Confederate Gold and Silver (27 page)

From his interpretation of the letters he had found, Paul began to believe Francis had been responsible for moving some amount of Confederate money, but he was not sure if his thought was a correct one. He ran several other thoughts through his mind regarding the gold coins, but they were just that, thoughts and guesses more than anything else. “Was he moving money to help pay for war materials? Could it have been destined for England to show them the strength of the Confederate economy? Or was it simply being moved to keep it out of the hands of Union troops before they invaded Richmond?” As he struggled to find the tiniest piece of useful information, he could not help but to wonder if he would ever know the answers to those questions. The one thing he wanted to know more than anything was if Francis had been charged with moving money of some kind “what happened to that money?”

As he washed his coffee cup out in the sink, Paul continued to ask himself questions. “Had Francis hidden the money like his letter says or did he finally deliver it to his destination? And what happened to the money he had supposedly buried in North Carolina and the money he talked about being left in South Carolina? Did he ever recover it or is it still buried there?” The questions he had raised were far too many. It was the answers to the questions which were far too few at this time.

As he dressed to leave the house, Paul realized some type of crisis must have occurred, or was likely going to occur, for President Davis to authorize the movement of the Confederacy’s money from Richmond.

******

His first stop after leaving his house was at the Socastee Public Library, on Highway 707, in the small community of Socastee, South Carolina. Paul had visited the small library on two other occasions and had found the staff there fairly friendly. He went there today as he knew he would need their assistance to search for some answers to his many questions.

After spending some time looking through several Civil War reference books, Paul quickly found the information he had been seeking on Treasury Secretary Memminger. What he found, while interesting to him as a Civil War buff, did little to answer any of his questions regarding the assignment Memminger had a part in giving to Captain Francis. Like all amateur history buffs, Paul knew the Confederate capitol had been located in Richmond, Virginia, but when he read a couple of articles about Memminger’s role in the Confederacy, one of the articles spoke about the threat the Union army had posed to Richmond. The same article later detailed the fierce and prolonged battles which had taken place in and around Richmond, a battle eventually won by Union troops. “So perhaps I am right about this assignment given to Francis by Memminger and President Davis. Perhaps they were concerned about the threat Union troops posed to Richmond, and perhaps they had assigned him to move the Confederate treasury, or part of it, to another location. Perhaps that money was the assets he talked about in his letter to President Davis?”

As Paul continued to read about the Battle of Richmond he formed dramatic mental pictures in his head about the siege that had taken place there. The pictures he created were obviously not totally accurate ones, but they were ones which allowed him to generate both an understanding and an appreciation for the battles that had been fought there. Paul’s brain had always allowed him to form these vivid mental pictures and it was this ability to form those vivid pictures which had helped him to develop an appreciation for the Civil War. These vivid pictures had been present with him during the several visits he had made to the battlefield sites at Gettysburg; they had been with him during his walk down the Sunken Road at Fredericksburg, and they had been with him when he had stood above the Sunken Road, at Marye’s Heights, looking down at the field where the Union army had been slaughtered by the Confederate army. As he had questioned the wisdom of the Confederate army attacking the high ground at Gettysburg, he had also questioned the Union’s decision to attack the high ground at Fredericksburg. These same vivid pictures were also with him during one of his favorite visits, a visit to Appomattox Court House.

During his visit to Appomattox Court House he had stood along the same path the Confederate army had walked along that fateful morning when they finally surrendered. Paul had pictured Union General Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain sitting on his horse adjacent to the path, surrounded by his victorious men, watching the defeated, but still proud Confederate army pass by them as the Union army ceremoniously accepted the formal surrender of the Confederacy. On that particular day, Paul had even thought he had heard Chamberlain’s voice as he ordered his men to salute the brave Confederate soldiers who passed by them. Those vivid mental pictures of the Civil War had also caused him to shudder at the carnage that had occurred during those battles when brave young men, both Union and Confederate, were often murdered by their blundering generals. It was many of those officers, perhaps more so in the North, who had simply been promoted to their ranks to curry political or ethnic support back home for the needs of the war. Many of those officers had known little about military tactics. Paul had always held those officers in contempt for their actions in wasting so many young lives. He had often thought how happy he was that his two boys did not have to fight in such a terrible war.

As he snapped back from his mental pictures of the battles fought in and around Richmond, Paul now looked for information on the gold coins he had found with the remains of Captain Francis. He wanted to know where the coins had been minted and what their approximate value was as he thought knowing that information might give him a clue as to why Francis had them in his position at the time of his death. After searching unsuccessfully for several minutes for such a book, he went to the Reference Desk for assistance. When his turn came, Paul explained to Caren Mullaney, the Head Reference Librarian, what it was he was looking for. After checking her computer files, she guided him to where several books on coins had been placed on the shelves. After they had found a couple of books for him to review, he thanked her for her assistance.

“If you give me a couple of minutes, I will check the computer again to see if the library in Conway has any others you might be interested in.”

“OK, thanks. If it’s OK with you I will wait for you at the table I was working at. It will give me a couple of minutes to look at these books we found.”

“Fine, I’ll be right back.” She gave Paul a quick smile and then headed back to her computer.

Paul went back to the table he had been working at and started looking through the coin books to see if he could find any references to the coins he had found, ones he now had secreted within his garage. He had only been able to look at the coin books for a few minutes when Caren reappeared by his side. She then told him the Conway library had two other books on coins for him to look at besides the ones he already had. Telling Paul this, she happened to notice he had one of the books opened to a page that showed pictures of several old gold coins.

“I hope you have a box full of those gold coins. You’d likely be a very rich man.”

Paul only had a silent response for her. “If only you knew, if only you knew.” He had yet to look up at her as he had just found a picture of one of the coins he had found.

Caren’s next comment was simply meant to be a joke, but it caused Paul to put the book he had been looking at down on the table. “With all of the books you have here on the Civil War, and on gold coins, what are you trying to do, find the lost treasure?”

She now had his attention. “I’m sorry, guess I was kind of focused on a picture of a gold coin. What did you say about a lost treasure?”

Caren gave Paul a quizzical look at first, but then realized he really did not know what she had been referring to. Over the next several minutes she told him about the legend of the lost Confederate treasury. He listened carefully as she described the legend that had been passed down for generations since the Civil War about the missing gold and silver; money which had been shipped out of Richmond during the war. “It’s a widely accepted fact that the money was moved south out of Richmond by Confederate solders, but no one knows what happened to it after that.” Caren told him that ever since the money had disappeared Southern folks had speculated for years over what had happened to it. She then told him about the various theories that had existed for years. She explained the theories included some people believing those soldiers tasked with moving the money had actually stolen it; that some people thought crooked politicians had stolen it during the final days of the war when all hope had been lost for the Confederate cause; that some folks believed the gold and silver had been captured by Union troops and they had kept it for themselves, and that others simply believed the money had never existed at all. “I don’t know what to believe myself, but I’m telling you one thing, if you ever find it you had better share some of it with the gal who helped you out this morning!”

What Paul had just learned about the missing Confederate money sent a cold chill down his spine. As he sat there digesting what Caren had just told him, the news caused him to silently generate additional questions. They were questions like the previous ones he had already asked himself; questions he did not have answers for at this time. “Were the coins I found part of the Confederate treasury, that missing money? Was Francis the person who had been charged with moving that gold and silver? Was that what Davis, Memminger, and Francis were talking about in their letters? Is this money the assets Francis vaguely described in his letter?” Paul thought of the Francis letters and began to wonder if they contained any hidden clues which would lead him to where the money had been buried.

“Sir, do you need anymore help?”

Caren’s question brought Paul back from the thoughts he was having about the letters. “What? Oh, yes, I’m sorry. Your story about the missing money caused me to daydream there for a minute. I’m terribly sorry. Your story about the missing Confederate money, do you have any books on that? And one more thing, and if you do not have anything I am sure I can probably Google it when I get home, but do you have any books or information on R.F.W. Allston? He was a governor of South Carolina near the time of the Civil War, but I’m not sure of his exact term of office.”

Caren smiled when Paul asked her about books on the missing treasury as she knew she had piqued his interest in this legend. “Give me a bit and I’ll let you know what I find.”

As she left to find the information Paul had asked her to look up for him, and to email the Conway library so they could send down the other two coin books for him to look at, his attention returned to the letter Francis had written to President Davis. “Was the letter actually giving us veiled clues about the missing Confederate money when we read it?” He also could not help to think, as he tried to recall the wording of the Francis letters, “that one of the letters actually talked about money being buried in three separate locations; two in South Carolina and one in North Carolina. But where?”

The events of the past several days had certainly captured Paul’s attention. Far too much, such as meeting Steve, buying the boat and the truck, and then finding the soldier’s remains and artifacts, had taken place in a short a period of time. Now after he had been told of the legend of the missing Confederate money, his instincts took over and he knew he possibly had the clues needed to find the missing gold and silver. He hoped his acquired investigative skills would help him find what others before him could not. He also had one other thought as he sat in the library waiting for Caren to return. “With all that has happened to me over the past several days, am I destined to be the person who finds this missing money?”

After a few minutes, Caren returned to where Paul was still sitting at the table. She was carrying several pieces of papers, some of which had answers to a few of the questions he had asked her to look up for him. “OK, I emailed the Conway library and they will have those two coin books here by tomorrow afternoon. When they get here I will mark them with your name and you can pick them up at the Front Desk late tomorrow. Now, here is some of the information I was able to get for you when I Googled the name of Governor Allston, this should get you started at least. You know, I learned something today doing this for you as I did not know he was a governor of South Carolina, but I guess that explains why the Allston name still exists to some degree in Pawleys Island. Well, good luck with whatever you are doing and don’t forget to share some of the gold with me when you find it!”

Thanking her for her assistance, Paul promised he would bring her a gold coin when he found the missing money. His promise made her laugh. “I’ve had a lot of guys promise me things over the years, but never a gold coin. I won’t hold my breath on that promise!” Caren gave him a smile and then returned to her desk to help her next customer, an elderly man who was interested in researching his family tree.

******

Donna and Paul arrived a few minutes early at the restaurant that evening so they stopped at the bar for a drink before Steve showed up to meet them for dinner. As they settled onto two bar stools he looked to see if Kathy was bartending, but saw no sign of her. After ordering their drinks, he began to tell Donna about what his research at the library had uncovered. He was beginning to tell her about the bombshell Caren had revealed regarding the missing Confederate treasury, but just as he started Steve was standing next to them as they sat at the bar.

Before Paul had a chance to introduce Donna to Steve, he took her hand and introduced himself to her. “When I met your husband I could tell he was a good guy as he helped me with my flat tire, but what I didn’t know was that he had such a beautiful wife.” Now blushing, Donna thanked him for his compliment. After spending a few minutes talking at the bar while enjoying their drinks, they were escorted to their table for dinner.

Pulling out Donna’s chair for her as they sat down at the table, Steve commented on Paul’s recent discovery. “I’ll tell you one other thing also. I did not know your husband was going to become such an instant celebrity in these parts for finding an old bag of bones in the woods. That was an amazing discovery, just wonderful. I’m happy for him.”