Confederate Gold Stories

[ECS]

(CHEESY GRIN) They were heading to BRAZIL, in South America; a "conclave" of ex-CSA families STILL live there with a SCV chapter TODAY! LOL! "Google" a BRIEF HISTORY OF THE CONFEDERATE COLONIES OF BRAZIL - THE CONFEDERADOS sorta like the ex-CSA "outlaws" the desperados in the American West. Johnny Yuma was a REBEL! ALSO "google" OS CONFERADOS (WINK)

Rebel,have you solved the KFC/KGC connection? Col Sanders "secret" recipe was a KGC treasure.
Also,have you noticed the KGC symbols at HOOTERS? The Owl,the quarter moon?

 

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[Rebel - KGC]

(CHEESY GRIN) LOL! Love KGC; Kinky Girls Club of Kentucky! (WINK) Yes, KFC is from Kentucky; LOTS of "treasure" there.
AND! HOOTERS? LOL! OWL is treasure sign for STOP, CAUTION, BE WISE & MINDFUL (look where you are going); QUARTER MOON? Waxing or waning? WAXING MOON ("horns" up) is after a NEW moon, gathering STRENGTH or getting CLOSE to what you seek. WANING MOON ("horns" down) is after a FULL moon, strength is waning; you have already passed what you seek. (WINK)

 

[Rebel - KGC]

(SMILE) AND! That circle you see... may NOT be the SUN; COULD be the FULL MOON! ALSO! POINT WITHIN THE CIRCLE (an OLD esoteric "sign")... COULD be TREASURE is/was HERE! (WINK)

 

[ECS]

KGC IN FLORIDA?...MAYBE

While Florida is not a state on many KGC stories,it was the choice escape route for CSA Pres. Jefferson Davis,CSA Sec of treasury Judah P Benjamin,and CSA Sec of war John C Breckinridge with the remaining Confederate treasury.
Davis' portion made it to David Levy Yulee's Cottonwood Plantation,where most of it was seized by the Union.
Yulee's 2nd cousin,Judah P Benjamin and John C Breckinridge made it to Ocala,Florida by way of Hubbard Hart's JAMES BURT steamboat,down the Oklawaha River to Silver Springs.
Benjamin stayed with a relative,Solomon Benjamin,in Ocala,before going to Fort Meade and the Gamble Plantation in Ellenton,Florida.From there,Capt Archibald McNeil,blockade runner,sailed Benjamin to the Bahamas.
Breckinridge stayed at the Ocala home of CSA Brig Gen Robert Bullock,where he was supplied with a lifeboat by Capt John Jackson Dickinson,which Dickinson had taken from the USS Columbine,which he captured and sunk at HORSE LANDING on the St Johns River.Breckinridge sailed to Cuba in the lifeboat.
Another Ocala resident,was John M Martin,a member of the Confederate Congress,who also aided the escape of Benjamin and Breckinridge.
Lola Sanchez,a Confederate spy from Palatka(she supplied Dickinson with information on Union activities)was paid $500.00 in Mexican silver dollars,and it is possible that Breckinridge stayed with her relatives in Cuba.
Hart recieved $4500.00 from the Confederate government for clearing the Oklawaha of debris,a river he used for his blockade running activies.
In 1959,NE Ocala was still limerock and dirt roads,and behind the Jewish Cemetery was a derelict white clapboard ODD FELLOWS LODGE.On the gable was a sign with three chain links that formed a pyramid with an all seeing eye at its center.The front door had carvings in its upper panels.
The one on the left was a circle with a crecsent moon with a star to its right.
The right panel had a heart with an arrow inside that pointed down.
A friend scavenged this building and found two CSA artillery short swords,a bundle of Confederate bills,and three copper CSA 1 cent coins.
Many of the above names were Freemason and or Odd Fellow members-is there a connection to the KGC?

 

[ECS]

ANOTHER COINCIDENTAL CONNECTION TO OCALA,FLORIDA

After the April 2,1865 fall of Richmond,the flight of the remaining Confederate treasury began.
April 19,1865 it was at the Marshall family plantation (WHITE HALL) in Abbeville,SC.
CSA Col Jehu Foster Marshall also had a plantation in Ocala,on the Oklawha River at Sharpes Ferry.He was killed in battle,Aug 1862,at the 2nd Manassas,and his wife ,Elizabeth Anne DeBruhl Marshall ran the Ocala plantation.
Mrs Marshall was a supplier of goods,including whiskey,to the Confederacy,and shipment was by way of Hart's steamboat blockade runs.
March 10,1865,Union Sgt Major Henry James led the 3rd Union Colored Infantry on a raid of the Marshall plantation.
CSA Capt J J Dickinson(Florida's "SWAMP FOX") repelled the Union raid at Sharpes Ferry,which ended all Union presence west of the St Johns River,including the Oklawaha and Marion county.
That area of Florida was refered to as "DIXIE" by the Union as a play on Dickinson's name.
May 1865 was when Benjamin and Breckinridge made it to Ocala by way of Hart's JAMES BURT riverboat,with part of the remaining Confederate treasury.

 

[Rebel - KGC]

Looking into any "old" IOOF (Independent Order of Odd Fellows) emblems, NEVER seen the triangular chained links before... may be a "BRIT" Order of Odd Fellows (OOF) "thing", or just REBELS using an old abandoned building; DUNNO.

 

[ECS]

Rebel-KGC,you mentioned Confederates in Brazil.Another Ocala/Marion couny Florida tale.
Dr G G Mathews was a well known doctor in Ocala.When the War of Northern Agression began,he joined the cause as a field doctor for the CSA.After the war,he returned to Ocala,but stated he could not live under the yankee carpetbagger and scalawag conditions of RECONSTRUCTION.
Mathews and several other CSA families of the area moved to Santos,Brazil,where he remained for 15 years,only returning after the end of Reconstruction,with members of the McGahagan family.
He settled 9mi south of Ocala,and formed the small community of Santos.
All that remains of Santos today,is a white wood clapboard church,and a series of signs of what buildings were once there.
Many artifacts from the 1880's on have been found in the old Santos area.

 

[Connecticut Sam]

Looking into any "old" IOOF (Independent Order of Odd Fellows) emblems, NEVER seen the triangular chained links before... may be a "BRIT" Order of Odd Fellows (OOF) "thing", or just REBELS using an old abandoned building; DUNNO.

You must be a proud member, and that your family is proud of you. Good luck in finding treasures.

 

[Rebel - KGC]

Still doing R & I on this; Brazil/Brasil CSA. Confederados & families living in Sao Paulo & Americana e Santa do Oeste; Band of Brothers (& families) - Fraternidada Descendencia Americana. HH!

 

[Connecticut Sam]

I know in my area I am searching, when I was researching Swift, I ran into some "Confederate Gold" stories in the area, which I believe were allegories pertaining to a KGC gold depository in the area.

Did you ever ran into some Confederate Ghosts?

 

[usernotfound]

Chain around a tree to mark location, mever heard such a thing. Would love to see an example.

 

[Old Bookaroo]

Confederate Treasure in North Carolina

From: Memories of the War by Gen. Isaac R. Sherwood (1923)

Bankers and business men of the South never were unanimous for the Southern Confederacy. The drastic conscription laws, drafting into the army all able-bodied men from 18 to 50, crated wide opposition. Many leading bankers failed to surrender their gold and silver for Confederate bonds. For instance, the bank of Newbern, North Carolina, took $75,000 in gold and silver at the outset of the war and buried it in jugs in a grove near Salisbury, N.C. Nearly all that gold drifted into Ohio after the war and the story is interesting, even after a lapse of 58 years.

On Sherman’s famous march through Georgia and South Carolina his foragers lived on the country and they contracted the habit of grabbing everything in sight, from a silver spoon to a brindle cow. And prudent people on the line of march adopted a habit of burying silverware and gems. Hence the soldiers contracted an early habit of digging for things.

An Ohio cavalry regiment in May, 1865, while the peace angel was brooding over the fair fields and forests of North Carolina, went into camp near Salisbury in the grove where the $75,000 was buried. Digging was still a habit and while one of the cavalrymen was running his sabre into the earth he struck something metallic, which induced him to dig – and he struck a brown jug – well corked. He knocked off the neck of the jug with his carbine and $4,000 in gold and silver was discovered. News of the discovery spread through the camp. There were 17 jugs and a wild scramble ensued among the soldiers of the regiment for the treasure. Comrade Harkness of Norwalk, OH, told me after the war that this was the most exciting, enthusiastic and joyous day the regiment ever experienced. When a new jug was dug out there would be a wild scramble for the gold. About $15,000 was in one dollar gold pieces and the sand and earth and torn sod would all be flying in the air together. It was a case of the survival of the fittest. The strongest and most alert cavalryman got the most gold. Colonel Sanderson of Youngstown, OH was colonel of the regiment. He arrived at the exciting contest when nearly all the precious stuff had been muscularly distributed.

Some friends in Salisbury telegraphed the bank of Newbern of the discovery of the treasure and three days later the officers of the bank appeared in Salisbury demanding the gold. At that time gold was scarce in North Carolina. Of course there was an investigation, but no laws were in force in North Carolina then. There were no courts, no sheriffs, no recognized machinery of civil government.

Our army (the Second Brigade) was encamped six miles from the previous grove. A few days later I received an invitation from Colonel Sanderson to enjoy a Sunday dinner with him in camp. As I was leaving his camp a captain of his regiment from Northwestern Ohio called me into his tent with the inquiry “How much greenback money have you?” I told him I was short, as the paymaster hadn’t arrived. He said: “I will give you gold dollars for every dollar you have in greenbacks.” He took me to the rear of his tent and showed me a cavalry boot nearly full of gold dollars.

There was an investigation by a body of military officers, but so many of the investigating committee were encumbered with this gold that they failed to find any amount to return to the bankers. Comrade Harkness, who gathered a valuable bunch of this shining stuff, told me after the war that nearly all the boys who dug up the treasure landed it safely in Ohio at the muster out.

The ethical quality of the argument for keeping the coin never appealed to me. The claim was that as the bank had refused to surrender the gold to the Confederate government, as required by law of the Confederate congress, and buried it, it forfeited all right to recovery. The soldiers claimed the money by right of discovery. They also said the bank lost nothing, because if it had accepted Confederate bonds for the gold it would have lost just the same, as Confederate bonds were worthless.

From: Lost Confederate Gold in North Carolina


Good luck to all,

~The Old Bookaroo

 

[Old Bookaroo]

KGC4Dixie:

Thanks for posting the Confederate gold stories! Here's another view of Snow White Sands and some more information you might find interesting.

CONFEDERATE GOLD STORY - A BRANTLEY COUNTY FANTASY?

Many stories have been written about the disappearance of "Confederate Gold." A native of Brantley County, and one who benefited from the Mumford Funds, researched the subject and is convinced that Mumford family involvement in the story is a Brantley County fantasy.

Background: According to Ernest M. Andrews' book, "Georgia's Fabulous Treasure Hord[e]s," "Confederate President Jefferson Davis and his cabinet were fleeing Richmond on April 2, 1865, and carried with them approximately $500,000 in specie, silver brick and gold ingots. This treasure, which became known as "The Confederate Gold" was entrusted to Captain William H. Parker and his corps for distribution and transportation; $35,000 was given to President Davis for expenses; $39,000 to General Johnson's troops, and the balance of the Confederate treasury plus $200,000 from the banks of Richmond was escorted by locomotive train and wagons to Washington, Georgia. The final resting place for the treasury has created a mystery and local writers have come to believe the Confederate Gold was buried in Brantley County. Others believe that it was buried around Washington, Georgia or between Abbeville, South Carolina and Washington, Georgia, possibly in the Savannah River

One Brantley County author, Mrs. Martha Mizell Puckett in Snow White Sands, states that some of the Gold ended up in the hands of Sylvester Mumford of Waynesville, and eventually in the hands of his daughter, Goertner Mumford Parkhurst. Mrs. Puckett states that her cousin, Judge J. P. Highsmith was a personal lawyer to Mrs. Parkhurst and attended to her every wish. When asked, "what to do with the balance of the Confederate Gold," Judge Highsmith suggested an educational fund be established for the descendants of noble and brave confederate solders of Wayne County, Georgia. This resulted in establishment of three separate Mumford Scholarship Funds; One-third to the Trustees of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church for maintenance and education of white orphan girls; One-third to The Georgia State College for Women; and One-third to the Board of Thornwell Orphanage, located at Clinton, South, Carolina.

Reverend A. Milton McCool, a beloved Baptist preacher in many southeast Georgia churches, including the Hoboken Baptist Church, was once employed by the Sylvester Mumford family as a clerk in their Waynesville mercantile store. Milton McCool was just a young man when first employed by Mr. Mumford, and spend much time with the Mumford family. Rev. McCool states, "whether Mr. Mumford acquired his fortunes through operation of his mercantile store or whether he inherited some estate or money in New York, is not fully known." This one thing known, however, is that during the terrible War between the States, Mr. Mumford lost his entire fortune; whereupon, he returned immediately to New York state where his friends or relatives backed him again. He then came back to Waynesville and began another business which thrived under his management. Most people knew and recognized that he was a man of wealth, but none of them, not even in their wildest dreams, not even his family knew of his fabulous accumulations during his lifetime. Regardless, his daughter inherited his wealth at the time of her death and established the Mumford Scholarship Fund, remembering the children of her homeland.

Mr. Robert L. Hurst, a retired Ware County school teacher also includes a Confederate Gold story in his book, "This Magic Wilderness." He relates that Mr. Lem Johns, a former area researcher suggested that the Confederate Gold disappeared somewhere between Lincolnton, Georgia and Davis's capture at Irwinville (near Fitzgerald and Ocilla). Possibly from the writings of Mrs. Martha Mizell Puckett, it was rumored in Brantley County that a "side-trip" was made by one of President Davis's soldiers to the Mumford estate at Waynesville. Mr. Mumford was sympathetic toward the southern cause and shortly after Davis's capture, Sylvester Mumford journeyed to England for "business reasons." It is further suggested that "If he had the gold it was deposited in the Bank of England." Shortly afterwards, money began arriving from England, perhaps from interest earned to help area citizens "get on their feet again" during the reconstruction years. Goertner Mumford Parkhurst inherited her father's wealth, and at her death established the three scholarship funds.

A Brantley County Fantasy! Research by Wayne J. Lewis revealed additional information about the Confederate Gold story and he calls the Brantley connection a fantasy! Mr. Lewis had a personal interest since he and his three brothers were the first (April 1953) from Brantley County to benefit from the Mumford Funds at Thornwell Orphanage in Clinton,SC. He wanted to know about the Mumford family and, since the Confederate Gold story was part of what he had heard, it became part of the story. He read the "Confederate Gold" story in the Lincolnton, Georgia newspaper in the late 90's, but it didn't mention the Mumfords or Brantley County.

Wayne Jackson Lewis was born in Nahunta on October 2, 1940, the son of Theodore Henry and Myrtis Idell Rowell Lewis. Wayne's father, a Brantley County farmer and school bus driver, died of a heart attack on July 22, 1951 at age 47. Wayne graduated from Thornwell High School in 1958 and Clemson University in 1962. He served on active duty with the U.S. Army for more than five years before resigning. His duty assignments included Fort Benning, GA., West Germany, and Vietnam, and he achieved the rank of Captain. He retired from the United States Postal Service in October 2000. Wayne still has family and friends in Brantley County.

Wayne felt deeply indebted to the Mumfords. "I owed them so much for providing a home in which to live and the opportunity for a college education." He talked to reporters at the Lincolnton, GA newspaper and they provided a list of people that may be able to provide information. He went to Washington, GA (where the "Confederate Gold" ended up) and talked to a number of local historians-- one of whom was a retired history teacher with thirty years service. He also enlisted the assistance of the Mary Willis Library staff in Washington, GA. None of those that he interviewed had heard the story with a Brantley County connection. When the story (with the Brantley connection) was related to them it brought howls of laughter. They were unable to find any mention of the Mumford name in any record. They were able to establish that no "Confederate Gold" went missing and there was no "splitting up" of the Confederate treasury at the end of the war. The Confederacy was bankrupt at the end of the Civil War. In the final days of the war the Confederacy and some Richmond banks shipped their gold south to keep it from falling into the hands of Union forces. The two shipments were on the same train but each had its own security and they were never mixed. It is of interest to note that Jefferson Davis's family was on the train with the gold shipments, but Jefferson Davis himself was not. The Confederate Gold and Confederate treasurer departed Richmond with substantial funds, but made numerous well documented disbursements along the way (primarily to meet military payrolls). When the Confederate treasury arrived in Washington,GA it was down to $43,000 in cash and an incalculable amount of debt. The Confederate funds were stored in a vault at a local bank. A few days after the war ended the Richmond banks decided to ship their funds back to Richmond. It was loaded onto five wagons and started its journey back to Richmond. The wagon train was robbed as it camped the first night. The robbers apparently formed the gang hastily because they didn't have anyway to carry the loot. They stuffed it down their shirts, pants, and boots, etc. Some of it spilled out and made it easy for a posse to follow them. All of the funds were recovered but about $70,000. The funds were transferred to Augusta, GA. Ownership of the funds was tied up in court for twenty eight years. The federal government claimed the funds because the Richmond banks had made loans to the Confederacy - thus aiding a rebellion. The courts eventually agreed and the money was deposited into the United States Treasury.

Mr. Lewis also went through the archives at Thornwell Orphanage, which contained quite a bit of materials including several handwritten letters from Mrs. Parkhurst (of which he made copies). Some of those papers stated that it was the Pastor at Central Presbyterian Church in Washington, DC that helped guide Mrs. Parkhurst in setting up her will. Her Pastor suggested that the President of Thornwell visit Mrs. Parkhurst in DC, which he did, and afterwards (1928) they began corresponding by letter. Parkhurst used a large law firm in Washington, DC to make her will and serve as executor of her estate. Her will was not completed until 1937 at age 90, and she had been living in DC for about forty years at that time.

"I found her letters most interesting and informative", commented Wayne. "There was no reference to the Confederacy or any gold in any of the materials that I examined." The "Confederate Gold" story that is told in Brantley County seems to originate from, and be a fabrication combining the two separate gold shipments and based on the story as told in "Snow White Sands." It is well to remember that "Snow White Sands" was written by someone who was not an eye witness and without footnotes, references or a bibliography. Numerous well documented books have been written on the subject of the Confederate Gold and the A & E Network made a documentary about it. None of these sources reference the Mumfords or Brantley County.

Character of Sylvester Mumford: Mr. Mumford had many charities and never used his name when making donations. Instead, he used the synonym "South Georgia." He was an early supporter of Thornwell Orphanage (founded 1875) as a Presbyterian Home for Children. He was a devout Presbyterian about whom the minister said at his funeral "This Godly man was nearer perfection than any I have known in my long life in the ministry." Mr. Mumford was also an early member of the Audubon Society. This does much to show the type person he was. Mrs. Parkhurst absolutely adored him. When she made donations to Thornwell, she would write "for a needy girl in memory of my wonderful father." Mr. Mumford was a successful businessman in Waynesville before the Civil War and no doubt continued after it was over. As far as Mr. Mumford losing his fortune, he obviously didn't lose his elegant home or surrounding property since he and his wife are buried on it. Mrs.Parkhurst kept the home for many years and had investment property on St. Simons and the surrounding area until shortly before her death.

Mr. Lewis also hired the Washington, DC Historical Society to research Mrs. Parkhurst (Mumford's daughter). He got copies of her death certificate, obituaries from the local papers, her address, and pictures of her residence. Mrs. Parkhurst lived in a luxury condominium which was featured in the book "Best Addresses" describing the best places to live in the Washington area. There were several notable people who resided there including Huey "The Kingfisher" Long of Louisiana and a young Richard Nixon. Wayne also went to the cemetery where Mrs. Parkhurst is buried (in DC) and placed flowers on her grave.

The only gold that went missing was from the robbery of Richmond banks funds. Mr. Lewis commented, "I read "Snow White Sands" in the sixties and talked about it with elderly people who said it was baloney and pointed out a number of things that were wrong and outrageously so. Celestine Sibley knew how to parse words and called the author a "STORYTELLER." She did not call Martha Mizell Puckett a historian or writer of non fiction books. Ms Sibley was a renowned Southern author, journalist and syndicated columnist for the Atlanta Journal/Constitution for over 50 years.

"In conclusion, it is offensive to me that this story survives and particularly that is in the Brantley County History Book, since it is so easily discredited. The Mumfords were a lot better than the Brantley County Confederate Gold story would lead some to believe. I didn't buy a Brantley County History book because the Confederate Gold story is in it," commented Mr. Lewis. He resides in Myrtle Beach, SC.

Sources: "This Magic Wilderness," by Robert L. Hurst, "Snow White Sands," by Martha M. Puckett, and Biography of Rev. A. M. McCall, with rebuttal researched by Wayne Jackson Lewis, supported by research by the Washington D.C. Historical Society. Note: The Brantley County Historical and Preservation Society welcomes supportive or contrary views/research on this subject. This story was assembled by Thomas Earl Cleland, with input from above sources.

BRANTLEY HISTORICAL SOCIETY WAYNESVILLE HOME PAGE


Good luck to all,

~The Old Bookaroo

 

[Old Bookaroo]

The Search for Lost Confederate Gold By Hans Kuenzi The Cleveland Civil War Roundtable Copyright © 2008, All Rights Reserved

In late May 1861, Jefferson Davis, the former Mississippi Senator and the reluctant president of the seceding Confederate States of America, moved the capital of the CSA from Montgomery, Alabama to Richmond, Virginia to boost the morale of the Confederate troops and weld Virginia to the Confederacy. Had he known that in April of 1865 he, his cabinet and about $700,000 in gold and specie would have to evacuate Richmond to avoid capture during the waning days of the Civil War, he might have elected to remain in Montgomery. (Note: 'specie' describes money in the form of coins, usually gold or silver, as opposed to paper money. Also called hard currency. Since the gold standard was abolished in the 1930s, gold coins, aside from their higher intrinsic value and demand as collectibles, no longer have any special worth as a standard of value in world trade. Dictionary of Banking Terms.) Davis was attending church services on Sunday, April 2, 1865 when he learned that Lee’s defensive line at Petersburg had been broken and the evacuation of Richmond was imminent. President Davis pleaded with Lee to form defense lines for just one more day and informed his cabinet that Richmond was to be evacuated and that they would take the Confederate treasury with them. General Lee advised Davis that he had until 8 p.m. to load the gold, valuables and cabinet members onto two trains which would travel southward on the only line still open between Richmond and Danville, Virginia. All the Confederate officials would board the first train, while the second train would hold “special cargo”. Navy Captain William H. Parker was placed in charge of the second train and, knowing that the special cargo was comprised of gold ingots, gold double eagle coins, silver coins, silver bricks and Mexican silver dollars, he gathered the only available personnel to provide a military guard. This guard consisted of mostly young navy midshipmen from a training ship on the James River and some of them were only twelve years old. The two trains left Richmond at midnight and when the tracks ended at Danville, Davis and his staff began to travel south on horseback. Captain Parker and the treasure, now moved to wagons, were directed to the old U.S. Mint at Charlotte, North Carolina, which was considered the safest storage place. Unfortunately, Parker found the U.S. cavalry already in the immediate area and made alternate arrangements. The treasure was placed into all kinds of containers that had once been used for sugar, coffee, flour and ammunition. Moving to the southwest, Parker and the wagons zigzagged across the South Carolina-Georgia state line several times to evade capture. Eventually the responsibility for the treasure was passed on to the Secretary of War, John C. Breckenridge, who then placed Brig. General Basil Duke in charge. With slightly less than a thousand men in his command, Duke transferred all the treasure into six wagons and began his journey south with eight of his veterans on each wagon as guards and the rest of his command, along with the midshipmen, as escorts. In Washington, Georgia, Jefferson Davis and his cabinet met for the final time, where Davis signed his last official order, making Micajah Clark the acting Treasurer of the Confederacy. ​ It was in Washington that the bulk of the treasure was captured along with Jefferson Davis and his staff. Some of the treasure had been retained by Brig. General Duke and his men as each man under his command received as payment the sum of $26.25, which amounted to a total of about $26,250. The balance of the captured treasure was assembled and loaded into wagons for transport to Washington, D.C. However, somewhere in Wilkes County, Georgia, the wagon train was bushwhacked. The bushwhackers were stragglers from both the Federal and Confederate armies who had heard of the treasure and the “handouts” being given to soldiers. Residents of Wilkes County who witnessed the event said that the bushwhackers waded knee-deep in gold and silver coinage before loading it in all kinds of bags and sacks and riding away. It was said that many riders were so overloaded that they later discarded or hid large quantities of the coins all over Wilkes County. The belief that Confederate gold is buried in Wilkes County has persisted since the end of the war. However, despite searches conducted throughout the years, nothing of value has ever been found there. This rumor of buried treasure in Wilkes County nevertheless spawned a legend involving a family of local repute, the Mumfords, and the location of the lost Confederate gold. This legend was first advanced by Martha Mizell Puckett, a former school teacher and Brantley County native, who spun her tale of Confederate gold in her book, Snow White Sands. Her book alleged that New York native and Confederate sympathizer Sylvester Mumford was present at the Confederacy's final cabinet meeting in Washington, Georgia, and claimed that Jefferson Davis divided the gold among those present and instructed them to use the money as they felt best. Another account maintains Jefferson Davis entrusted the entire Confederate treasury into the care of Sylvester Mumford. A very prosperous merchant before the war, Mumford had established a cotton plantation near Waynesville. However, his business fortunes suffered great losses throughout the course of the war. It was said that, after taking possession of the gold, Mumford transported some of the Confederate treasury southeast to North Florida and the Atlantic coast, where he boarded a British steamer bound for England. Puckett was rather vague about what Mumford did with the gold he allegedly transported to England, except to claim that he ordered enough seed corn from South America, by way of Great Britain, to replant the whole State of Georgia. The rest of the gold found its way into the hands of his daughter, Goertner “Gertrude” Mumford Parkhurst, in New York, where she lived and invested it well. Puckett claimed that when “Miss Gertrude” decided that the remainder of the Confederate gold should be returned to the people to whom it belonged, her personal lawyer, Judge J.P. Highsmith, suggested that an educational trust be established for the descendants of the Confederate soldiers. As heir to the Mumford estate, “Miss Gertrude” allegedly made provisions to return the balance of the Confederate treasure to Southern hands after her death. In fact, when she died in 1946 at age 99 in Washington, D.C., she bequeathed almost $600,000 to the children of Brantley County through an endowment and two scholarship funds. ​ Initially, with one-third of her estate, the will established the Sylvester Mumford Memorial Endowment at the Thornwell Orphanage in Clinton, South Carolina, which was founded in 1875 and is now known as the Thornwell Home and School for Children. The remainder of her estate was divided between two scholarship funds. The first was given to the Presbyterian Church, headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky, in trust “for the maintenance and education of white orphan girls of Brantley County”. By 1960, this scholarship fund was creating more income from its principal investment than there were recipients for the scholarships. The church petitioned the court to expand the scope of the scholarships by including residents of counties which immediately surrounded Brantley and by defining an orphan as a child who had lost at least one parent. Due to the moral and legal concerns about restricting the fund to white orphan girls, the church then petitioned the court to open the scholarship to all ethnic groups. In 2002, the church awarded $32,000 to qualified women from Southeast Georgia, and in October 2003 there were fifteen women attending colleges or technical schools who were funded by the scholarship program. A second scholarship, known as the Sylvester Mumford Memorial Fund, was to be awarded to students from Brantley County who attend Georgia College, then known as Georgia State College for Women. In recent years, the number of students receiving tuition assistance has fluctuated between ten and twelve. Given this claim that the source of these scholarships was in fact a portion of the lost Confederate treasury, researchers throughout the years sought to confirm the veracity of the Mumford legend. However, their work created great doubt that any lost Confederate gold ever existed in the first place. Of particular note, Wayne J. Lewis researched the connection between the Confederate gold and the Mumford estate due to his personal interest in the legend. In April 1953, he and his three brothers were the first children from Brantley County to derive benefit from the Mumford funds at the Thornwell Orphanage in Clinton, South Carolina, after their father died from a heart attack in 1951 at age 47. Lewis graduated from Thornwell High School in 1958 and then from Clemson University in 1962 before serving on active duty in Germany and Vietnam with the U.S. Army. He resigned his commission as a captain after almost six years and he retired from the U.S. Postal Service in 2000 and still has family and friends in Brantley County. Appreciative of the home the Mumfords provided and his opportunity for a college education, he set out to discover the facts behind the Confederate gold. He researched the archives of the Thornwell Orphanage and found no reference to the Confederacy or gold in any of the handwritten letters from Mrs. Parkhurst. He also interviewed local historians and librarians in Washington, Georgia, none of whom had heard of the gold's connection to Brantley County. Moreover, he was unable to find any mention of the name Mumford in any record of the period. After exhaustive research, Lewis concluded that gold from the Richmond banks and the Confederate treasury had in fact been evacuated from Richmond and shipped south to prevent it from falling into the hands of Union forces. However, although the banks and the Confederacy had shipped their gold on the same train, each had its own security forces and the gold was never commingled. Although Jefferson Davis's family was on the train with the gold shipments, Lewis wrote that Jefferson Davis was not. The treasurer of the Confederacy was on board and made numerous and well-documented disbursements along the way to meet military payrolls. Arriving in Washington, Georgia, Lewis reported that the Confederate treasury had dwindled down to about $43,000 in cash. The funds were then stored there in a vault at a local bank, and within days after the war ended, the Richmond banks had their funds returned to Richmond on five wagons. However, this wagon train was robbed on the first night that it stopped to make camp, and the robbers improvised ways to carry the loot: stuffed in their shirts, pants, boots and whatever else would hold their plunder. Unfortunately for them, their booty leaked and made it easy for a posse to follow. All but about $70,000 was recovered and transferred to Augusta, Georgia, where ownership of the funds was tied up in court until 1893. The courts eventually agreed with the federal government, who claimed the funds because the Richmond banks had aided a rebellion by making loans to the Confederacy. Lewis concluded that the Brantley County Confederate gold legend was probably fabricated from a combination of the legend told in Snow White Sands and the actual gold shipments after the war. Indeed, no one who was an eyewitness to the events ever documented that the gold was actually lost. Martha Mizell Puckett, the author of Snow White Sands, had failed to include footnotes, references or even a simple bibliography to support the presence of gold in Brantley County. In conclusion, historical research has determined only $70,000 of the gold belonging to the banks in Richmond is missing, but not lost, as it was accounted for in the robbery during its shipment back to Richmond. What remained of the Confederate treasury, in the form of gold and other valuable coins, was disbursed as payroll to Confederate troops during its transport south. By the end of the war, nothing remained in the coffers of the Confederate treasury except for its incalculable amount of debt. ​ ​

The Search for Lost Confederate Gold

Good luck to all,

~The Old Bookaroo

 

[Old Bookaroo]

franklin:

From a $1.7 Billion deficit on July 1, 1864, to a $461 Million surplus in the Fall is quite a financial swing - $2 Billion (in 1860's dollars, may I add).

How did the CSA accomplish this? Where did the gold come from? Where are the figures?

Good luck to all,

~The Old Bookaroo

 

[Old Bookaroo]

This piece is available at several places on the Internet:

The Lost Confederate Treasure | Southern Sentinel

I can't agree with the politics - but the facts appear to be there.

Good luck to all,

~The Old Bookaroo

 

[Steve Ia]

My Dad bought me a Confederate one dollar gold coin for my birthday at an auction. Don't know how much he paid for it, but I'm sure it wasn't cheap. It was fake with a capital F. I never had the heart to tell him. I know that isn't the type of Confederate gold stories you were after, but that's my Confederate gold story. I always told him to never buy me any arrowheads because they are probably fake. Never thought he buy a coin though.

 

[Old Bookaroo]

franklin:

Given the conditions in Richmond near the end of the war, the surprising part to me isn't that a train was delayed. It's astonishing the trains were running at all. Among many other issues - where would they go? What tracks, stations, and train crossroads did the Union army control?

You wrote that you've found hundreds of tons of CSA gold. May I ask - "found" as in recovered or "found" as in your research shows?

I fully realize proof is hard for you to provide. The doubters (and I am certainly one of them - although doubt may not be strong enough) have documents, testimony, etc. Folks who are looking have to be careful what they publish in public.

Good luck to all,

~The Old Bookaroo

 

[Old Bookaroo]

Steve la:

The best part is your Dad wanted to buy something special for you. Nothing fake about that.

During the Civil War Centennial my folks purchased a CSA cartridge box plate for me. I was about ten years old.

Is he real? If the Antiques Roadshow came to town I might ask but frankly the important thing to me is that it was a gift from my parents.

Good luck to all,

~The Old Bookaroo

 

[Rebel - KGC]

franklin:

Given the conditions in Richmond near the end of the war, the surprising part to me isn't that a train was delayed. It's astonishing the trains were running at all. Among many other issues - where would they go? What tracks, stations, and train crossroads did the Union army control?

You wrote that you've found hundreds of tons of CSA gold. May I ask - "found" as in recovered or "found" as in your research shows?

I fully realize proof is hard for you to provide. The doubters (and I am certainly one of them - although doubt may not be strong enough) have documents, testimony, etc. Folks who are looking have to be careful what they publish in public.

Good luck to all,

~The Old Bookaroo

RR Tracks from Richmond, Va. info is forth-coming...