of his own personal funds, which he had brought out from Richmond, Va., in a belt around his person, but after some argument on my part he allowed me to put it in his saddle-bags. The party then were already on horse, and “Good-bye” was said.
The President's party was captured a few days afterward, and upon their release from prison several of the party told me that every one was robbed of all they had, except Colonel F. R. Lubbock, who, after stout resistance and great risk, retained his money, upon which the party subsisted during their long imprisonment at Fort Delaware. No gold was found on President Davis when captured, for he had none.--He could only have received it through me, and I paid him none. Mr. Trenholm was left sick in South Carolina. Attorney-General Davis was left at Charlotte, N. C. Mr. Benjamin left us before reaching Washington, Ga., and Mr. Mallory at Washington. I paid the members of the Cabinet nothing, except to General Breckinridge, and his receipt quoted shows the character of that payment. The only money [555] Judge Reagan received was the money mentioned above, near Sandersville — which was a deposit, not a payment. The Treasury train was never with President Davis's party. They found it at Abbeville, South Carolina, rode away and left it there, and rode away from Washington, Georgia, shortly after its arrival there, while it was being turned over to me. It will have been noted that the receipts quoted are of two classes-payments to troops and clerks for their own services; but to officers of higher rank, like Generals Bragg and Breckinridge, or to members of the President's military family, they were for transmission to a distance, to be afterward accounted for to the Treasury Department. In my narrative of events I have given full names of persons, most of whom are still living witnesses of the occurrences at Washington, Georgia. Colonel James Wilson, of General Breckinridge's staff, was perhaps cognizant of much that I have related. A few concluding remarks may make clearer the condition of affairs which arose at Washington, Ga., on that 4th of May, 1865.

The last Cabinet meeting, which could be called such, was held at Abbeville on the 2d of May, at which it seems to have been decided that the attempt was hopeless to carry the organized force to the Trans-Mississippi Department, it being too small to cope with the enemy it would have to encounter, and it was left free to the soldiers to decide their own action — the move was to be a voluntary one. The soldiers before this had intuitively grasped the situation. The roads were full of men — paroled soldiers from Lee's and Johnston's armies; escaped men from both, having evaded surrender; men who had been exchanged and had started to join their commands — and north of Abbeville and all the way to Florida, I met men who, being still free to fight, were wending their way to the Mississippi river. I met them on my return from Florida in June, plodding their weary way back to their homes. These belong to the Atlantic States. I traveled with some all the way to Virginia; those belonging to the States west of Georgia were already home again. These men and officers were some of the pick and flower of the Confederate States armies; men who, in the four years desperate struggle, having to fight every nationality under the sun, except the “heathen Chinee,” were still volunteers. Who dare say, if 20,000 such men had re-enforced the troops of the Trans-Mississippi Department, what the result might have been? With the war going on, with its immense expenditure of treasure, the Northern debt January, 1866, could not have been much under $5,000,000,000, with the inevitable immense depreciation of its paper currency, would not the commercial North been perforce compelled to cry, “Halt?” [556]

Both sections were traveling in the same financial rut; but the Southern money traveled downward the faster.

The soldiers jingling their silver dollars on every road told the tale of the disbursement of the little Treasury, and I found on my return the wildest rumors through the country as to the amount it had contained. Five million dollars was the smallest amount mentioned.

Federal detectives were swarming along the route we had traveled, hunting papers, the Treasury and “the last man who had it in charge,” “for an immense amount must have been secreted somewhere; $5,000,000 to $15,000,000 could not vanish in the air in a day.”

But the undersigned wasn't eager to make new acquaintances, and wasn't then signing himself “Acting Treasurer, C. S.” An impression has prevailed with some that on that last day great demoralization, confusion and panic existed. Such was not so. The soldiers were orderly, and though the town was filled with men under no command, there was no rioting or violence, though the citizens feared something of the kind. In the hearts of the educated and the thinking there was a hush of deep emotion, and it seemed to me as if a gloomy pall hung in the atmosphere repressing active expression. As it was realized that a government which had been strong and loved, the exponent of all their hopes and wishes, was, perhaps, dying the death before their eyes, that whatever might be accomplished “over the river,” all east of it for a possibly long future was to be abandoned to the conqueror, with all the unnumbered woes which that implied — an agony too great for words, with the bitterness of an almost despair filling all hearts,--I rode out into the darkness that night as if from a death-bed.

You have before you a plain, unvarnished statement of the last days; the personal pronoun has been used more than I could have wished but it was unavoidable. The skecth might have been studded with incidents of the “retreat from Richmond,” interesting perhaps to those who followed the “Starry cross” to that bitter end, but this article is already too long for newspaper publication. The old Confederates brought nothing out of the war, save honor; for God's sake! and the precious memory of the dead, let us preserve that untarnished, and defend it from slanderous insinuations. To do my part, I have spoken.

M. H. Clark, Ex-Captain P. A. S., and ex Acting Treasurer C. S. A.
Richmond, VA. 1881.

[h=1]Southern Historical Society Papers, Volume 10.
Reverend J. William Jones, Ed.[/h]http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A2001.05.0123%3Achapter%3D2.18%3Asection%3Dc.2.18.34%3Apage%3D138
The Confederate Treasure— Statement of Paymaster John F. Wheless.

We purpose putting on record a complete history of the Confederate treasure from the time it left Richmond, and also of the specie of the Richmond banks (with which it has been frequently confounded) in order that the slanders concerning it which ever and anon start up may be forever silenced. We are only waiting for some promised statements from gentlemen who were in position to know whereof they affirm. But as we have already published the conclusive statement of Captain Clark as to the disposition made of the treasure after it was turned over to him, we are happy to be able to add now the equally satisfactory statement of General Wheless who was with the treasure from the evacuation of Richmond until its disbursement by Captain Clark. These two papers really leave nothing more to be said, and we should be quite willing to rest the matter with them but that we wish the evidence to be cumulative.

A distinguished Confederate sends us the following introductory note to the letter of General Wheless:

General John F. Wheless, Inspector-General of Tennessee, was in 1863 a Captain in the First Teunessee Regiment of Volunteers and Assistant-Adjutant and Inspector-General of the corps commanded by Lieutenant-General Polk. At the battle of Perryville Captain Wheless was so severely wounded as to be disabled for field service. His fidelty and efficiency had gained the esteem of his corps commander, and as he had before entering the army been a banker of good repute, in Nashville, Tennessee. General Polk wrote warmly recommending him for an appointment as paymaster in the navy, as well because of his capacity as of his integrity and meritorious services in the field. In this new sphere of duty he was connected with the Confederate treasure when it was removed from Richmond and therefore specially well informed concerning it. When he saw the published report of an interview which represented General J. E. Johnston as making injurious reflections on President Davis in connection with the Confederate States treasure removed from Richmond, General Wheless, like other true-hearted Confederates, felt indignant at the slanderous insinuation and published in the Nashville American, of December 25th, a brief but decided refutation of the baseless fiction. At the suggestion of a friend he has written a fuller recital of events which preceded the appointment of Captain M. H. Clark to be treasurer, and thus completes the history of the fund from the time of leaving Richmond, Va., to that when Captain Clark closed the account at Washington, Ga.

---

​

Letter from General Wheless.
Nashville, Tenn., Feb. 10th, 1882.

Sir — It gives pleasure to comply with the request for a statement in regard to the movement of the Confederate States Treasure after the evacuation of Richmond. I was at the time paymaster in the Confederate States Navy, and about noon of April 2nd, 1865, received orders [139] to accompany the naval command under Captain Wm. H. Parker, which had been ordered to escort the Treasury Department. The cars (two I think) containing the coin, books, and a number of officials, clerks and escort, was a part of the same train on which the President and Cabinet went from Richmond to Danville. My information as to the amount of gold and silver (obtained through conversations with gentlemen connected with the Department) was to the effect that it amounted to about $200,000 mostly, silver and silver bullion. The Richmond banks also sent out about $300,000, mostly gold, in charge of their own officials or clerks, who continued with the Treasury Department in order to have the protection of its escort.

In order to avoid the frequent repetition of “Treasury Department,” I beg simply to refer to it by the expression “we.”

After remaining three or four days in Danville, we proceeded to Greensboro, N. C.; remained there a few days, and leaving about $40,000 of the silver there, moved to Charlotte. Staid there nearly a week, and went to Chester, S. C., thence to Newbury, and thence to Abbeyville, where we remained a few days, and then moved to Washington, Ga., where we took the cars for Augusta. We reached the Georgia railroad at Barnett's station, and I there met friends returning from the vicinity of Atlanta who informed me that they had seen in the Federal papers that Generals Sherman and Johnston had agreed upon an armistice. I immediately communicated the information to Captain Parker, and assured him of my confidence in the reliability of the report, and my conviction that it would end in General Johnston's surrender, and that a complete collapse of the Confederacy would immediately follow, and as soon as this became known Confederate money would become valueless, and the thousands of people of Augusta, and the large force of soldiers employed in the arsenal and other government shops there, having no other means with which to purchase supplies, would attempt the capture of the Confederate treasure, and in such an event our force was wholly inadequate for its protection, consisting only of the midshipmen and officers formerly of the Confederate States steamer “Patrick Henry.” During the few days we remained in Augusta, I invited Judge Crump (the acting or assistant treasurer) and Captain Parker to dine with me at the Planter's hotel, and urged upon them the danger that would be incurred by remaining in Augusta, and advised moving to some smaller place, or back to the vicinity of the army, where discipline and organization would be maintained longer than elsewhere. We returned over the route by which he had moved south, and reached [140] Abbeville about two or three days before the arrival of the President and Cabinet.

Captain Parker feeling the great responsibility of his position, and satisfied that his command was wholly inadequate to the protection of the treasure, earnestly requested to be relieved, which request was granted, and the treasure was taken in charge by General Basil Duke, whose command consisted of about three brigades of cavalry, and moved that night about 12 o'clock towards Washington, Georgia. I had for several days been urging Judge Crump to allow me to draw a few thousand dollars in gold to pay off the “escort,” they having faithfully discharged that duty for over a month. He was unwilling to assume what he termed “so much responsibility,” but it was agreed that when the cabinet arrived Captain Parker should see Secretary Mallory, and with him call on Secretary Trenholm and get his approval to the payment alluded to. The sickness of Mr. Trenholm prevented the consummation of this arrangement.

We proceeded upon the proper idea that the Secretary of the Treasury was in full control of that department, and we would have as soon thought of applying to the President for quartermaster or ordnance stores as for money. Of course the chief executive had authority to supervise every department, but so far as we knew he had exercised no more control over the one than the other. In fact, most of the time we were out of reach of orders, and Captain Parker had to act on his own judgment, and I have every reason to believe that President Davis had no knowledge of our return to Abbeville until he arrived there. The morning following the departure of the treasure from Abbeville, I proposed to Captain Parker that I should try to overtake it at Washington, Ga., and endeavor to get sufficient to give the command enough to enable them to get to their homes. He consented to this, and I reached Washington about 6 o'clock that evening, called at the house where the President, his staff and part of the Cabinet were quartered, learned that Judge Reagan was the acting Secretary of the Treasury, with the full power of the head of that department. I was personally acquainted with Colonel William Preston Johnston, Judge Crump, and Paymaster Semple, all of whom I met in the parlor. Colonel J. Taylor Wood, to whom Captain Parker had given me a letter, was also there. I requested the influence of these gentlemen with Judge Reagan, but made no suggestion that they should present the matter to President Davis, and though he was in the parlor that night and the next morning I did not trouble him with any reference to it. Knowing that he had entrusted the Treasury Department to Judge Reagan and was occupied with matters of greater moment, I felt it would be an unwarranted intrusion to approach him with the matter.

Judge Reagan gave me an order on Captain M. H. Clark (a bonded officer whom he had authorized to disburse the funds), for $1,500 to be paid to the naval escort, and for $300 to be handed to Lieutenant Bradford, of the marines, who was under orders for the trans-Mississippi Department.

General Bragg, Colonel Oladouski, Captain Clark and myself went to the specie train together, and General Basil Duke took a small bag of gold from one of the boxes and paid us the amounts called for by the orders we held.

While in Washington I learned that about $100,000 of the coin had been paid out to the cavalry at or near Savannah river bridge, about half-way between Abbeville, S. C., and Washington, Ga. Captain Clark disbursed the balance, as I have learned from him since.

After drawing the money as above stated, I turned over the $300 to Lieutenant Bradford, and the next morning left for Abbeville, and paid off the naval command there. On my return to Washington I heard that a considerable amount of gold had been captured near that place a night or two before, which I took to be that belonging to the Richmond banks, as I heard that the bank officials who had it in custody from the time of the evacuation of Richmond left Washington with it after the president took his departure from there.

I was with the Treasury Department continuously, from the evacuation of Richmond to its final disbursement, with the exception of a few hours, and from personal knowledge can say that any statement which charges or insinuates that Jefferson Davis used any part of it for his personal benefit is without the slightest foundation, and considering the ease with which a full knowledge of all the facts could have been had, any such statement is not only unwarranted but unjust, if not wickedly malicious.

Respectfully, &c.,
John F. Wheless. Rev. J. Wm. Jones, D. D., Southern Historical Society, Richmond, Va.

Also available at: http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Portal:Southern_Historical_Society


Publications of the Southern History Association – January, March and May 1901 “History of the Confederate Treasury”
Publications of the Southern History Association



DAVIS' FLIGHT.; Particulars of His Course After Lee's Surrender. How He Gathered a Body Guard and Carried Off the Specie. His Men Become Uneasy and Clamor for Pay. He Encourages Them with Patriotic Speeches.Talk will Not Do and the MoneyBags are Opened.Nearly All His Guard Leave Himand March West. Breckinridge and Other Leaders ProbablyAcross the Mississippi.

Published: May 20, 1865
Special Dispatch to the New-York Times.
NASHVILLE, Friday, May 19.

Through Confederate officers who have just arrived, I get a full account of JEFF. DAVIS' movements up to within a short time of his capture.
Gen. DEPRELL, who commanded his escort, was engaged in the battle near Raleigh, N.C., when he received intelligence of the surrender of LEE; and at the same time WHEELER got a dispatch from JEFF. DAVIS, dated at Greensboro, N.C., calling for one thousand picked men, to escort him and what remained of his government to Washoe, Ga.

DEBRELL was accordingly dispatched with the required force, and after a march of three days reached Greensboro, at which point he found JEFF. DAVIS with his family, JUDAH P. BENJAMIN, JNO. C. BRECKENRIDGE, Senator BURNETT, of Kentucky, J.H. REAGAN, Postmaster, Gen. GUSTAVUS A. HURNS, of Tennesse, and other rebel officials.

As soon as Gen. DEBRELL arrived, the party prepared to march, and they set sail on the following day. JEFF. DAVIS and the rebel officials rode in front, followed by ambulances containing the women and children and the specie, which was currently reported among the officers to amount to eleven millions of dollars. It was put up in heavy iron-bound kegs and boxes, and had a guard of one thousand men led by Gen. DE BUELL, which followed this train.

At a point about five miles from Greensboro they camped, JEFF. DAVIS and family taking up their quarters in a house in the vicinity. Here the rank and file first learned the object of their mission, and it was discussed with all the surmises which it naturally excited, the men being exceedingly anxious to know the destination of their government.

On the following day, JEFF. DAVIS visited the boys and made a soul-stirring speech, adverting to the disasters that had overtaken their beloved Confederacy, but giving them every assurance that they were not irrevocably lost; that all that was necessary to ultimate success was confidence in their government, and the undaunted bravery which had characterized the Confederate army during its past career.

Upon taking up the line of march, they rode in the same order, JEFF. DAVIS having by his side young Col. JOHNSTON, son of Gen. ALBERT SYDNEY JOHNSTON, in whom he evidently reposed the most implicit confidence.

They reached Charlotte, N.C., where they again camped, and DAVIS harrangued the men again, inspiring confidence in them, and dealing in glowing words of rebel patriotism. He appeared happy and cheerful, took the boys by the hand, and entered into cheerful conversation with them. He would praise their valor in the presence of the ladies, and call them the faithful thousand, the flower of the Confederacy, and paid other pretty but not substantial compliments.

At this point they were joined by BASIL DUKE, FERGUSON and VAUGHER, with their brigades, which increased the escort to the magnificent proportion of 5,000 men.
After the new comers had mingled with the others they soon learned the condition of things, and they too had their surmises. Like a pack of hungry wolves they were suddenly reminded that the government was slightly indebted to them, and as the treasure was near at hand the idea of presenting their bills suggested itself to them. The men would congregate in groups, and their low mutterings boded no good to the government. JEFF. found it necessary to redouble his efforts to conciliate, but his eloquence was wasted now. The men obeyed their marching orders and followed JEFF. into South Carolina, to Abbeville, where they again halted, very much fatigued and demoralized.

On the 8th things began to assume a new desperate feature, and JEFF. found it polite to inspire his brave boys with something more substantial than words. The treasure was opened, and the division of Gen. DEBRELL, with the brigades of DUKE, FERENSON and VAUGHN, were formed in line, and the soldiers were paid off. Some of the men were paid $30, some $28, and others $20. They were paid in gold and silver, the coin being chiefly Mexican dollars, with few United States, but few of them received gold.
In the evening DUKE sent his Adjutant-General, Capt. DAVIS, to notify all his men who wished to go west of the Mississippi River, to report at 11 o'clock on the following day. At the appointed time all the men reported, but DUKE refused to take those who were without arms, and taking only those who were armed, and left the others to shift for themselves. They heaped curses on DUKE, and with heavy hearts went to Washoe, Ga., where they surrendered themselves to Gen. WILSON, together with the brigades of FERGUSON and VAUGHN.

The command of Gen. DE BRELL, escorted JEFF. DAVIS to Vienna Valley, on the West bank of the Savannah River, about twenty miles from Washington, when the grand dissolution took place on the 9th.

At this point BENJAMIN, BRECKINRIDGE, BURNETT and several others took a last farewell of JEFF. DAVIS and his family. At the hour named JEFF. DAVIS and suite crossed the river, and the other portion of the government galloped off to Washington, their pocket-handkerchiefs in mourning. The command was apprised of the fact that they were now left to follow the bent of their own inclinations. BENJAMIN and BRECKINRIDGE, with their friends, no doubt reached the west bank of the Mississippi.

DAVIS' FLIGHT.; Particulars of His Course After Lee's Surrender. How He Gathered a Body Guard and Carried Off the Specie. His Men Become Uneasy and Clamor for Pay. He Encourages Them with Patriotic Speeches.Talk will Not Do and the MoneyBags are Open

=====

Good luck to all,

The Old Bookaroo

 

[cactusjumper]

An interesting book along these lines is: "Flight Into Oblivion" by A.J. Hanna. A number of copies can be found here: https://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?ds=20&sgnd=on&sortby=2&tn=FLIGHT+INTO+OBLIVION

Good luck,

Joe Ribaudo

 

[Old Bookaroo]

You beat me to it! It is a most interesting work - and the bibliography is essential for the serious student of the treasure yarn.

He also wrote "The Confederate Baggage and Treasure Train Ends its Flight In Florida; A Diary of Tench Francis Tilghman." This was an article published in the Florida Historical Quarterly -January 1939, then an offprint was published. I purchased "Flight Into Oblivion" a few years ago and a battered copy of this little work was tucked into it.

"Flight Into Oblivion" includes a reference to the legendary (a carefully chosen word!) pirate Jose Gaspar.



Good luck to all,

The Old Bookaroo

 

[franklin]

Old Bookaroo, Your facts are great from the OR records and all of those other quotes and bookmarks mean absolutely nothing. I would quote your post #25 but it is toooooo long and would tie up space toooo much on the forum.

I will say this I can go through the OR records, the Southern Historical Records, newspapers and everything that officers and cabinet members of the Confederate Government said about the missing gold. Would you go over and ask any bank robber how much he got away with, where he stashed it. I do not think so. Of course all of those sources by the officers and cabinet members are going to tell you there is no money it has all been disbursed and given away there is no more money of the confederacy.

I am telling you all of your sources are wrong. Everything everyone thinks about the lost gold of the confederacy are all wrong. If you do not believe me, you get me permission to dig one hole on US Government land and I will show you more gold than King Solomon ever had and that is a fact.

 

[Old Bookaroo]

"The race doesn't always go to the swift,
Or the fight to the strong -
But that's the way to bet." ~ Damon Runyon

Good luck to all,

The Old Bookaroo

 

[franklin]

You make more money if you bet on the long shot.

 

[Old Bookaroo]

With all due respect, I'll disagree with that one. Too many treasure hunters (and folks in many other walks of life) have wasted years on the Big Casino when they could have made a very good living with smaller projects that had a very high degree of success. In the space between favorites and long shots people can do well.

After reading your previous post I thought about it, trying to remember a significant treasure recovery where the voluminous documentation was completely in error. I can't come up with one.

To borrow your analogy - the issue isn't asking the bank robbers if they committed the crime. The first step is locating sufficient evidence the bank was robbed at all. In the case of the Confederate Treasury yarn, the books are in order and the accounts balanced. There is a relatively small sum of "MUFF" - it would make a nice haul in this day and age, but the odds against finding one or more of those plants are prohibitive.

Good luck to all,

The Old Bookaroo

 

[cactusjumper]

O.B.,

I'm reminded of a story my dad used to tell. My Uncle Sal always bet the long shots, looking for that big score. The two of them were at the races one day and Sal, true to form bet every long shot and lost every race. Sal had a large family and they never had much money. Last race of the day, there was a 50 to1 horse and Sal wanted to bet his last $50. on it. Dad talked him out of it and told him to take his money home. You can see this coming......the horse came in first. Dad told me he never told anyone how to bet again.

That's my sad story for today.

Take care,

Joe

 

[Old Bookaroo]

cj: I once put down $2 on a 52-to-1 shot to show. The gentleman I was with laughed and laughed at me. He was a veteran horse player and he thought it a foolish bet. There was a photo finish for 3rd place - my horse's head was bobbing down while the other bangtail had her (or his) head up when the crossed the wire.

It was a lot of excitement for two bucks. But I wouldn't try to make a living doing it.

I used to live in Chicago and some friends of mine talked me into going to the track to bet on the trotters and pacers. It was winter, so everyone would stay inside until the horses went around the back turn the second time. Then we'd all stroll out to the finish line. We, of course, were down below in the general admission (standing) area. Up above was the clubhouse - that cost more for a seat.

So one race goes off and the horses and sulkies and drivers start around the track. They hit the back turn for the first time and this group begins to filter down from the clubhouse to where we are standing. The horses run in front of us and then head for the second time around the track. These ladies button up their fur coats and adjust their hats.

On the far turn away from us a long shot begins to pull away from the pack. The horses come around the final turn for the home stretch and this group of very well dressed high maintenance women go outside - not to the finish line where we were all headed, but to the area off to the side where the owners and their friends got their photo taken with the winning horse.

The long shot runs away with it and wins the race by several lengths. The group of ladies gets a few photos taken with that horse and driver, then come inside and head up to the clubhouse. Where they spent the rest of the evening.

We stare at our losing tickets and wish we knew the right people...

Good luck to all,

The Old Bookaroo

 

[franklin]

With all due respect, I'll disagree with that one. Too many treasure hunters (and folks in many other walks of life) have wasted years on the Big Casino when they could have made a very good living with smaller projects that had a very high degree of success. In the space between favorites and long shots people can do well.

After reading your previous post I thought about it, trying to remember a significant treasure recovery where the voluminous documentation was completely in error. I can't come up with one.

To borrow your analogy - the issue isn't asking the bank robbers if they committed the crime. The first step is locating sufficient evidence the bank was robbed at all. In the case of the Confederate Treasury yarn, the books are in order and the accounts balanced. There is a relatively small sum of "MUFF" - it would make a nice haul in this day and age, but the odds against finding one or more of those plants are prohibitive.

Good luck to all,

The Old Bookaroo

Old Bookaroo, When you talk about the Confederate Gold you only talk about the train that headed South with President Jefferson Davis. That was only a rabbit for the Yankees to chase. If you read the OR about the Confederate Congress in Richmond in late March you will find that $2 Million in Gold was given by the State of Virginia to the Confederacy. They also had another $2.5 Million in New Orleans Gold in Richmond at that time. Read the Rebel Clerk's Diary by BeaChamp Jones. Also three days before President Davis and the Confederate Cabinet fled Richmond, Va., $8 Million in gold went out on a train south. The man in charge talked to President Davis in Greensboro, N.C. where was he the seven days that President Davis was in Danville? Where did this $8 Million in gold go to. Also the City of Charlotte, N.C. near the war's end spent $1 Million Dollars of it's own money for horses for North Carolina Calvary and just before General Sherman was stopped between Columbia, S.C. and Charlotte, N.C. the city of Charlotte, N.C. took out 3,000 #'s of gold bullion and buried it near Mountain Island Lake. I could go on and on, but this is enough to sooth your appetite.

As far as the Virginia Bank Gold that the History Channel keeps chewing out movies on, that gold had already went South in Mid-March by Judge Crump and others to S.C. It was the gold of 8 Virginia Banks. What went south with President Davis, $450000 in gold was the money left in Richmond to keep it running should the Yankees not come and take over Richmond.

Also the History Channel and other production companies talk about the robbery of Virginia Bank Gold near Washington, Georgia to be precise there were a total of four robberies in and around Washington, Ga. and Abbeville, S.C.

 

[Old Bookaroo]

Thank you for that information - most interesting!

Good luck to all,

The Old Bookaroo

 

[ECS]

CSA President Jefferson Davis made it to David Levy Yulee's plantation in Archer, Florida, some was recovered, not all, by Union occupying forces in Gainesville, including Varina Davis's wardrobe, and CSA Sec of State Judah P Benjamin (Yulee's cousin), CSA Sec of War, John Cabel Breckinridge, and CSA Capt John Taylor Wood (Davis 's nephew) carried their portion through Ocala/Silver Springs during their flight from the Union.
Franklin mentioned Abbeville, Sc where they stayed at Marshall's WHITEHALL PLANTATION, the Marshall family also had a plantation on the Oklawaha River in Ocala/Silver Springs, and Wood's grandfather, US President Zachery Taylor, was commandant at FORT KING during the 2nd Seminole WAR (Ft King became Ocala).

 

[franklin]

CSA President Jefferson Davis made it to David Levy Yulee's plantation in Archer, Florida, some was recovered, not all, by Union occupying forces in Gainesville, including Varina Davis's wardrobe, and CSA Sec of State Judah P Benjamin (Yulee's cousin), CSA Sec of War, John Cabel Breckinridge, and CSA Capt John Taylor Wood (Davis 's nephew) carried their portion through Ocala/Silver Springs during their flight from the Union.
Franklin mentioned Abbeville, Sc where they stayed at Marshall's WHITEHALL PLANTATION, the Marshall family also had a plantation on the Oklawaha River in Ocala/Silver Springs, and Wood's grandfather, US President Zachery Taylor, was commandant at FORT KING during the 2nd Seminole WAR (Ft King became Ocala).

I agree with everything you have posted except the WHITEHALL PLANTATION. It was located just south of Charlotte, N.C. at Fort Mill near the Catawba River. They had to ferry everything across the Catawba River as the railroad bridge was out. I have the ferryman's name and his note of receiving a dollar for every man and animal ferried across. I believe this was the reason for the resignation of George Alfred Trenholm at Fort Mill. He knew the treasure was slowing the President and everyone down and they would be captured. He stayed behind, had a train to come up on the opposite shore, ferried the treasure across and loaded it on to the train. He went as far South as Varina Howell Davis had went to Chester and stayed with friends. The treasure could have been left but it seems that Trenholm carried it on towards Abbeville, S.C. as he met his son after crossing the Broad River below Pinckneyville and continued on that point only about eight or ten days behind the Davis Party. And Pinckneyville is where Captain Parker and the treasure he carried south crossed. They were only making a mile or two a day but after crossing the Broad River they were making twelve to fifteen miles a day. Was the load lightened?