The Lost Confederate Treasure—Part II
(This originally appeared in Summer 2005 issue of Splash magazine.)
As recounted in Part I of this three-part series, the mystery of the “Lost Confederate Treasure” is one of the most enduring of Southern Legends. When President Jefferson Davis and the Cabinet fled the besieged Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia on April 2, 1865, they carried with them nearly a million dollars in gold, silver and jewelry. Part of this hoard was all that remained in Richmond of the hard currency assets of the rapidly collapsing Confederacy. Part of it was the gold assets of the Richmond banks, taken in order to keep them from falling into the hands of the seemingly unstoppable Northern forces. When President Davis and his family were captured in south Georgia some six weeks later, he had only a few dollars with him. What happened to the treasure?
Although the fall of Richmond and the government’s flight south was a crushing blow, many—including President Davis—were unwilling to admit defeat. The plan was to withdraw to a safer area, reestablish the Government, and continue the struggle. Barely avoiding Federal marauders, the train carrying the President and members of his Cabinet arrived in Danville, Virginia late in day on April 3rd.
The “treasure,” meanwhile, was transported on a second train guarded by Midshipmen from the Confederate Navy. In the chaos of impending defeat, it was an attractive target for would-be hijackers and other outlaws. It was heavy, consisting dozens of boxes and crates of gold and silver coins, some bullion, plus an unknown amount of jewelry donated to the Cause by southern women. One commander described it as “a very troublesome elephant.”
Over the next the next four weeks, Davis and other members of the government pushed steadily south, pursued by troops from the north and avoiding the areas in their path under Federal control. The treasure train followed a similar route, from Danville south to Charlotte, North Carolina, then on to Chester, South Carolina. Transferred to wagons then back on rail cars then back on wagons, all the while under heavy guard, the precious cargo passed through Newberry and Abbeville, South Carolina, arriving in Washington, Georgia on April 19th. When the threat of its capture became too great in Washington, the treasure was once again loaded on wagons, moved first to Augusta and then back across the Savannah River to Abbeville before returning back to Washington by May 3rd.
While Davis and the government fled south, two events that would forever change the course of American history took place. On April 9, 1865, General Robert E. Lee surrendered his Army of Northern Virginia to General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Courthouse. Only five days later John Wilkes Booth, a Southern sympathizer, shot President Abraham Lincoln at Ford’s Theater in Washington, DC.
Many in the north, rightfully enraged at Lincoln’s death and fueled by wild speculation in the Yankee press assumed that the dying Confederacy, and Davis in particular, was behind a plot to topple the United States government. Lincoln, whose policy was one of reconciliation with the South after the war, was succeeded by Andrew Johnson who called for vengeance. Calls went out for Davis’s summary execution. A hundred thousand dollar reward was placed on his head, exceeding in comparison to the wages of the day the twenty-five million dollar reward offered currently for Osama Bin Laden.
During these weeks of flight, expenses for lodging and provisions as well as payment to the accompanying troops steadily drained the resources of the Government’s funds. A sample of known expenses includes $39,000 paid to soldiers in Greensboro, North Carolina, $108,000 paid to escorting troops near the Savannah River, about $40,000 paid for soldier’s provisions in Augusta and Washington, Georgia. According to A. J. Hanna, author of Flight Into Oblivion, by early May 1865 only about a hundred thousand dollars remained in treasury funds.
By the fourth of May, the Confederacy obviously defeated, President Davis and the few remaining members of the Cabinet with him made the decision to disband the government. Some $86,000 was given to a trusted officer to be smuggled abroad and held in Confederate accounts. Davis planned to make it to Florida, then perhaps west by boat to Texas where he would continue to lead the fight for Southern independence. With his wife and children, he headed south toward Macon with a small band of guards. A second group of core supporters split off and planned to meet up with him near the Florida line. Between them, they carried what remained of $35,000 in gold that had been allotted for expenses of the President and Cabinet some weeks earlier. It was all that was left of the government funds.
On May 10th just south of Irwinville, Georgia and not far from the Florida line, the fugitives were surprised and captured in an early morning raid by troops from the Fourth Michigan Calvary. They had with them only a few dollars. The fabled “Confederate Treasure” had disappeared. Or had it simply all been spent?
In the next installment of this series we will look at what happened to the gold from the Richmond banks, and some of the reasons that the legends surrounding this fabled treasure have developed over the years.
Continue to Part III