Anyone heard of the lost pistols of Griswoldville?

[RainDog]

Years before the Civil War There was a Town Northeast of Macon, Ga. called Griswoldville (Grizzldville for those from around here). It was a cotton gin situated in Jones County along e railroad track that linked them, Clinton,Macon and several other now sparsely populated communities. A small town grew around this gin as with any sort of milling mining and manufacturing around this time. Along comes the War Between The States and being the patriot that he is the owner,(evidentally a follower of Eli Whitney) contributes( or takes advantage of) to the cause and starts manufacturing Colt Navy replicas. Local Rumor has it that as Sherman and his troops advanced from Atlanta, Fifty of these guns, frames cylinders and barrels, were encased in copper and buried some where in Bibb Jones or twiggs county. Popular belief has it that they are buried near creeks or small rivers. Bonds Swamp would be the logical place however it is a National Wildlife Refuge. Or perhaps the local Indian Mounds(now a national monument) or a long forgotten earth lodge maybe the site of the hidden treasure. A crusty old plummer told me about this one day, said he had spent along time searching for it. I didn't care abouthistory or treasure hunting then so i dismissed it. After a little research, i figure it more than likely to be ttrue. Any one else heard of this? Check it out, Google it.

 

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[TwT]

this is what I found about it

Griswold's Confederate Pistol Factory:
In 1862, to meet the pressing need of the Confederate States Army for revolvers of the Colt pattern, the Griswold Cotton Gin Company's plant, on this site, was converted to a pistol factory. In March, the production of cotton gin machinery was discontinued and the task of retooling was begun. In July, Griswold and Grier produced their first revolving pistols.

On 5 August, the Macon Telegraph announced that the "Colt's Navy Repeater" made at the machine shop of Messers, Griswold, at Griswoldville, had passed the inspections of the Confederate Superintendant of Armories in Macon, and that a contract had been let for as many as could be produced. The peack output became 5 finished revolvers per day; the total produced was about 3,500.

The Griswold and Grier revolver is known to collectors as the "brass-frame Confederate Colt." It is the most common of all Confederate manufactured revolvers. It is a six-shot, .36 calibur weapon, with a 7 and 1/2 inch barrel and rifled six grooves right. It cost about $50.00 to manufacture.

On 20 November 1864, during General Shermans destructive March to the Sea, the Griswold and Grier factory was burned by the 3rd Cavalry Division, Brigadier General J. L. KILPATRICK, USA, together with a valuable soap and candle factory, a train of cars loaded with locomotive parts, and other local facilities."

 

[CDMakaKvM]

No, I haven't heard of the pistols, but there's a possibility they may already been recovered.(MAYBE) About 8 years ago, my brother and I were going to detect Griswoldville on the north side of the railroad tracks. There was a small Civil War battle fought there. We hadn't even gotten our detectors out of the car when this guy comes up to us and asked us if we were going to search the area. We told him we were thinking about it. Then he started showing us some of his finds, like a penny minted in the late 17OO's, jewelry, etc. He said he had found parts of guns and other relics and that he had detected this site for years. He said he had permission from the land owner. After chatting for about a half an hour, we just packed our stuff and left. It was evident he didn't want anyone else hunting HIS site. I had plenty more irons in the fire, so no big deal. I had no big treasure researched at this site. We were just going to kill an afternoon and see what we could find. To make a long story short, if this guy has detected this site for years, he may have found the weapon cache, but he never mentioned it, nor would I if I had found it. He was using a Nautilus detector with an 8" coil, so it's possible he didn't find it. Just thought I would pass along the info.

 

[gldhntr]

someone posted here around a year or so on this one...they had gotten a great hit with detector..they were being watched as they were followed into this area every time they went ..when they went back to dig their signal they found a big fresh hole there....i think they even posted pics of it.......gldhntr

 

[RainDog]

Just a story I heard and wanted to know what y'all thought of it. I would really like to thank y'all for giving a little merit to the ledgend. Lord knows what we would do without crusty old plummers.
HH
RD

 

[fleamistress]

this is what I found about it

Griswold's Confederate Pistol Factory:
In 1862, to meet the pressing need of the Confederate States Army for revolvers of the Colt pattern, the Griswold Cotton Gin Company's plant, on this site, was converted to a pistol factory. In March, the production of cotton gin machinery was discontinued and the task of retooling was begun. In July, Griswold and Grier produced their first revolving pistols.

On 5 August, the Macon Telegraph announced that the "Colt's Navy Repeater" made at the machine shop of Messers, Griswold, at Griswoldville, had passed the inspections of the Confederate Superintendant of Armories in Macon, and that a contract had been let for as many as could be produced. The peack output became 5 finished revolvers per day; the total produced was about 3,500.

The Griswold and Grier revolver is known to collectors as the "brass-frame Confederate Colt." It is the most common of all Confederate manufactured revolvers. It is a six-shot, .36 calibur weapon, with a 7 and 1/2 inch barrel and rifled six grooves right. It cost about $50.00 to manufacture.

On 20 November 1864, during General Shermans destructive March to the Sea, the Griswold and Grier factory was burned by the 3rd Cavalry Division, Brigadier General J. L. KILPATRICK, USA, together with a valuable soap and candle factory, a train of cars loaded with locomotive parts, and other local facilities."

In what counties might have that been?

nyC

 

[TwT]

here's the site

http://www.usgennet.org/usa/ga/county/taylor/jones/military/griswoldville.htm

 

[doobie]

Griswold's Confederate Pistol Factory is locate at the enter section of griswoldville dr and henderson dr were the church is. The pond that the cotton mill is across the street and it is still there. His house was a cross the street from the pond. I know were the battle field line is I am trying to fine Duncan farm was it was in the center of the battle field i am close I have land on the road good hunting

 

[kdismuke1]

I LIVE ABOUT 25 MILES FROM THERE. PART OF IT IS ON A HUNTING CLUB. THE REST IS OWNED BY DIFFERENT PEOPLE.
AT TIMES YOU CAN GO THERE AND NEXT TIME YOU CAN"T. THEY ARE PUSHING UP PART OF IT NOW. SOME COLLAGE IS THERE SHIFTING EVERYTHING.

E-MAIL IS KDISMUKE@WINDSTREAM.NET WILL LET YOU KNOW WHAT IS GOING ON.

 

[doobie]

i live two miles from griswoldville
call me some time klye

doobie

 

[bigjule]

There's somebody in Macon who sells old rusted gunparts from Griswold at ebay sometims. Can't recall the seller name at this time, but periodically they do turn up there in his list of items. He gets major cheese for those old rusted parts. He says something like: been metal detecting there, private land, bla bla bla. Sometimes he sells used md's there too.

 

[dasabighole]

That would be skull913.

 

[DaChief]

I am pretty sure that the Griswolds must have taken them to Wally World. You might check under the Roller Coaster.

Sorry, couldn't resist that one!!!!

Da Chief