The Lost Confederate Treasure—Part III
(This article originally appeared in Fall 2005 issue of Splash magazine.)
Today, more than a hundred and forty years later, the mystery of what “really” happened to the gold and silver that remained in the Confederate Treasury at the end of the Civil War continues to intrigue historians and treasure hunters alike. As detailed in Parts I and II of this series, President Jefferson Davis and other members of the Confederate government fled Richmond, Virginia on April 2, 1865, only hours before the capital fell to Yankee troops. Accompanying them on their escape south was nearly a million dollars in gold, silver and jewelry. Part of it belonged to the Confederate Treasury. The other part was the gold reserves of the Richmond banks.
During the next six weeks Lee surrendered at Appomattox and Lincoln was assassinated. Davis and other members of the rebel government were touted by the northern press as war criminals. Huge rewards were offered for their arrest. When Davis was finally captured in south Georgia on May 10th, his small party of fugitives only had a few dollars with them. What happened to the treasure?
The answer to that question, like the fabled hoard itself, has two parts. First, only about half of it actually belonged to the Confederacy. With so many records lost in the final days of the war, even the exact amount is uncertain. Estimates range up to more than a million dollars, but a more generally accepted figure is about half that. Of this amount, there is reasonably good documentation that most of it was spent in support of the failing government and its troops. The truth, however unexciting it may seem, is that at the end of the war The Confederacy was nearly broke. The wild speculation in the news of the day was just that, speculation. There was no “Confederate Treasure” to go missing, only groundless rumors.
So why are there persistent legends about the “Confederate Gold”? Even today, why do movies like “Sahara” (based on the book of the same name by Clive Cussler) continue to attract audiences with their story lines about the “true” fate of these fabled riches? Perhaps the answer lies in the old adage that underlying most legends is a grain of truth. And the truth—in this case—refers to the fate of the gold reserves of the Richmond banks.
It should be remembered that the bank gold was technically not part of the “Confederate Treasure.” In the mid-nineteenth century before today’s highly regulated banking system, most banks were privately owned. They issued notes and currency backed by physical gold reserves. In fact, the link between the value of the US dollar and the price of gold was abandoned only in 1971. Unlike the estimated value of the specie from the Confederate Treasury, the Richmond bank gold’s worth was more accurately recorded as approximately $451 thousand. It had been left for safekeeping in a Washington, Georgia bank vault after the fugitive government split up in hopes of eluding Federal capture. Only days later it was in the hands of occupying Northern troops.
On May 24, 1865, a group of five wagons loaded with the Richmond bank gold set out on their long journey north. The gold was now the property of the United States government. At the end of the day they made camp near Danburg, Georgia on the grounds of the white-columned home of Dionysius Chennault. That night, troops guarding the gold were attacked by a group of men said to be locals, paroled soldiers, freed slaves and others. When the sun rose the following morning, more than a quarter million dollars in gold was missing, having been carried off in any way possible by the unknown attackers.
Occupying Federal troops reacted harshly. The area was under martial law, and tales of home invasions and torture in the search for the stolen gold were common. Chennault and his family were arrested and taken to Washington, DC in hopes of finding the whereabouts of the gold, but supposedly they knew nothing of its fate. In the end, roughly $111 thousand dollars was recovered, leaving some $140 thousand to disappear into the local economy. Rumors persist to this day of wealthy local families who trace their fortune to that night.
The stories of lost Confederate treasure seem to be more legend than fact. Stories based on a bit of truth that change and grow with the passing years as they are passed down from generation to generation. They may be myths, but in the South so much of the so-called history of that turbulent era has been enshrined in that form. Sometimes we believe what we want to believe. As for me, I’ll take my metal detector, a faded map, and the hope that somewhere out there….