She was a cargo ship that held deer hides, beaver pelts, tobacco, and 40,000 crowns of gold and silver bullion and coins. 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. #1. Sep 27, 2005. 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. The treasure was secured in the false bottom of a carriage. We and our partners use data for Personalised ads and content, ad and content measurement, audience insights and product development. Other Confederate gold, remains of the treasury evacuated from Richmond, did ultimately reach Georgia. In this Sept. 20, 2018 photo, Dennis Parada, right, and his son Kem Parada stand at the site of the FBI's dig for Civil War-era gold in Dents Run, Pennsylvania. If you are ever in Muscle Shoals, Alabama along the Tennessee river you might want to take a look around for limestone caves although the Red Bone cave is more than likely underwater now and you will need to bring your scuba gear and do some underwater metal detecting. Winter was approaching so De Soto and his men set up camp until spring. He didnt even tell his son. The balance of the captured treasure was assembled and loaded into wagons for transport to Washington, D.C. The rest of the gold found its way into the hands of his daughter, Goertner Gertrude Mumford Parkhurst, in New York, where she lived and invested it well. 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. Mystery Gulf Coast shipwreck. . More information on where and how to research for lost treasures. Another account maintains Jefferson Davis entrusted the entire Confederate treasury into the care of Sylvester Mumford. FBI agents, Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) employees and other unidentified people with shovels have descended upon the tiny town of Dents Run, Pennsylvania, looking for a cache of gold bars lost just before the Civil War battle of Gettysburg that could today be worth upwards of $54 million. According to most news accounts and his website, hes been fighting for the right to dig there ever since. In 1975, amateur fortune hunters, now called Finders Keepers USA, claim they heard about the gold from a mysterious stranger and began looking, using a map he drew for them. The legend states that DeSoto and his men cant to the Bay of Espiritu Santa which is now Tampa Bay Florida. And Confederate gold did go missing. 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. The combined hoard is believed to be between $500,000 and $600,000 in gold, the combined values of the Richmond Bank & Confederate . you might wanna check this one out. was the operator of a ferry during the Civil War, on the Perdido River. Given this claim that the source of these scholarships was in fact a portion of the lost Confederate treasury, researchers throughout the years sought to confirm the veracity of the Mumford legend. If you are venturing on to State or Federal lands you should know the laws of that State. After leading the South for four years, he had high hopes to escape the country and rebuild a new Confederacy. He wanted to trap game on the tribal land so he asked the chief permission. The entrance of the town has a historical marker at the entrance that explains the towns history. Sep 27, 2005. He was then valued at $300,000 which made him a wealthy man, to say the least! Back in the 1800s that made for a huge town. The courts eventually agreed with the federal government, who claimed the funds because the Richmond banks had aided a rebellion by making loans to the Confederacy. His wife sold the ferry and went to live with relatives in Georgia. Alabama. Paul likes to add a bit of humor to each MU post he crafts. The question that I pose. In the 1966 Spaghetti Western film The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, the . One day a Union Officer became privy to Henry Nune and his buried treasure. The area was founded by exiled followers of Napoleon Bonaparte in the early 1800's. Perhaps the best-known tale of lost treasure in Virginia is the legend of Beale's Treasure. The lost confederate payroll and The fabled lost confederate treasury. They reserved this land for hunting, as the . I guess this happened more often than we would think. What remained of the Confederate treasury, in the form of gold and other valuable coins, was disbursed as payroll to Confederate troops during its transport south. 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 . However, despite searches conducted throughout the years, nothing of value has ever been found there. your Facebook account, or anywhere that someone would find this page valuable. Keel Mountain is located in Madison County in Alabama not in Belleview, Tenn. circa 960. The legend of James Copeland, along with his treasure, is largely drawn from the somewhat questionable account of Sheriff J.R.S. 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. From 1861 to 1862, it was a Confederate troop training base. Louina by all accounts was a wealthy Indian woman. 5. With slightly less than a thousand men in his command, Duke transferred all the treasure into six wagons and began his journey south with eight of his veterans on each wagon as guards and the rest of his command, along with the midshipmen, as escorts. Morris was formerly a skilled circus performer and had an athletic build which made getting on off trains a breeze. 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. His nephew Grady tried to find the gold caches that his uncle had presumably buried in the woods. He took the bodies of the Confederate soldiers with him. The ruins of the plantation still remain to this day. Then you will want to check out the Garrett AT Pro. These were enormous-sized boxes measuring from 3 deep x 2 wide x 4 long. She would then sail the goods back to France. Frank W. Pandozzi is a participant in the 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 amazon.com, mytopo.com, and clickbank.com.Please visit my Affiliate Disclosure below for more information. $13,000 in gold. But with 100 acres to cover and now metal detectors back then it was never found. Catahoula Creek is a thin and meandering waterway that . 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. Clemens owned many slaves so he was worried they would tell any soldiers that came by where the buried treasure was. The officer brought troops to Henrys home in the hopes of getting Henry to tell them where his treasure was hidden. Mr. Sharps would take a shovel and sack with him on these treks into the woods. Expand. However, the new civil war wont be between the North and the South this one will be between the government and the treasure hunters who claim they found the location of the buried gold as far back as 2005 and have been denied their rights to it. 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. The Beckham Plantation Treasure. Hansen and the two soldiers went on their way dressed as farmers. The folk ballad by Lonnie Donegan was named after him. Sometime during the Civil War Confederate soldiers were being pursued by Union troops and they buried $20,000 in gold and silver coins close to a spot named Old Camp Place. I doubt very seriously that any of the phantom confederate gold myths are real. On March 15, 2018, two days after the dig began, a plane in Siberia lost 3.4 tons of its nine-ton cargo of gold and silver when the cargo door . Captain Kelly's Buried Gold. The two trains left Richmond at midnight and when the tracks ended at Danville, Davis and his staff began to travel south on horseback. Unfortunately for them, their booty leaked and made it easy for a posse to follow. So many of them buried their gold and silver for safekeeping. One version had all but Connor getting killed by robbers. The two wooden boxes full of Confederate gold fell out of the wagons and sank quickly into the mud. 6) Lost Delosie Mine. His farm can be found off of Nicholasville Road North of Stone Road. He was specific about the state, but Bellview and Booneville are marked as being in Tennessee. 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. You are using an out of date browser. The town of Louina lasted from 1834-1902. As fate has it the 3 men that buried the gold ended up dead after the attack. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. But is a hidden fortune really waiting to be found? De Soto ended up dying of fever. As soon as they spent all the gold and silver they came back for more. That is a crazy amount of money even by todays standards. With the Davis party was a navy paymaster, James S. Semple. Confirmed. One of the eight treasures of the Sasanian king Khosrow II. 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. This made Grady think that his uncle was burying the sack full of presumed gold coins in various places in the woods. The FBI claimed their 2018 dig came up empty, but treasure hunters Dennis and Kem Parada aren't so sure. Some of the add-ons on this site are powered by. In April of 1862, Union Army Brigadier General Orsmby M. Mitchel left Nashville, Tennessee and moved his small army southward through Shelbyville toward Huntsville, Alabama. JavaScript is disabled. 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. Amazon and the Amazon logo are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc, or its affiliates. A man by the name of C.E. Hansen and some other Alabama citizens raised quite a bit of capital in the form of gold and silver bullion and coins. So with no luck finding the treasure he packed up and moved to California. Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting. Copyright 2023 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. An example of data being processed may be a unique identifier stored in a cookie. 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. She questioned whether the agency is "acting in good faith.". The treasure may be buried near what used to be his house on the Alabama side of the river. One night two braves took the trapper, tied his hands and feet, and blindfolded him. There are rumors that caches of coins and silverware are buried on and around the plantation ruins. In his quest, he is joined by treasure hunters and 'The Curse of Oak Island' brothers Rick and Marty Lagina. The Rebel and the Rose"" reveals for the . These legends are fueled by the fact that the state was a hub . I have hunted the area with only minor finds but there was alot of activity in the area. I live in Athens, Alabama. After exhaustive research, Lewis concluded that gold from the Richmond banks and the Confederate treasury had in fact been evacuated from Richmond and shipped south to prevent it from falling into the hands of Union forces. The lost gold also played a key role in the legendary 1966 Western film, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. 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. Some of our partners may process your data as a part of their legitimate business interest without asking for consent. buried near what used to be his house on the Alabama side of the river. This was not actually supposed to be an article. Nor did anyone else looking for it after word got out. They worked hard to get good lands out west which the U.S. Government was trying to move them to. 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. 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. Some say he buried his gold on his pig farm. This is the tale of what happened to the Confederate Treasury. Lost Copper Box of Gold Coins: $80,000 in gold coins: Somewhere in the Kiamichi Mountains: Confederate Treasure Near The Ghost Town of Scullyville: Unknown: Scullyville is located about twelve miles south of Fort Smith on the Arkansas River. Original: Feb 28, 2018. Matthew Paulson / Flickr. Supposedly, Nunez buried a treasure of approximately $200,000 somewhere So do your due diligence before going on your treasure-hunting expeditions. 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. Because it was in a state park, they were told to stop looking. Had he known that in April of 1865 he, his cabinet and about $700,000 in gold and specie would have to evacuate Richmond to avoid capture during the waning days of the Civil War, he might have elected to remain in Montgomery. In the 1966 Spaghetti Western movie "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly," the protagonists get information about lost Confederate gold hidden in a . Near Athens, Alabama, in Limestone County Alabama, there may be a Confederate treasure. I was born and raised in the area. The whereabouts of his home are under debate. The Nunez Ferry ran for 47 years from 1815-1919. but where did the money come from? Since the gold standard was abolished in the 1930s, gold coins, aside from their higher intrinsic value and demand as collectibles, no longer have any special worth as a standard of value in world trade. This Metal Detector Has all the top features you would expect in a quality metal detector. You see the Civil War was going on and many plantation owners were worried that their wealth would be looted if Union soldiers came around. Thats where the bad news begins. 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. First published on January 6, 2022 / 11:11 AM. Also called hard currency. Wesley Millett and Gerald White are the authors of The Rebel and the Rose. After all, the mysterious doesn't always have to be serious. He also contracted pneumonia and had an infection that contributed to his death. This means that certain products that you may see advertised on this site I get paid a small commission if that product is clicked on AND purchased by you. Two treasure hunters are hot on the trail of $2 million worth of Confederate gold bullion that went missing in the 1800s. On March 7, 1896, he was in a general store in the town of Atmore, Alabama. Moreover, he was unable to find any mention of the name Mumford in any record of the period. Pistolero, In the book,"Buried Treasure You Can Find by Robert F. Mark, theres a little four line treasure tale. #26. Byron Campbell. According to reports, the total bounty would be worth more than $1.36 million today. If you would like to change your settings or withdraw consent at any time, the link to do so is in our privacy policy accessible from our home page.. They tried to get the horses and wagons out of the swampy area but the load was too heavy and the wagons got stuck. . Plus, as others have pointed out, gold weighs alot. However, this wagon train was robbed on the first night that it stopped to make camp, and the robbers improvised ways to carry the loot: stuffed in their shirts, pants, boots and whatever else would hold their plunder. As the men transporting the money neared Athens, Alabama, the wagon became stuck in a muddy "bog hole." Maybe you could be the one who prospers from finding one of these lost treasure gems in Alabama! General Lee advised Davis that he had until 8 p.m. to load the gold, valuables and cabinet members onto two trains which would travel southward on the only line still open between Richmond and Danville, Virginia. The abandoned town of Demopolis can be found near the Tombigbee River, close to the intersection of routes 80 and 43. The FBI says it came up empty at the rural Pennsylvania site where Civil War gold is rumored to be buried. The crew members that survived and made it to shore said there was a million dollars worth of gold and silver aboard. Looking For a Top Rated Metal Detector That Wont Cost You Thousands of Dollars but works like a $2000 machine? He practically owned half of the town of Fort Payne. However, his business fortunes suffered great losses throughout the course of the war. 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. The Army sent Pinkerton detectives disguised as prospectors and lumbermen to clandestinely look for the gold, but they obviously never found it. Others suggest he buried it underneath his home or by the cotton gin. C.E. This rumor of buried treasure in Wilkes County nevertheless spawned a legend involving a family of local repute, the Mumfords, and the location of the lost Confederate gold. It was then settled by wealthy plantation owners and then vacated around 1860. buried treasures may be here. So get your picks, shovels, and metal detector ready as we go through the 15 lost treasures of Alabama. The Chief agreed but he had other intentions as well. Egill Skallagrmsson 's silver. The Curse of Oak Island. More Controversy on the Roswell Affair: An Alien Accident? google037df74da6aab727.html There is also a story of a cross embedded with jewels that were put in a well by pirates that never came back to claim it. The plantations were called Vale Royal and Springfield. One day a rebel soldier came by and Hansen decided to lead him to the lost treasure so they could possibly retrieve it. So they filled a strongbox full of gold coins that the town had stored up as the treasury. Here are a few of the gems and buried treasure in Virginia that we managed to dig up. The FBI has long insisted the March 2018 dig came up empty, but the agency has consistently stymied the Paradas' efforts to obtain information. Legend. Is There Treasure Waiting For You In Alabama? Captian Seigneur de Beauchamp was able to get her anchored in the harbor without any damage. Castleton got the fever (not a good thing in those days) and Connor took over for a while. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. In 1720 there was a trapper that came to the Chickasaw village. 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 . . Alabama, The Heart of Dixie as its nicknamed was the 22nd state to be admitted to the Union on December 14, 1819. South Florida Sun-Sentinel. Back during the depression Uncle Byron Campbell got word that during the Civil War the folks of Lucille Al. Imperial Seal of China created by Emperor Qin Shi Huang, lost after the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period in the 10th century. Bruce Wetterau is the author of Lost Treasure, A Clay Cantrell Mystery Adventure, a novel about the hunt for a horde of Confederate gold and the story of how it came to be lost in a cavern in the Allegheny Mountains. 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. Railroad Bill real name Morris Slater was a black train robber, murderer during the late 1800s. John Willismith was a rich businessman who lived in Fort Payne, Alabama. 'The Curse of Civil War Gold' follows Michigan-based Kevin Dykstra in his 8-year mission to find the lost confederate gold of the Civil War. De Soto and his men fled and left the treasure they had stolen from the Cherokees behind. 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. Norfolk Southern train derails in Springfield, Ohio, At least 12 dead after winter storm slams South, Midwest, Trump speaks at CPAC after winning straw poll, Memphis Grizzlies star Ja Morant to "take some time away" from the team after allegedly brandishing a gun in a club, How Paul Murdaugh testified "from the grave" to help convict his father, Man charged for alleged involvement in 2 transformer explosions, Promising drug could provide alternative to statins, new study finds, Iran to allow more inspections at nuclear sites, U.N. says, NTSB to investigate in-flight turbulence that left 1 passenger dead. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding. Some think its on the Alabama side while others say its on the Florida side. 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 . Chilton County has gold in Coosa River, Blue Creek, Mulberry Creek and its tributaries, and Rocky Creek. Pitts, who arrested the pirate before his hanging in 1857. Dictionary of Banking Terms.). As heir to the Mumford estate, Miss Gertrude allegedly made provisions to return the balance of the Confederate treasure to Southern hands after her death. Here we go! There are many legends that surround the place, some saying it was blown up, hidden, or just forgotten deep in the hills. Will the FBI abscond with it? It was in Washington that the bulk of the treasure was captured along with Jefferson Davis and his staff. And some say its buried amongst the slaves in the graveyard on the property. They fought with the Indians and ended up taking their gold and jewels and then going onto Alabama. To avoid Confederate troops, Union troop leader Lt. Castleton was ordered to first travel to Harrisburg and then to the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia. Postal Service in 2000 and still has family and friends in Brantley County. He researched the archives of the Thornwell Orphanage and found no reference to the Confederacy or gold in any of the handwritten letters from Mrs. Parkhurst. From lost confederate Civil War gold to lost Indian gold to plantation owners and their lost treasure we have a little bit of everything in these stories. All the Confederate officials would board the first train, while the second train would hold special cargo. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Win McNamee/Getty Images. 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. They never made it. I have also researched the legend of Keel Mountain, I agree the O.R. William Pettits Buried Gold Coins: $80,000 worth of gold coins: A few miles from Lexington, Kentucky. Both were published by The Surrat Courier, a . Louinas gold and silver could still be buried under the ground in that old ghost town! Four years of research leads them to believe it's buried under Lake Michigan. The area was then abandoned around 1830. He was very skilled at evading the police. Indeed, no one who was an eyewitness to the events ever documented that the gold was actually lost. The town of Louina grew to 2,500 residents with 30 homes, two churches, two schools, eight stores, and even a Masonic Lodge. De Soto demanded that the Chicksaw Chief who had a camp nearby furnish him with squaws for his trip into Mississippi. Alexander Beckham's old plantation about two miles north of Tiptonville, Tennessee. This story takes place around Florence, Alabama. The funds were then stored there in a vault at a local bank, and within days after the war ended, the Richmond banks had their funds returned to Richmond on five wagons. It happened between the Confederate Armory which was not over run during the war and present day, Wall Street . It was said that, after taking possession of the gold, Mumford transported some of the Confederate treasury southeast to North Florida and the Atlantic coast, where he boarded a British steamer bound for England. Many posses were formed looking for Railroad Bill. Searching for more lost treasure? Near Demopolis is an area named White Bluff. Manage Settings "If gold was . The area itself was founded followers of Napoleon Bonaparte who . He's been published in The New York Times" and "Huffington Post and has co-authored numerous collections of trivia, puzzles and humor. So as you can tell it was a great hiding spot for soldiers. What Confederate Money (paper notes) that they had was burned at Washington, Ga. in the middle of town by Brig. Confederate gold refers to hidden caches of gold lost after the American Civil War. Here's how this gold war began, according to a Pittsburg Post-Gazette article about a 1983 story in Lost Treasure magazine. 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. He also interviewed local historians and librarians in Washington, Georgia, none of whom had heard of the golds connection to Brantley County.