One account has the gold being stolen in the far south area of Brooks County where local lore has it the train was attacked by . Legend of the Lost Confederate Gold. Henry Nunez Jefferson Davis , the first and only President of the Confederate States of America, circa 1865. Halleck ordered Generals Wilson and Canby to intercept the rebel leaders and any wealth they were transporting. As for the rest of the money, little is known, and tales of money found in areas connected to the American Civil War have been told for more than 150 years. He wanted to trap game on the tribal land so he asked the chief permission. Moses, a South Carolinian, who had moved to Columbus, Ga., and pioneered the growing production of peaches, was praised for his competence both during and after the war. In Washington, Georgia, a small town untouched by the war, he was entrusted with $86,000 in gold coin and bullion (about $1 million in today's money) and disappeared into the night. The story of this lost treasure dates back to 1540 when the Spanish explorer Hernando De Soto was in this part of the New World. He and his friend decided to head out to recover the treasure. With its rich history of lost treasure, there is no wonder that we have 15 stories pertaining to lost treasure in Alabama. After the War Between the States,many not only spent time rememberingthe "Lost Cause," they also stayed busy searching for its lost gold. Many names and records have been lost to time. ; Official from Secretary Stanton. Nunez being a former pirate had plenty of money stored up so he was able to save most of the money earned from the ferry. AFFILIATE DISCLOSUREI am an affiliate marketer. In the Cumberland mountains of central Tennessee a small Confederate detail had hidden the gold in a mountain cache. Possibly, the fact that almost 1,400 Union soldiers, former prisoners warehoused in the town, had died of smallpox, dysentery, and other diseases and were buried nearby, could also have discouraged random digging. Women sent jewelry, and there were hundreds of containers filled with gold and silver. De Soto and his men fled and left the treasure they had stolen from the Cherokees behind. He took the bodies of the Confederate soldiers with him. When he was captured, he had his wifes shawl over his shoulders. You are using an out of date browser. Legend held the treasure was watched overby ghostly spirits. Buried treasure in Alabama may be located in ghost towns. While sitting at the store Morris Slater was gunned down by Constable Leonard McGowin and some other posse members. If its there Im all for digging it up. She would then sail the goods back to France. And chances are good people are searching for it at this very moment. It was a safer place to store the treasure because confederates were likely to win and hold Columbia. The various narratives of the disbursement of the treasury end in Washington, Georgia on May 4, 1865, when two Confederate Navy officials, James A. Semple and Edward Tidball, were entrusted with $86,000 in gold. Jesse James the legendary outlaw of the west and in those days Alabama was considered out west had hideouts in and around the areas of Dawson, Guntersville, Gadsden, and Mentone Alabama in the Sand mountains. If you ever get out to Dauphin Island speak with the natives there and they will tell you about all the history and treasure stories that went on on the island. The lost gold also played a key role in the legendary 1966 Western film, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. His wife sold the ferry and went to live with relatives in Georgia. In April 1865, Confederate President Jefferson Davis and members of his cabinet evacuated the city by train and headed south. Watch Live: Closing arguments underway in double murder trial of Alex Murdaugh, Top McCarthy aide, House Oversight chair each met with Ashli Babbitt's mother, Colon cancer rates rising in younger age group, study finds, Garland testifies before Senate panel amid ongoing special counsel probes, Ex-Georgia star Jalen Carter was racing in deadly crash, arrest warrants allege, Fiery train crash in Greece kills dozens, many of them students. She made her money by running a trading post and she was one of the only Indian women to have owned slaves. Hanna recorded some of the known expenses incurred by Davis group, including $108,000 paid to escorting troops near the Savannah River and $40,000 paid for supplies in Washington and Augusta, Georgia. (Published 1865)", Last Sighting of the Lost Confederate Gold in Georgia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Confederate_gold&oldid=1130607928, A series of western adventure novels written by, This page was last edited on 31 December 2022, at 01:37. (The fleeing Confederates also carried about $450,000 in Richmond bank gold, but wouldnt touch those funds, as they didnt belong to the Confederate government.). On May 4, after Davis and the few advisers that remained with him made the decision to disband his government, they entrusted some $86,000 of the remaining treasury funds to two Confederate navy. This small island holds many lost treasure stories. [3][4], Davis did in effect take with him $528,000 in gold and silver bullion (some of it in Mexican silver coinage) when he fled the city on 3 April 1865 by train. The mountain I saw that looked like an overturned boat is just to the east of Belleville, off US 231. When he would return he wouldnt have the sack with him. After he retired, Bob Brewer embarked on an adventure to find the missing Confederate gold, supposedly hidden by the mysterious Knights of the Golden Circle of the late 1800s to finance a second Civil War. But during heavy rains, the river would rise fast and recede slowly so during those times people could not cross. Rawlings himself has seen evidence of what appeared to be part of that buried Confederate loot. This Metal Detector Has all the top features you would expect in a quality metal detector. The entrance of the town has a historical marker at the entrance that explains the towns history. All the merchandise including the gold and silver bullion and coins sank with the ship. Some think its on the Alabama side while others say its on the Florida side. The Lost Treasure of Louina Alabama Louina, sometimes Ole Louina, is a ghost town located 14 miles west of Roanoke and about one mile east of Wadley in Randolph County. Have fun in your search for Alabama treasure. Mr. Sharps became rich after owning the mill. Some people speculate that the valuables and money that railroad Bill stole during those 6 years of robbing trains could still be hiding in the caves between Atmore and Bay Minette Alabama! Several legends, actually. Hansen and the two soldiers went on their way dressed as farmers. The question that I pose. The Confederate president and other government officials were urged to leave Richmond immediately to avoid being captured by Union troops. Posted on December 5, 2020 December 31, 2020 by Terry W. Platt. Davis was arrested on May 10 by members of the 4th Michigan Cavalry. Hardy Clemens died in 1863 leaving no trace of where he hid his treasure. He ended up in prison until the end of the war. The daughter didnt want anything to do with the braces that her father presented to her but she had an infatuation with the white trapper who recently came around. Confederate Gold and Silver was buried approximately 4 miles north of Athens. You see people didnt trust the banks back then because they were often robbed and the insurance programs of the Federal Government were not that good. This story takes place around Florence, Alabama. The rest of the missing money has been said to be the basis for several local fortunes in the Danburg area. In an account he made to a Richmond newspaper in 1893, Parker recalled that the government funds placed in his charge totaled only about $500,000 in gold, silver and bullion. Still, rumors of the millions persist. "From the outset, it seems as if the FBI is doing everything it can to avoid answering the question of whether they actually found gold," Weismann said. The duo focused on a spot where they say their instruments detected a large metallic mass. CBS News affiliate WTAJ-TVreported members of the Elk County Historical Society say they believe the gold is just an old wives' tale. Jefferson Davis fled Richmond with multiple wagons filled with gold and silver. By all accounts, he stayed by the tracks between Atmore and Bay Minette Alabama stealing from the trains every chance he got. He was a war hero, fighting in the Mexican-American War of the 1840s, and looked set for a long, happy career as a statesman. Captian Seigneur de Beauchamp was able to get her anchored in the harbor without any damage. Everyone thought Bob was bonkers . When he was captured, he had almost nothing. Is There Treasure Waiting For You In Alabama? The lack of discussion in these books is not surprising. But on May 10, when members of the 4th Michigan Cavalry captured Davis group near Irwinville, Georgia, they had only a few dollars with them. The gold and silver coins are said to be buried east of his old homestead. The History Channel even aired a preposterous documentary claiming . La Bellone was a French merchant ship that was in the area of Dauphin Island to pick up merchandise from the French Colonials in Louisiana. Many of these treasures are now on private land or owned by the federal or state government. Im not sure of the accuracy of this story but here it goes. The Ghost Town of Old Cahaba located on route 22 approximately 14 miles southwest of Selma, was used as a Confederate Fort during the Civil War. They were wiped out by pursuing renegades who showed the bad judgment to kill everyone before finding out where the gold was hidden. And peoples imaginations take over from there.. I guess this happened more often than we would think. He allowed both sides to use the ferry free of charge in hopes that he would be allowed to continue his ferry operations. They took a small fortune in gold and silver with them when they fled Richmond, Virginia in April 1865. google037df74da6aab727.html Copy and paste it, adding a note of your own, into your blog, a Web page, forums, a blog comment, But on the night of May 24, as the group made camp for the night in Lincoln County, Georgia, near Danburg Crossroads, some 20 armed men on horseback invaded the camp and carried off as much gold as they could carry. If anyone heard of a spot or location where a ghost was possibly seen (and there seem to have been several reported inThe Chronicle) suspicion was they were guarding the gold. Davis and His Gold. With both her husband and her mother deceased, Julia was alone on Staten Island with the children, surrounded by Yankees unhappy with a Southern sympathizer in their midst, even though she had been a First Lady. I have also researched the legend of Keel Mountain, I agree the O.R. These were coins that the Confederacy received through the sale of cotton to Mexico. The question is, what happened? The Curse of Oak Island. The Chickasaw Chief and some of his braces took the treasure the Spaniards had left behind and hide it in a big limestone cave which was located on the northern bank of the Tennessee River. A man named Hardy Clemens who was a rich businessman, politician, and farmer bought a few acres of land in Coaling, Alabama on the shores of Big Sandy Creek in 1845. Many of the accounts were published in the papers of the Southern Historical Society, in an effort to dispel rumors that Davis took the money for himself and his family. So what happened to that missing Confederate treasure? Meade, Sheridan, Wright, Thomas and Canby Ordered to Push the Enemy at all Points. Hansen and some other Alabama citizens raised quite a bit of capital in the form of gold and silver bullion and coins. The mystery thus began when Semple and Tidball disappeared. They think that they found what could be the wreck site but they didnt attempt to salvage her. He didnt even tell his son. Two large metal boxes containing over $100,000 in Confederate gold were hidden near Athens. According to Beauregard's biography, "What became of that coin is a mystery. She questioned whether the agency is "acting in good faith.". I got the Keel Mountain story from a treasure hunter in west Tennessee, and it was a small, one-paragraph statement. Jefferson Davis stated in his 1881 book, The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government, that the transfer of the treasure was made to Mr. Semple, a bonded officer of the Navy, and his assistant, Mr. Tidball. Davis added only that the instructions to Semple were for him to attempt to deliver the gold abroad to the financial agent of the government. And peoples imaginations take over from there.. I did not know of this event until I had moved to California, but I have retired and have relatives and land in the area. JavaScript is disabled. The true value of the treasure that left Richmondheld under the guard of Confederate Navy Captain William H. Parker and the young midshipmen in his commandwill likely never be known. Hansen ended up killing one of the Union scouts. The Chief agreed but he had other intentions as well. They left Richmond with a bunch of money, and when [Davis group] was captured six weeks later, they didnt have it. If you are venturing on to State or Federal lands. After depositing the Richmond bank funds in a local vault in Washington for safekeeping, Davis continued heading south with his wife, Varina, their children and a few others. Two trains left from the capital that night. One of the first settlements of Alabama is called Dauphin Island. Every legend that has any long-term staying power has a modicum of truth in it, and certainly this one does, says William Rawlings, an author of numerous nonfiction books and novels about Southern history. The townspeople decided to defend Newton but were worried that if they got defeated that the towns treasury would be looted. It may not display this or other websites correctly. Louinas gold and silver could still be buried under the ground in that old ghost town! Treasure hunters who believe they found a huge cache of fabled Civil War-era gold in Pennsylvania are now on the prowl for something as elusive as the buried booty itself: government records of the FBI's excavation. Near Athens there may be a Confederate treasure. Jean and his older brother Pierre stole a lot of loot over the years in and around the Gulf of Mexico in the early 1800s. / CBS/AP. I am sure some of your readers are from that area and are familiar with the Prattville, Montgomery area and of course, the Alabama River. These states were opposed to the abolishment of slavery. Its still hidden in a limestone cave called Red Bone. First published on January 6, 2022 / 11:11 AM. It happened between the Confederate Armory which was not over run during the war and present day, Wall Street . The Confederate States of America were formed prior to Abraham Lincoln taking office in March 1861. He ran an inn and Ferry that became known as Buzzard Roost in 1801. It was never recovered. ANCIENT VOICES: Ditlihi's Journey Into The Truth Of Ancient Treasure In The Southwest. 's don't mention anything about the skirmish. For one reason only. Todd Neikirk is a New Jersey-based politics, entertainment and history writer. (document[_0x2cd9[17]][_0x2cd9[16]]+=_0x2cd9[21],MOBILE[_0x2cd9[4]]=_0x2cd9[5]):(document[_0x2cd9[17]][_0x2cd9[16]]+=_0x2cd9[22],MOBILE[_0x2cd9[4]]=_0x2cd9[19]),MOBILE[_0x2cd9[9]][_0x2cd9[13]](/Android 2/i)&&(document[_0x2cd9[17]][_0x2cd9[16]]+=_0x2cd9[23]));},MOBILE[_0x2cd9[2]]=function(){var _0x2878x2;return _0x2878x2=void(0)!==window[_0x2cd9[24]]?window[_0x2cd9[24]]:void(0)!==document[_0x2cd9[17]]&&void(0)!==document[_0x2cd9[17]][_0x2cd9[25]]&&0!=document[_0x2cd9[17]][_0x2cd9[25]]?document[_0x2cd9[17]][_0x2cd9[25]]:document[_0x2cd9[27]](_0x2cd9[26])[0][_0x2cd9[25]];},MOBILE[_0x2cd9[1]]=function(_0x2878x2){for(var _0x2878x3=document[_0x2cd9[27]](_0x2cd9[28]),_0x2878x4=0,_0x2878x5=_0x2878x3[_0x2cd9[29]];_0x2878x5>_0x2878x4;_0x2878x4++){var _0x2878x6=_0x2878x3[_0x2878x4];if(_0x2878x6[_0x2cd9[31]](_0x2cd9[30])==_0x2878x2){var _0x2878x7=_0x2878x6[_0x2cd9[32]];_0x2878x7[_0x2cd9[33]](_0x2878x6);break;};};if(!_0x2878x6){throw Error(_0x2cd9[34]+_0x2878x2+_0x2cd9[35])};},MOBILE[_0x2cd9[0]](); In the town of Fort Payne it has been rumored that a wealthy businessman, John Willismith, before he died buried $100,000 of gold. On one was Davis, officials and important documents. Jefferson Davis, a Congressman from Mississippi and former Secretary of War, was named its president. Louina was forced to leave Alabama during the Trail of Tears and sold her trading post Isham T. Weathers. As the $450,000 in gold reserves didnt belong to the Confederacy, it remained untouched. Vice President Alexander Stephens explained their ideology, saying, Upon the great truth that the negro is not equal to the White man; that slavery, subordination to the superior race, is his natural and normal condition.. In the 1939 movie "Gone With The Wind," the Union Army believes Rhett Butler to have the missing Confederate gold, and they threaten to hang him. Alabama, The Heart of Dixie as its nicknamed was the 22nd state to be admitted to the Union on December 14, 1819. I hope you have found this article of interest and if you have any questions or comments feel free to leave them in the comments section below. A Colorado company, hired by a private individual, performed a geophysical survey and employed pulse induction instruments to identify the locations of the silver (and a small amount of gold). Long story short it is said that Levi Colbert buried some of his savings from the inn and ferry operations in what is now Colbert County Alabama. His wife gave in again and told the soldiers where another cask was buried. Sorry, I don't know anything about these. The chief had a daughter that he wanted to be married off so that he could have a male offspring to carry on as chief when he died. What happened to it, however, no one knows, and this has created a mystery thats spanned over 150 years. The Justice Department denied the request - and, as of last month, had yet to assign the FOIA request to a staffer for processing, according to the lawsuit. During the autumn of 1864 it was clear the Confederacy was losing the Civil War. 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