Is Lake Michigan hiding millions in Confederate gold? Over the years the trapper kept trying to find Red Bone Cave and the treasure without avail. 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. Mr. Willismith owned most of the town. What Confederate Money (paper notes) that they had was burned at Washington, Ga. in the middle of town by Brig. His What in the World! podcast is a fun look at the latest weird and paranormal news, strange sports stories and odd trivia. Sharps had a nephew named Grady Sharps who witnessed his uncle go into his 100 acres of forest that he owned south of Whites Mill. / CBS/AP. 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. She questioned whether the agency is "acting in good faith.". Until next time Happy Treasure Hunting! Apparently in 1865, $100,000 of gold and silver was put into two large metal boxes by Confederate troops, and then thrown into the swamp. The whereabouts of his home are under debate. He waited there until spring and set off to sail back to France at the beginning of April 1725. My Special Bundle Package of digital books and the links to my TV series is loaded with information that will guide you toward treasures large and small. Most if not all of them take place well into the war, and by then the confederate had serious cash flow issues. 15 Hidden Treasures Rumored to Be Somewhere in the United States He's been published in The New York Times" and "Huffington Post and has co-authored numerous collections of trivia, puzzles and humor. The legend of the Confederate gold is referenced in many films. Near Athens, Alabama, in Limestone County Alabama, there may be a Confederate treasure. The folk ballad by Lonnie Donegan was named after him. By the end of the war, nothing remained in the coffers of the Confederate treasury except for its incalculable amount of debt. As fate has it the 3 men that buried the gold ended up dead after the attack. Louina by all accounts was a wealthy Indian woman. A member of the society said there is no historical evidence that gold is buried in the area. However, their work created great doubt that any lost Confederate gold ever existed in the first place. He allowed both sides to use the ferry free of charge in hopes that he would be allowed to continue his ferry operations. Treasure In Virginia: 12 Treasures That Are Hiding In Virginia Its still hidden in a limestone cave called Red Bone. Imperial Seal of China created by Emperor Qin Shi Huang, lost after the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period in the 10th century. ALABAMA TREASURE LEGENDS Table Of Contents The Legend of the Lost Gold of Keel Mountain | TreasureNet The I was born and raised in the area. . Which leads us to today. Some of the most valuable placers in Alabama are found in Cleburne County. Original: Feb 28, 2018. The treasurer of the Confederacy was on board and made numerous and well-documented disbursements along the way to meet military payrolls. 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. 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. A Tale of Lost Civil War Gold: Did FBI Secretly Seize Fabled Treasure Your email address is safe, and unsubscribing is easy. Henry knew he could make a fortune with his ferry because the Perdido River was a popular crossing spot for people going from Alabama to Florida and vice versa. The area was founded by exiled followers of Napoleon Bonaparte in the early 1800's. That is a crazy amount of money even by todays standards. The Georgia Odyssey of the Confederate Gold - JSTOR Lost Confederate Gold As the end of the Civil War became imminent, Confederate President Jefferson Davis fled his capital city of Richmond, Virginia. The McGillivray plantation ruins lie 4 miles North of Wetumpka, Alabama. The Stolen Lost Confederate Gold: A Historical Analysis of Duluth, Minnesota's Development Abstract: This paper explores the historical claim that Duluth, Minnesota was built using stolen lost Confederate gold. Henry refused and was subsequently strung up to a tree and whipped. Chasing the Myth of Confederate Gold - HISTORY 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. 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. 3. Treasure hunters who say they found fabled Civil War-era gold in 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. The Curse of Oak Island. Mobile Bay was not permanently closed to blockade-runners until Adm. David G. Farragut's fleet ran past Fort Morgan into Mobile Bay on August 5 . Union forces were strong in the area north of Alabama so Hansen and two confederate soldiers decided to take the two boxes of treasure to Columbia where General Hood of the rebel troops was held up. The gold and silver coins are said to be buried east of his old homestead. Probably. I have hunted the area with only minor finds but there was alot of activity in the area. Civil War gold: FBI told a judge it had to search a cave before Pa I have not heard of both of these stories. Well, there you have it the 15 lost treasures of Alabama. Some think its on the Alabama side while others say its on the Florida side. By the early 1800s, the gang set up a hideout in Rocky Springs and, supposedly, buried tens of thousands of dollars in stolen gold and silver between the church and cemetery at Little Sand Creek near Rocky Springs. Buried Treasure In Alabama Does Exist - Metal Detecting Ghost Towns of Expand. Did Jesse James bury Confederate gold? These treasure hunters think so From 1861 to 1862, it was a Confederate troop training base. The Mystery of New York's Renegade Subway Psychic, Forget About What We Know About Roswell: It's What's Missing About the Case That We Need to Look For, Archeologists Discover Another Secret Corridor Inside the Great Pyramid of Giza, Self-Driving Robot Cars Claim Their First Human Victim, Bigfoot Bathing, Godzilla Egg, Five-Legged Toad, Presidential Hair in Space and More Mysterious News Briefly, About That Time Astronaut Buzz Aldrin Supposedly Saw Aliens on the Moon, Royal Time Traveler, Illuminati Psychic, Human with a Tail, Drug-Sniffing Squirrels and More Mysterious News Briefly. 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 . your Facebook account, or anywhere that someone would find this page valuable. Alabama, The Heart of Dixie as its nicknamed was the 22nd state to be admitted to the Union on December 14, 1819. athens alabama - Digital Alabama 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. With its rich history of lost treasure, there is no wonder that we have 15 stories pertaining to lost treasure in Alabama. (adsbygoogle=window.adsbygoogle||[]).push({google_ad_client:"ca-pub-0945725028962484",enable_page_level_ads:true}); 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. History, that is to say old rumors, tells us that a giant cache of gold was buried within walking distance of my house. That's what an FBI agent was seeking to find out in 2018 when he applied for a search warrant to dig at the site in Elk County, northeast of Pittsburgh, according to a court filing unsealed on . It would be a great place to find all kinds of history and relics that might still be strewn about by all those army camps. there weren't many mints in the south east. 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. Here's how this gold war began, according to a Pittsburg Post-Gazette article about a 1983 story in Lost Treasure magazine. Finders Keepers' owners, the father-son duo of Dennis and Kem Parada, had spent years looking for what, according to legend, was an 1863 shipment of Union gold that was lost or stolen while on its way to the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia. The FBI has since dragged its feet on the treasure hunters' Freedom of Information Act request for records, their lawyer said Wednesday. Demopolis is an abandoned town on the Tombigbee River, near the intersection of rout 43, and 80. By Hans KuenziThe Cleveland Civil War RoundtableCopyright 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. The consent submitted will only be used for data processing originating from this website. Henry Allen Nunez was an early-day entrepreneur. state of Alabama. Levi Colbert who lived from 1759 to1834 was the bench chief of the Chickasaw Nation. You must log in or register to reply here. After some minor resistance from roving Confederate bands, on April 11, 1862, his Union troops marched into Huntsville and occupied the city. The legend of James Copeland, along with his treasure, is largely drawn from the somewhat questionable account of Sheriff J.R.S. 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. Also, a Spanish galleon ship broke up near the east end of Dauphin Island in 1801. South Florida Sun-Sentinel. There are many different stories of where on his plantation the gold was hidden. There were , also, over 2000 Tallassee Carbines hidden and never recovered. It is said that he would only accept gold coins as payment for the ground corn and flour that he sold. Join MU Plus+ and get exclusive shows and extensions & much more! It may not display this or other websites correctly. He would then bury the wine casks in various areas around his homestead. Heirloom Seal of the Realm. He also contracted pneumonia and had an infection that contributed to his death. Shipwrecks of Mobile Bay and Alabama 1861-1865 - Admiral Raphael Semmes Many attempts at recovering her gold and silver cache have come up empty. Did the FBI Steal Nine Tons of Civil War Gold? - The Atlantic According to most news accounts and his website, hes been fighting for the right to dig there ever since. Sharps bought a mill there called Whites Mill in 1897. circa 990-995. $13,000 in gold. Through a critical analysis of primary and secondary sources, including the research of historian Peter S. Svenson, this paper argues that the city's development was aided [] The two wooden boxes full of Confederate gold fell out of the wagons and sank quickly into the mud. Hansen and the two soldiers went on their way dressed as farmers. Still feverish, Castleton took over and made a number of course changes, including a plan to build a raft and float down the Susquehanna River to Harrisburg. The balance of the captured treasure was assembled and loaded into wagons for transport to Washington, D.C. Also while feverish, Castleton made the mistake of telling the troops about the gold. In early 1865 when the Yankees under Gen. James H. Wilson were burning Selma, and it was pretty much a given that they were coming to Montgomery next, the local polititians and civic leaders had two steam barges loaded with all of Montgomery's (the Capital of Alabama) money, gold, valuables, and even silverware and jewelry from shops and . Sep 27, 2005. There are many lost treasures and legends of Alabama and I encourage you to visit this state and enjoy the rich history that Alabama presents. A battle took place on one of his plantations in central Alabama in October 1779 and the plantation was destroyed. Knowing that he was wealthy and owned half of the town the legend has it that the gold could be buried anywhere in Fort Payne. In recent years, the number of students receiving tuition assistance has fluctuated between ten and twelve. 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. The treasure may be buried near what used to be his house on the Alabama side of the river. They are the rarest of any Civil War weapons. So as you can tell it was a great hiding spot for soldiers. Also, keep in mind whenever you want to go metal detecting make sure you know the laws of the state in which you are digging in and always ask permission before metal detecting on any private property. Hansen ended up killing one of the Union scouts. 2022 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. 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 the men transporting the money neared Athens, Alabama, the wagon became stuck in a muddy "bog hole." His wife sold the ferry and went to live with relatives in Georgia. An FBI agent applied for a federal warrant in 2018 to seize a fabled cache of U.S. government gold he said was "stolen during the Civil War" and hidden in a Pennsylvania cave, saying the state . rjcox / flickr. Castleton got the fever (not a good thing in those days) and Connor took over for a while. This made Grady think that his uncle was burying the sack full of presumed gold coins in various places in the woods. One version had all but Connor getting killed by robbers. John Willismith was a rich businessman who lived in Fort Payne, Alabama. They reserved this land for hunting, as the . The duo heard about the legend from Kevin and decided to help him in his adventure. 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. It may not display this or other websites correctly. The wreck is still there and its treasure is waiting to be recovered! 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. According to local lore, the gold was lost or stolen during the1863 Battle of Gettysburg. The treasure was suppose to be hidden under the foundation in the creek at the old Lucille grist mill, so one moonless night he employed the help of his . He practically owned half of the town of Fort Payne. The ruins of the plantation still remain to this day. Here is an OP that I posted on it a couple of months ago, to include sharing a couple of photos of one of the coins that he was paid on 4 May 1865, once they crossed the Savannah River and Breckinridge was more . "If gold was . Searching for more lost treasure? 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 lost gold also played a key role in the legendary 1966 Western film, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. There are rumors that caches of coins and silverware are buried on and around the plantation ruins. Plus, as others have pointed out, gold weighs alot. The treasure may be Lost Confederate Gold - J. Mark Powell So get your picks, shovels, and metal detector ready as we go through the 15 lost treasures of Alabama. 10 strange Alabama discoveries, from a mysterious shipwreck to creepy circa 960. 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. Legend of the Lost Confederate Gold. Alexander Beckham's old plantation about two miles north of Tiptonville, Tennessee. The Last Confederate Payroll | Civil War Potpourri Maybe you could be the one who prospers from finding one of these lost treasure gems in Alabama! Digging Deeper: Lost Treasures of Oklahoma. The Irish Crown Jewels, stolen from Dublin Castle over a century ago, are still out there for treasure-seekers to find today. La Bellone didnt make it and sank near the entrance to Mobile Bay near Dauphin Island. First published on January 6, 2022 / 11:11 AM. It's the site where the treasure-hunting group, Finders Keepers, says as much as $55 million in lost Union gold could be buried. 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. If you are venturing on to State or Federal lands you should know the laws of that State. The chief said that he could have all the treasure if he would marry his daughter. The troops were trying to keep the gold and silver away from Union soldiers. Supposedly, Nunez buried a treasure of approximately $200,000 somewhere . Paul likes to add a bit of humor to each MU post he crafts. C.E. 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. Near Athens there may be a Confederate treasure. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding. CSS Texas was the third and last Columbia-class (or Tennessee-class according to some sources) casemate ironclad built for the Confederate Navy during the American Civil War.Not begun until 1864 and intended to become part of the James River Squadron, she saw no action before being captured by Union forces while still fitting out.CSS Texas was reputed to have been one of the very best . Union soldiers happened by and demanded that Hansen and his men unload the cargo in their wagons because they became suspicious that the cargo in the wagons might be guns and ammunition. Copy and paste it, adding a note of your own, into your blog, a Web page, forums, a blog comment, was the operator of a ferry during the Civil War, on the Perdido River. You could argue the Delosie Mine belongs to North Carolina AND Tennessee, as it used to lie right on the border. JavaScript is disabled. Then check out 14 Lost Treasures of Wisconsin. After meeting with the treasure hunters in early 2018, the FBI brought in a contractor with more sophisticated instruments. The really big lost treasure is that of the Confederate Treasury in custody of Jeff Davis upon leaving Richmond, fleeing the Yankee hordes. The two trains left Richmond at midnight and when the tracks ended at Danville, Davis and his staff began to travel south on horseback. Another account maintains Jefferson Davis entrusted the entire Confederate treasury into the care of Sylvester Mumford. Mr. Sharps became rich after owning the mill. Ill Trade You a Fredericksburg for a Winchester and a Pea Ridge. The Rebel and the Rose Semple, G Tyler Lost Confederate Gold Millet As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. $15,000 in silver dollars. By all accounts, he stayed by the tracks between Atmore and Bay Minette Alabama stealing from the trains every chance he got. He wanted to trap game on the tribal land so he asked the chief permission. 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. Apparently in 1865, $100,000 of gold and silver was put into two large metal boxes by . This spot was used during the Civil War as you guessed a popular camping area for southern refugees and Confederate soldiers. In the movie, the characters are hunting for . Hunley, was one of the first working submarines that operated with a crew. 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. Here are 11 hidden treasures most people don't know about: 11. 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. Looking For a Top Rated Metal Detector That Wont Cost You Thousands of Dollars but works like a $2000 machine? There are stories that the Islanders tell of buried pots, jars, and treasure chests full of gold and silver. CSS Texas (1865) - Wikipedia Amazon and the Amazon logo are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc, or its affiliates. So Davis took with him the entirety of the Confederate Treasury, a The attack happened in March of 1865. I live in Athens, Alabama. Dr. Clive Cussler a historian attempted to find the wreck of La Bellone in September 1989. In his quest, he is joined by treasure hunters and 'The Curse of Oak Island' brothers Rick and Marty Lagina. Copyright 2023 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. After a long day traveling Hansen ended up at a friends home. Henry Nunez They ended up in a large cavern and when they took the blindfold off of the trapper he saw that the cave was filled to the ceiling with gold and silver bars, coins, and jewels. "There's been a pattern of behavior by the FBI that's been very troubling," said Anne Weismann, who represents Finders Keepers. Lost gold of the Confederacy continues to inspire legends Those products, whether pictures of a service or a product contain links to the seller.What companies do I work with and promote?I work with Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, Clickbank, and MyTopo, affiliate advertising programs designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to these websites.I also promote Solo Build It Site Built It, because it's the product I used to build this website. To view the purposes they believe they have legitimate interest for, or to object to this data processing use the vendor list link below. Near Demopolis is an area named White Bluff. Her book alleged that New York native and Confederate sympathizer Sylvester Mumford was present at the Confederacys 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.