Then too, given the volume and weight of the silver, the digging would have certainly been noticed by soldiers and townspeople, whether during the day or at night under the glow of kerosene lamps. To view the purposes they believe they have legitimate interest for, or to object to this data processing use the vendor list link below. The whereabouts of his home are under debate. Among Confederate veterans organizations, rumors later swirled that their fleeing leaders were carrying millions of dollars when they evacuated Richmond. So do your due diligence before going on your treasure-hunting expeditions. They held it until General John Bell Hood marched his Confederate army through in 1864. Meade, Sheridan, Wright, Thomas and Canby Ordered to Push the Enemy at all Points. Many of these treasures are now on private land or owned by the federal or state government. Hansen and some other Alabama citizens raised quite a bit of capital in the form of gold and silver bullion and coins. According to local lore, the gold was lost or stolen during the1863 Battle of Gettysburg. 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. It never got there. A rich man named Hansen was a Confederate sympathizer who wanted to financially help the Confederate economy that was falling apart at the end of the Civil War. They are the rarest of any Civil War weapons. Wednesday, December 12, 2007 at 4:27 PM. On April 2, 1865, an urgent telegram came for Davis from General Robert E. Lee. For one reason only. C.E. The contractor detected an underground mass that weighed up to nine tons and had the density of gold, according to an FBI affidavit unsealed last year at the request of news organizations, including The Associated Press. This ended in the Trail of Tears that forced the Indians out. Mr. Sharps would take a shovel and sack with him on these treks into the woods. The crew members that survived and made it to shore said there was a million dollars worth of gold and silver aboard. The treasure may be His work has been featured in psfk.com, foxsports.com, politicususa.com and hillreporter.com. In June 1863, President Lincoln ordered two wagons with false bottoms to carry anywhere from 26 to 52 gold bars weighing 50 pounds each from Wheeling, West Virginia, 400 miles north to Pennsylvania to pay the Union troops . The Indians thought this request to be outrageous and attacked De Sotos camp. Oak Island the Strange, the Bizarre, and Maybe the "Truth! All Rights Reserved. Stories of lost buried treasure hoards capture the imagination and spark the hidden treasure hunter within all of us, who learn about these Legends of Lore. 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. The question that I pose. 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. Confederate gold refers to hidden caches of gold lost after the American Civil War. The troops were trying to keep the gold and silver away from Union soldiers. An aspect of the treasure that Clark omitted concerned the fate of 39 kegs of Mexican silver dollars. Email them to us and you and your club will receive full credit! C.E. Now only Hansens one friend knew about the treasure but his friend was arrested and charged with harboring a fugitive. One theory suggests it was stolen by the Michigan Cavalrymen. He took the bodies of the Confederate soldiers with him. The gold became a lost legend. Women sent jewelry, and there were hundreds of containers filled with gold and silver. This would be a nice area to use a metal detector in. He wanted to trap game on the tribal land so he asked the chief permission. Halleck stated that Richmond bankers estimated specie valued "from six to thirteen millions" were travelling south from Goldsboro, NC in wagons. Captian Seigneur de Beauchamp was able to get her anchored in the harbor without any damage. While on the route to Columbia the wagons and horses started to get bogged down on the marshy ground 4 miles North of Athens, Alabama. A town was named after her that once was one of the largest towns in Randolph County Alabama. There seems to have been a great deal of attention placed on finding the "Lost Confederate Treasure" which has spanned the last 154 years since the capture of Confederate President Jefferson Davis on 10 May 1865 at Irwinville, Ga., which brought the Civil War to a close. Finally, in the wake of the treasure hunters' appeal, the FBI said it had located 2,400 pages of records and 17 video files that it could potentially turn over - but that it would take years to do so. She would then sail the goods back to France. One of the first settlements of Alabama is called Dauphin Island. On October 11, 1862, General P. G. T. Beauregard was ordered to take the gold from Young's bank in Columbus. His train, however, encountered some expenses. They were active in Louisiana, Texas, Florida, and Alabama. It was a safer place to store the treasure because confederates were likely to win and hold Columbia. Hanson wounded the last Union soldier but he got away. One treasury clerk in particular, Micajah Clark provided a detailed accounting of the disposition of the funds. Lost Confederate Gold A rich man named Hansen was a Confederate sympathizer who wanted to financially help the Confederate economy that was falling apart at the end of the Civil War. The leaders of the Confederate States of America we running for their lives 154 years ago. The rest of the missing money has been said to be the basis for several local fortunes in the Danburg area. By all accounts, he stayed by the tracks between Atmore and Bay Minette Alabama stealing from the trains every chance he got. As for the Richmond bank gold, it quickly fell into the hands of Federal troops, which occupied Washington within days after Davis left. Semple did seem to disappear into the night, for he had to avoid the attention of both the enemy and paroled Confederate soldiers looking to confiscate horses and wagons in returning to their homes. He immigrated here from Scotland. The ruins of the plantation still remain to this day. From there, I am assuming the Bellview back then is Belleville today, just with a name change. In popular imagination, the Richmond bank goldhas become part of the lost Confederate treasure, and there is some truth to that story, Rawlings says. The former assistant to Confederate Navy Secretary Stephen Mallory returned to Winchester, Virginia, where he built an elaborate house, Linden Farm, and became a prominent citizen. Hansen stayed with his friends for a few days hiding under the floor when Union Soldiers would come by. When he is not sitting in front of a laptop, Todd enjoys soaking up everything the Jersey Shore has to offer with his wife, two sons and American Foxhound, Wally. She questioned whether the agency is "acting in good faith.". The Rebel and the Rose"" reveals for the . The Confederates got away or won the little skirmish or what have you but the men who hid it had been killed. That was the one chunk of money that was basically just stolen by someone, Rawlings says. Jefferson Davis , the first and only President of the Confederate States of America, circa 1865. 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. A message was sent to the Justice Department seeking comment on the suit, which asks a judge to order the FBI to immediately turn over the records. until he found some of the treasures! In the 1938 book, Flight Into Oblivion, by A.J. Also, a Spanish galleon ship broke up near the east end of Dauphin Island in 1801. The Paradas accompanied the FBI to the site in Dent's Run, about 135 miles northeast of Pittsburgh, but say they were confined to their car while the FBI excavated. They had to pay $108,000 to troops who escorted them near the Savannah River, and $40,000 more was spent on supplies in Georgia. Those two boxes of gold could still be buried deep in that bog near Athens, Alabama. On March 7, 1896, he was in a general store in the town of Atmore, Alabama. And chances are good people are searching for it at this very moment. Confederate gold refers to hidden caches of gold lost after the American Civil War. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. You must log in or register to reply here. Finders Keepers filed a federal lawsuit against the Justice Department over its failure to produce documents on the FBI's search for the legendary gold, which took place nearly four years ago at a remote woodland site in northwestern Pennsylvania. January 6, 2022 / 11:11 AM Louinas gold and silver could still be buried under the ground in that old ghost town! It was an E-mail he sent to someone and it found it's way to being an article on several sites. One time in Montgomery, in the late '80s, or early '90s, I was finishing some sheetrock in a small business, in sort of a row of businesses in the same long building. Jefferson Davis fled Richmond with multiple wagons filled with gold and silver. Others suggest he buried it underneath his home or by the cotton gin. "[2], Amid the collapse of the Confederacy, General Henry Halleck, Chief of Staff of the Union armies, wrote on April 26, 1865, that Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederacy, was fleeing with large quantities of specie. Lachlan McGillivray was a wealthy fur trader back in the mid to late 1700s. 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. After meeting with the treasure hunters in early 2018, the FBI brought in a contractor with more sophisticated instruments. Most importantly, Davis only has a few dollars on him when he was captured, which led to a long-running question: where did all the money and gold go? Even the Hardy Boys juvenile mystery series joined the searchin "The Secret of the Lost Tunnel," in which the clever lads discover Southern gold covered with lead and disguised ascannon balls. Henry refused to tell the soldiers where the treasure was and was beaten again. Ole Louina was a community during early settlement of Randolph County which was settled after the Battle of Horseshoe Bend in 1814 when the Creek Indians were defeated by . Mr. Sharps became rich after owning the mill. Morris started robbing trains because he was angry with the Louisville and Nashville railroad because a brakeman found him on a train ride that was headed for Mobile that he didnt pay for. A battle took place on one of his plantations in central Alabama in October 1779 and the plantation was destroyed. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. As the $450,000 in gold reserves didnt belong to the Confederacy, it remained untouched. On one was Davis, officials and important documents. Unable to accept the end of the Confederacy and Northern domination over the South, he collaborated with other disenfranchised leaders exiled in Canada. Levi and his brother George were interpreters and negotiators that worked with U.S. Indian Agent John Dabney Terrell Sr. of Marion County Alabama. He enjoys sports, politics, comic books, and anything that has to do with history. The Outlaw PresidentJefferson Davis was an unlikely traitor to the United States. From Harper's Weekly The federal Branch Mint at Dahlonega had $23,716 in gold and silver when it was taken over by the Confederate States of America in 1861. Posted on December 5, 2020 December 31, 2020 by Terry W. Platt. Jean Lafitte the French Privateer and Pirate is said to have spent a considerable amount of time visiting Fort Morgan, Alabama. The evidence is strong that no one else managed to dig up the silver either, quite possibly because of where it was buried in a cemetery area. Explore Alabama - ALABAMA TREASURE LEGENDS Table of Contents: Alabama Treasure Legends, Legend of the Lost Confederate Gold, Old Flint River Settlement Gold, $30000 in Gold Coin Buried in Bridgeport Alabama, Loot Buried by Levi Colbert in Buzzard Roost Alabama , Rumors of Buried Treasure in Demopolis Alabama (White Bluff), C. Boaz Whitfield Keep in mind most of these lost treasure stories have been handed down by word of mouth over the centuries. Millions of dollars' worth of gold was lost or unaccounted for after the war, and its possible location has been the source of speculation of many historians and treasure hunters. In April 1865, Confederate President Jefferson Davis and members of his cabinet evacuated the city by train and headed south. The History Channel even aired a preposterous documentary claiming . The rumor is that the gold was buried under the name of a confederate general between two false generals in a cemetery. Rumor has it that with Lafitte spending so much time at Fort Morgan he could have buried a worth of $10,000,000 there. Buried treasure in Alabama may be located in ghost towns. She was a cargo ship that held deer hides, beaver pelts, tobacco, and 40,000 crowns of gold and silver bullion and coins. your Facebook account, or anywhere that someone would find this page valuable. Some of the Confederate treasures reportedly buried in light of Union take over were: $30 Million in gold buried outside of Savannah, Georgia, a hub of minting, trading, and gold mining before it fell to Union forces. He practically owned half of the town of Fort Payne. That didnt happen, however, and it is believed to have been stolen. Looking For a Top Rated Metal Detector That Wont Cost You Thousands of Dollars but works like a $2000 machine? Is There Treasure Waiting For You In Alabama? Mysteries endure, too, including the ultimate disposition of the Confederate treasury. Davis was arrested on May 10 by members of the 4th Michigan Cavalry. But when Union officers caught up with Davis on May 10, near Irwinville, Georgia, he was reportedly carrying only a few dollars with him. The Confederate States of America were formed prior to Abraham Lincoln taking office in March 1861. 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. More from us: The Success of George H. Thomas Union Soldiers During the American Civil War. In the other were cash and gold reserves and jewelry, estimated to be worth around $1 million. 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. I would keep a close I on the eastern shore of Dauphin Island. Hansen ended up killing one of the Union scouts. Hansen now alone with the two wagons of treasure knowing that the soldier would soon return with more union troops decides to use the horses to overturn the wagons into the deep swamp. These were coins that the Confederacy received through the sale of cotton to Mexico. ; Official from Secretary Stanton. This made Grady think that his uncle was burying the sack full of presumed gold coins in various places in the woods. A lot of that gold treasure, as historians and enthusiasts have since called it remained after the Civil War. Many posses were formed looking for Railroad Bill. These states were opposed to the abolishment of slavery. It definitely would be worth taking a metal detector to the beach, Two wooden boxes full of gold and silver bullion and coins, Buried deep in a bog nearAthens, Alabama, NearFlorence, Alabama south of Whites mill, Hardy Clemens plantation ruins nearCoaling, Alabama on the shores of Big Sandy Creek, Dawson, Guntersville, Gadsden, and Mentone Alabama in the Sand mountains, Ghost town of Louina inRandolph County Alabama, the caves between Atmore and Bay Minette Alabama, N 3030 38 W 872651 which is close to U.S. Highway 90 bridge that now crosses the Perdido River, 40,000 crowns of gold and silver bullion and coins, Near the entrance to Mobile Bay near Dauphin Island, Cave full ofgold and silver bars, coins, and jewels, Underwater cave near Muscle Shoals, Alabama along the Tennessee river. Reserves didnt belong to the United States someone and it is believed have! Clark provided a detailed accounting of the Confederate States of America were formed prior Abraham. 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