by Frank Felton
The man’s name was Sam Houston.
~~~
Aiden was captivated with a determination to find out just exactly what was in the chest. He was eager to get it open. These thoughts ran through his head as he made his way home. He planned to pry it open just as soon as he got back. Surely it would be a simple task for a craftsman.
As fate would have it, he would not open the chest that day. Along the path home, he writes of meeting a man traveling in the opposite direction. The man was a stranger, but waived Aiden aside and asked for tobacco. When Aiden replied that he had none, the man asked for whiskey.
Aiden did not carry these things.
The man asked for water. Aiden, having grown impatient, directed the man to the nearest creek bed, and readied his horse to continue. Finally, the man asked for something to eat. Aiden did not wish to share, and continued his journey. After a few steps, the horse itself stopped, and turned around un-commanded. Slightly embarrassed at his own horse’s impudence, he reluctantly pitched two pieces of jerky at the man, and prepared to again head down the trail.
“Wait,” replied the man.
“Sir, I must be getting on. Good day now.”
“Have you heard the good news of Amos?”
“Amos?” replied Aiden.
“Amos three. Verse seven.”
“Okay then, sir. How do you know of this?”
“Answer me, good sir. Have you read it?”
“Well, no. I haven’t. But I…I intend to directly.”
“When will you arise from your sleep, good sir?”
“I’m afraid I do not understand.”
“A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, and poverty will come upon you like a robber, and want like an armed man.”
When he finished speaking, Aiden lifted his head to reply.
The man was gone. He was nowhere to be seen.
“Hello? Sir? Are you there?”
There was complete silence.
A quiet fear ran through Aiden’s veins, leaving him cold and nervous.
~~~
Whatever secret Sam Houston meant to pass on, it now took a new priority for Aiden Benson. This past week had been too bizarre for his liking. When he arrived back at the homestead, he took the family Bible off the shelf and turned to Amos 3:7:
Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.
He looked at the chest. It had not moved. He wanted to open it. He hated this feeling of fear and uncertainty. He would use brutish strength to force it open and end this charade.
Deep in his fiber, Aiden felt an admonishment that he was not to open this chest. Instead, he was to seek out Ben Milam, as General Houston commanded. The gravity with which Sam Houston gripped him was the embrace of a Master Mason, a greeting not extended to those who were not of the fraternity. Alas, Aiden was not yet a Mason.
He had, however, been passed certain vestiges from his father. He was aware of the swift penalties for violating the oath; having the throat cut from ear to ear and the tongue torn out by its roots. Such penalties were entirely figurative and used only to symbolize the separation of mind from body, with the tongue no longer being able to communicate with fellow Masons. The true punishment was not physical; it was for one to be banished from the Craft, forever.
Aiden had an epiphany; perhaps the key, as well, was symbolic in nature. It was entirely possible that a man such as General Houston would speak in the figurative sense, and not the literal. He must learn everything he could about Ben Milam. Something about that man must hold the cipher to Houston’s riddle.
He discussed more with the shopkeeper, and decided to visit the grave of Benjamin Rush Milam. Such a trip required planning, and he’d have to wait until the fall before striking out. Aiden never made it to autumn; at least not in Texas. He was now old enough to serve in the Army, and in late 1863, before he could begin his journey to San Antonio; he was on his way to Louisiana to fight for the Confederate cause in the Civil War.
A boy would leave Texas, and a man would later return.
~~~
Three weeks before Sam Houston’s death, General Ulysses S. Grant raised the Stars and Stripes over Vicksburg, Mississippi, having defeated the entrenched Confederate forces. For the Union, it was a hard fought victory which lasted more than six months, culminating with a six-week siege of the city. This was the second major setback for the rebels in as many days. General Robert E. Lee’s invasion of the north at Gettysburg was decisively thwarted as well. Coming on Independence Day, the victory was a major morale boost for Union forces and equally as demoralizing for the Confederacy.
After capturing Vicksburg, General Grant received a promotion to Major General, and the following letter:
When you first reached the vicinity of Vicksburg, I thought you should do, what you finally did—march the troops across the neck, run the batteries with the transports, and thus go below; and I never had any faith, except a general hope that you knew better than I, that the Yazoo Pass expedition, and the like, could succeed. When you got below, and took Port Gibson, Grand Gulf, and vicinity, I thought you should go down the river and join Gen. Banks; and when you turned Northward east of the Big Black, I feared it was a mistake. I now wish to make the personal acknowledgment that you were right, and I was wrong.
Yours very truly, A. Lincoln
Despite this defeat, the Civil War raged on and six months later, Aiden Benson mustered into service with the 18th Texas Infantry at Fort Jerusha. He was rushed into battle almost immediately when General Nathan Banks launched the Red River Campaign as a diversion from Grant’s plan to surround the Confederate Army. On March 14th, the small band of soldiers including Aiden was surrounded at Fort De Russy. Union soldiers attacked the Fort, breaching the walls. They prepared to slaughter the small group of rebels.
Fortunately for the Benson legacy, the white flag of surrender was raised before this slaughter could take place. Aiden was taken a prisoner of war, and sent to the Picayune Cotton Press prison in New Orleans. He was released in July as part of a prisoner swap one year after Vicksburg fell.
Truth is, the Union didn’t want to be charged with the care and feeding of thousands of prisoners. As the tide turned, they saw fit to return these fellow Americans to their homes, in hopes that the rebuilding of America could begin.
While in prison he committed, as his first order of business should he return home, he would carry out the orders of General Houston. Indeed, barely more than a year would pass until Aiden would return. His home was now destitute, in the state of Texas that verged on anarchy. The coming Reconstruction would be a difficult time for people in the south.
He would keep his promise the very day after his return.
19. The Key
Who will go with old Ben Milam into San Antonio? – Benjamin Rush Milam, December 4, 1835
It was three days ride to San Antonio.
Again in the summertime a year hence, he should have waited for the cooling air of autumn. His patience would not oblige. As such, the trip south and west to San Antonio was hot and dusty. He had to cross the Colorado, Blanco, and Guadalupe rivers. Despite being worn out, he would not rest until he found the item for which he searched.
In the storied city of San Antonio, heroes of the Texas Revolution stood in the face of certain death at the Alamo. Today, many of those soldiers have monuments in their honor thanks to the Daughters of the Republic of Texas, but back then, they were simple headstones. Buried during a war, few people were certain of the location of Ben Milam’s resting place. It took two full days for Aiden to find a local man who knew the place, and he led Aiden to a cemetery.
Aiden waited patiently until dusk, when the light was dim and passersby had gone home for the evening. A thunderstorm rumbled in the distance. Drops of rain would strike his head every few seconds. His time this day was running short. Near the edge of a row of headstones, he found the final resting place of Co
lonel Milam.
If the secret rests with Ben Milam, then he could certainly get no closer to his answer. The head stone was a large granite rock with an engraving that simply told the date of Milam’s death. There were no secrets here, nothing that would give him a clue.
There had to be more. He would not give up this easily. Aiden made sure no living souls were present to observe him, and then began to pry at the edges of the stone. It must have weighed 200 pounds. After a few minutes, he finally made the stone move, but only slightly. He needed a bar of some sort to leverage himself and flip the stone onto its side. The fast moving storm had made its way near. Flashes of lightning now lit the sky as they cascaded, and the crash of thunder came ever closer.
Darkness was setting in and he had to move quickly. The rain increased steadily. A lone mesquite tree stood near the center of the cemetery. A limb from the low hanging branches would do. He wedged the makeshift cantilever under the stone, and was able to tilt it, placing rocks underneath in succession.
Once flipped onto its back, at the upper apex of the hallowed ground, he saw the faint outline of a small box. He pried it from the earth. An explosion of lightning struck less than a mile away, and the deafening boom paralyzed him briefly.
On the box was carved another verse: Matthew 13:44. He opened the box. Inside was a piece of cloth. It was now being soaked by the increasing downpour. There was a hard object wrapped within, and he began to unravel the cloth.
His clothes were now soaked through with water. He felt the cold of the darkness, when the sudden shriek of a bird pierced the air. Aiden looked up to see a vulture perched on a branch of the mesquite tree. It stared at him, ominously, as though it were looking at a man soon to die. Vultures were bad luck.
He picked up a stone to throw at the menacing bird. At his move, the vulture flew away, into the night. He dropped the stone, and the piece of cloth, as lightning struck the mesquite tree just seconds later. It exploded in a fury of splinters, knocking him to the ground. The sound pierced his ears and all he could hear was a constant ringing sound.
He thought he was dead.
~~~
It felt like a dream. Aiden awoke the next morning on the floor of a church in San Antonio. The storm had frightened his horse and it fled into the night. A Catholic priest saw the young man caught in the storm, and quickly brought him inside the cathedral.
It was no dream. The cloth was still in his pants pocket. He again attempted to unfold it. To his surprise, the wrapping contained an old, rusted key. He felt a charge more powerful than those bolts of lightning. General Houston had not let him down. It was the key. In a state of near-euphoria, he was now eager to depart for home to discover what was hidden in that chest.
Then he remembered something else from the night prior. He walked to the back pew of the cathedral and picked up a Bible to look up Matthew 13:44.
The kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field.
An odd verse, he thought, all things considered.
The horse managed his way back to town after the torrent subsided. Aiden found the equine wandering through the streets, stopping for water outside a saloon. After thanking the priest, Aiden continued on his journey. It was a splendid trip home. The cold front had brought in clear skies and mild temperatures. The rains had not been widespread, so he had no problems crossing rivers with his trusty horse. He had never been in a better mood. A feeling of adventure, of meaning, and of accomplishment filled his spirits.
The key in fact opened Sam Houston’s chest. Aiden was correct in that it contained no treasures of gold, as it was entirely too light. What it did contain, was a plethora of documents. At the top, was a document which made Matthew 13:44 come strikingly into focus.
It was the deed to a piece of property for which colonization rights had been unclaimed since the 1830’s. It seems General Houston had carved out nearly a thousand acres from this parcel of land through his time of leadership during Texas’ upheaval. The deed listed one Aiden Isaac Benson as the owner.
The location was in Milam County.
Beyond the title deed were numerous historical documents. Aiden paged through them, a mix of languages he couldn’t even pronounce, let alone read. Many of the documents were in English, so he set about reading the story left him by Sam Houston. The daunting weight of history within his reach slowly came into view.
~~~
During the time of Sam Houston, Milam County was on the edge of the frontier. The area had been inhabited for more than 10,000 years. Tonkawa and Lipan Apaches became residents in the 14th Century, followed by Caddo and Tehuacana several hundred years later. Spaniards first arrived in the late 1600’s. They established missions along the San Gabriel River in 1746, then known as the Xavier River. There would eventually be three missions along with a Presidio to be occupied by the Spanish military nearby.
Father Mariano de los Dolores y Viana wrote enthusiastically of the abundant wildlife and promise for agrarian use of the fertile soil. As fate would have it, severe drought planted itself upon the area at a most inopportune time. Due to drought, growing threat of Indian attacks, and the infidelities of Captain Rabago, as mentioned earlier the missions were hastily abandoned several years later.
This fertile land would not lie dormant forever. Near the turn of the 19th Century, Americans began to move out and settle the territory of Texas, as the new nation began its westward expansion. In 1824, Stephen F. Austin brought the first wave of colonists to east Texas, granted by the Mexican government. As more and more non-Mexican colonists arrived, the nature of man to fight himself won the day, and the Texas Revolution followed not far behind.
During this time of upheaval, General Houston and the Texans moved assets strategically about the countryside. Not only did they preserve battlefield assets, but the Archives of the early republic as well, moving them in a shell game from town to town. Once the battles were over, the general moved one final shell to keep the Jewel of Hiram out of the reach of enemy hands.
The enemy was no longer the Mexicans, but rather it was the enemies of good whom he sought to outwit.
General Houston felt the same inhibition towards the Jewel as had Marcus Aurelius more than six centuries prior, though Houston lacked the extensive empire Aurelius had. Texas was, however, quite large with vast expanses of unsettled territory. He devised a master plan to shelter the object, replete with riddles and clues, to keep the Jewel at bay. The final part to his plan would prove to be the most difficult to orchestrate.
Houston had to find an unassuming young man to take up the charge. He required one who demonstrated a certain purity of heart; not overly ambitious, nor cunning, but a man of impeccable character. The general searched in vain during the latter years of his life, to no avail. Even entrusting such a Jewel to the brotherhood of Masons, while subject to the rights, lights, and benefits of the Craft; they remain susceptible to evils of the darkness in the heart of man. His inner circle consisted of men he trusted, but their ambition gave him pause. He wanted someone completely naïve; a tabula rasa, as it were.
Houston’s health deteriorated quicker than anticipated, and he was ultimately left with few options. Unwittingly, that fateful July day in 1863, Aiden accepted work for General Houston. The boy seemed an adequate foil, and the general had to make a move. Houston left the fate of the Jewel to the Lord as he went about signing over those documents. He then snapped the lock shut; the key already far away per his well laid plans.
The primary aim of Houston in later life, as Aurelius before him, was not the passing of a legacy. It was, conversely, obfuscation. This Jewel in the hands of the wrong man would cry havoc. It is why, even on their deathbeds, they took final efforts to hide the Jewel’s location.
You see, General Houston merely guided Aiden to the land, more than a thousand acres, but he would never disclose to him where it was buried.
It was his hope that the land would remain unbothered for hundreds of years, so that the Jewel would rest in peace, not susceptible to being accidentally found. While Houston could not send the Jewel as far as Marcus Aurelius, he cast it out to an area that would remain sparsely settled and undeveloped for many years.
This was the most failsafe measure his mind could create, and with it set in motion, the great Sam Houston passed on.
20. Mary Benson
Aiden decided to take Sam Houston’s offer to settle in Milam County. Not only had he been granted land, but the general left enough currency for him to start a new life. Nearing the age of 20, it was time for him to stake his own claim in the world. There was just one problem. He was of marrying age, women would be scarce where he was going.
There was only one woman he’d ever loved.
Her name was Mary, and he had not seen her since he was six or seven years old. The memories of his youth led him to believe she was the love of his life. From time to time, they would write one another, but he had not heard from her since before the Civil War. Her family fled their home during the fighting, and he believed her to now be in Tennessee. It was a risky proposition to travel halfway across the country, in search of someone he had not seen in over a decade. She might well be already wed, dead, or worse she might refuse his proposal of marriage.
In a way, going in search of Mary would be its own treasure hunt, and Aiden brimmed with confidence. At his age, he’d already survived the Civil War, met Sam Houston, and taken a leap of faith in pursuit of his destiny. With each success, his self-assurance bloomed. In his mind, stealing a woman’s heart should be an easy chore.
Four months later, he had tracked her down to a dry goods store in Huntsville, Alabama. He observed from afar. She was an amazing sight; he was simply flabbergasted at the beautiful woman Mary had become. Even better, she was not yet married. She was, however, courted by a man whose father owned the cotton textile mill, an arranged sort of relationship between the two families.
