Hidden caches of gold lost after the American Civil War
Confederate gold refers to hidden caches of gold lost after the
American Civil War. Millions of dollars' worth of gold was lost or unaccounted for after the war, and its possible location has been the source of speculation of many historians and treasure hunters. Allegedly, some of the
Confederatetreasury was hidden in order to wait for the rising again of the South and at other times simply so that the
Union would not gain possession of it.
Origin of the legend
When Union troops were on the verge of invading
New Orleans, Confederates quickly removed millions of dollars of gold to a "safer" location, the city of
Columbus, Georgia.[1] The gold was temporarily stored at the Iron Bank by William H. Young. On October 11, 1862, General
P. G. T. Beauregard was ordered to take the gold from Young's bank in Columbus. Young refused to release it, but was compelled to do so by force. According to Beauregard's biography, "What became of that coin is a mystery."[2]
Halleck's allegations
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. Halleck stated that
Richmond, Virginia bankers estimated specie valued "from six to thirteen millions" were traveling south from
Goldsboro, North Carolina in wagons. Halleck ordered Generals
Wilson and
Canby to intercept the rebel leaders and any wealth they were transporting.[3][4]
Davis did in effect take what was left of the stable value[5] Confederate treasury with him, which consisted of $528,000 (equal to $10,093,983 today) in gold and silver bullion (some of it in Mexican silver coinage), when he and his
cabinet fled Richmond on April 3, 1865 by train. 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. Davis had nothing on him when he was captured in the end on May 10 in
Irwinville, Georgia.[6]
Trenholm's embezzlement
George Trenholm, who was
Confederate States Secretary of the Treasury for the last year of the Civil War, was arrested after the war and accused of making off with millions in Confederate assets.[7] Trenholm had accompanied Davis on part of his flight but dropped out prematurely due to ill health, which was taken as circumstantial evidence by his Union accusers, when they later accused Trenholm of theft.[8]
In the
Italian comic bookTex, Confederate gold was placed on board a Confederate
river ironclad which ended up in the
swamps around the
Arkansas River. The gold was later found by members of the
Ku Klux Klan who intended to use it to finance a new rebellion in the
Southern United States. The ironclad, along with the gold, was destroyed in an explosion by Tex Willer.[9]
In the
Franco-Belgian comic book series Blueberry (volumes "Chihuahua Pearl" through "Ballad for a Coffin"), $500,000 in Confederate gold bullion (being the historical end-of-war Confederate treasury as well) was smuggled to
Mexico by a group of
Confederate soldiers led by Colonel Trevor, the latter acting under orders from Confederate President Jefferson Davis to do so, and who buried the gold in the graveyard of the deserted village of Tacoma,
Chihuahua state. The gold was later found by
Juaristas who used it to finance their fight against Emperor
Maximilian I of Mexico.
In the 1971 spaghetti western film The Last Traitor there is $200,000 worth of Confederate gold.
A series of western adventure novels written by
Paul Wheelahan using the pseudonym E. Jefferson Clay, featured two brawling Civil War veterans searching for stolen Confederate gold.
In the 1994 film Timecop, a single traveler from the future hijacks a shipment of Confederate gold using advanced automatic weapons with laser-sighting. This gold is mentioned later to be used in untraceable payment to terrorists in the 20th century.
In the 2005 action film
Sahara, Confederate gold was placed on board the
CSS Texas which ended up in
Africa. The gold was later found by
Dirk Pitt.
In the 2012 TV series
Alcatraz, Confederate gold was hidden beneath
Alcatraz prison by the warden in 1960 to be discovered in 2012.
^Roman, Alfred (1884).
The Military Operations of General Beauregard (Volume 2, Part 1).
Harper & Brothers. pp. 23–24. Retrieved 8 September 2013. What became of that coin is, we believe, even to this day, a mystery. It was, doubtless, spent for the benefit of the Confederacy; but how, and to what purpose--not having been regularly appropriated by Congress--has never been made known...
^Nepveux, Ethel S. (1973). George Alfred Trenholm and the Company That Went to War. Charleston.{{
cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (
link)
^Foote, Shelby (2000). The Civil War: A Narrative, Fort Stedman to Reconstruction. Alexandria: Time-Life Books. pp. 74, 234.
ISBN0783501137.