It may not display this or other websites correctly. The question is, what happened? With its rich history of lost treasure, there is no wonder that we have 15 stories pertaining to lost treasure in Alabama. John Willismith was a rich businessman who lived in Fort Payne, Alabama. The first carried Davis and other Confederate officials, along with the governments most important documents and other archived materials. The treasure was secured in the false bottom of a carriage. It was abandoned in 1870. Besides, Semple was done with any sort of an adventure. Meade, Sheridan, Wright, Thomas and Canby Ordered to Push the Enemy at all Points. These were coins that the Confederacy received through the sale of cotton to Mexico. Railroad Bill real name Morris Slater was a black train robber, murderer during the late 1800s. The team arrange for Brian Abbott to do additional sonar scans of the lake while Kevin, Al, and Brad are in Georgia with Alex Lagina and Gary Drayton. Mysteries endure, too, including the ultimate disposition of the Confederate treasury. 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. 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. He came to Alabama in 1815 and set up a ferry for crossing the Perdido River that has banks of the Alabama and Florida side. This small island holds many lost treasure stories. Bill Kirby has reported, photographed and commented on life in Augusta and Georgiafor 45 years. The History Channel even aired a preposterous documentary claiming . She says that some Confederate gold was hidden there and some is still being found today. As soon as they spent all the gold and silver they came back for more. And chances are good people are searching for it at this very moment. Sharps bought a mill there called Whites Mill in 1897. The gold from the Richmond bank was accounted for, but was later stolen by around 20 armed men in Danburg, Georgia. [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. I would think that they would have USED the gold before burying it. 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. One night two braves took the trapper, tied his hands and feet, and blindfolded him. Now only Hansens one friend knew about the treasure but his friend was arrested and charged with harboring a fugitive. He immigrated here from Scotland. In fact, during a recent renovation of Linden Farm by its owner, a document found hidden in a wall confirms Tidballs possession of a portion of the gold. With the Davis party was a navy paymaster, James S. Semple. You must log in or register to reply here. 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 . And peoples imaginations take over from there.. Beauregard Trying to Profit by Sherman's Blunder. 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. Have fun in your search for Alabama treasure. So Hardy decided to bury the treasure late at night when everyone was asleep. Almost every Southern state has a legend of Confederate gold lost/stolen/buried in the chaos of the Civil War's end. In the 1966Spaghetti Westernmovie "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly," the protagonists get information about lost Confederate gold hidden in a grave at a cemetery. The Curse of Oak Island. For this reason, the coins were almost certainly buried in Danville, and evidence suggests, they remain there today. He and his friend decided to head out to recover the treasure. So as you can tell it was a great hiding spot for soldiers. They held it until General John Bell Hood marched his Confederate army through in 1864. "[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. Mr. Sharps would take a shovel and sack with him on these treks into the woods. Millions of dollars' worth of gold was lost or unaccounted for after the war. So with no luck finding the treasure he packed up and moved to California. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. 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. He was off north to battle the Yankees near Nashville. He ended up in prison until the end of the war. Instead of Liverpool, Semple eventually got as far as Nassau, after hiding out in the Okefenokee Swamp along the Georgia-Florida border for months. In the Civil War-era movie, Gone With the Wind (1939), Rhett Butler, played by Clark Gable, is rumored to have stolen the treasure. The Success of George H. Thomas Union Soldiers During the American Civil War. Railroad Bill finally met his doom when a $500 reward was issued for him dead or alive. Once called the Rose of Long Island for an advertisement that used her image, Julia was strikingly attractive, even at 45. On March 7, 1896, he was in a general store in the town of Atmore, Alabama. It happened between the Confederate Armory which was not over run during the war and present day, Wall Street . 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. Going to war can be incredibly expensive. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Visit here for more information on State laws regarding relic hunting, treasure hunting, and artifacts. Most if not all of them take place well into the war, and by then the confederate had serious cash flow issues. 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. Its fate has remained a mystery for more than 150 years, fueling a wealth of local legends in the South and elsewhere, and even inspiring Hollywood movies like The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (1966) and Sahara (2005), based on the book by Clive Cussler. [1] The gold was temporarily stored at the Iron Bank by William H. Young. The folk ballad by Lonnie Donegan was named after him. The Confederate gold, again, showed up in the 1994 sci-fi movie, Timecop. [6], Last edited on 31 December 2022, at 01:37, Learn how and when to remove this template message, Confederate States Secretary of the Treasury, "The Georgia Odyssey of the Confederate Gold", "OUR ARMIES. For Semple, as with Tidball, history is mute on the activities of both men. It may not display this or other websites correctly. We and our partners use cookies to Store and/or access information on a device. 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. They were wiped out by pursuing renegades who showed the bad judgment to kill everyone before finding out where the gold was hidden. By all accounts, he stayed by the tracks between Atmore and Bay Minette Alabama stealing from the trains every chance he got. Im not sure of the accuracy of this story but here it goes. He sketched the symbols . 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. This made Grady think that his uncle was burying the sack full of presumed gold coins in various places in the woods. 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. WATCH: Full episodes of America's Book of Secrets online now. Bushes envelop the pig farm, and the cemetery is wooded over. Levi Colbert who lived from 1759 to1834 was the bench chief of the Chickasaw Nation. "There's been a pattern of behavior by the FBI that's been very troubling," said Anne Weismann, who represents Finders Keepers. The FBI has since dragged its feet on the treasure hunters' Freedom of Information Act request for records, their lawyer said Wednesday. His wife sold the ferry and went to live with relatives in Georgia. The consent submitted will only be used for data processing originating from this website. One of the clues to the former Navy paymaster and his survival after the events of May 4 were documented by Robert Seeger in his 1962 book, And Tyler, Too, which provided an in-depth look at the presidency of John Tyler and his family. Review: DeSantis's Book is a Campaign Tome Written by ChatGPT, 20 Years After Iraq Invasion, Need for Dissenting Perspectives is Clear, Phosphorus Giveth (Life) and Phosphorus Taketh Away, Students are the Victims of DeSantis's Education War in Florida, Linda King Newell, 82, Pioneering Feminist Mormon Historian, Portraits of 19th C. Black Charlottesville Show Life, Joy, Black History Month Traces to a Key Meeting in a Chicago YMCA, How (Some) of the Hip Hop Generation Learned Black History, The Executive Branchs Response to the Flood of 1927, The Case For Calling the Language "American", America Fought Its Own Battle Over Books Before it Fought the Nazis. While sitting at the store Morris Slater was gunned down by Constable Leonard McGowin and some other posse members. The trek south of the Confederate government has been well documented in a number of first hand accounts written several years after the war. 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. Searching for more lost treasure? This was not actually supposed to be an article. In 1872,The Chronicle put that question to the man in charge Col. Raphael J. Moses, the former Confederate quartermaster. He enjoys sports, politics, comic books, and anything that has to do with history. Oak Island the Strange, the Bizarre, and Maybe the "Truth! Lee warned Davis that his government should evacuate Richmond immediately, or risk being captured by Federal troops. 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. Finders Keepers filed a federal lawsuit against the Justice Department over its failure to produce. Jean Lafitte the French Privateer and Pirate is said to have spent a considerable amount of time visiting Fort Morgan, Alabama. What happened to it, however, no one knows, and this has created a mystery thats spanned over 150 years. An aspect of the treasure that Clark omitted concerned the fate of 39 kegs of Mexican silver dollars. Also, a Spanish galleon ship broke up near the east end of Dauphin Island in 1801. Supposedly, Nunez buried a treasure of approximately $200,000 somewhere They left Richmond with a bunch of money, and when [Davis group] was captured six weeks later, they didnt have it. Semple was also given vague instructions, which left a great deal of latitude in where he went and how he got there. I doubt very seriously that any of the phantom confederate gold myths are real. / CBS/AP. You are using an out of date browser. Abraham Lincoln was shot and killed on April 14, a loss which the Confederate president lamented, as hed felt Lincoln would have been easier on the South than Andrew Johnson. He took the bodies of the Confederate soldiers with him. With the technology of today, why does the specie remain buried? Clemens owned many slaves so he was worried they would tell any soldiers that came by where the buried treasure was. 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. Two trains left from the capital that night. He was very skilled at evading the police. You are using an out of date browser. The wreck is still there and its treasure is waiting to be recovered! He went to Fort Rosalie and told a friend about the treasure. Sorry, I don't know anything about these. However, the treasury increasingly became an encumbrance on his flight, and Davis had disbursed the treasury along the way, among others to General Joseph E. Johnston in order for him to pay his troops at Greensboro, North Carolina, and to several banks for safekeeping, with the remainder paid out to Joseph Wheeler's accompanying cavalry men before dismissing them from their duties. So get your picks, shovels, and metal detector ready as we go through the 15 lost treasures of Alabama. He is said to have stored the gold and silver coins that he got from the Ferry goers in wine casks. At the time no one questioned his integrity or his simple explanation. The Union soldiers dug up the cask and went and spent the money in Mobile, Alabama. 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. Today the town has only two homes standing that are in use. 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. The story goes that when she was forced to leave she had so much gold and silver her horses couldnt carry the load so she was forced to bury the gold and silver where she stood. I would keep a close I on the eastern shore of Dauphin Island. De Soto demanded that the Chicksaw Chief who had a camp nearby furnish him with squaws for his trip into Mississippi. Looking For a Top Rated Metal Detector That Wont Cost You Thousands of Dollars but works like a $2000 machine? Henrys wife gave in and told the soldiers where one of the wine casks was buried. During the months he was trying to stay ahead of his would-be captors, Danville became an encampment for the Union army. 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. Hanson wounded the last Union soldier but he got away. The question that I pose. 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