Confederate Gold and Silver

by Peter F. Warren

  After stacking the pails and other items, Paul climbed back over the wall to where Chick and Bobby Ray were catching their breath. “Bobby Ray, you help Pete finish filling in the hole and then both of you double-check the areas around the two holes so it looks like we were never here. Do what it takes to get rid of any extra soil from the two holes, but just get rid of it. Chick, you start collecting our tools and breaking down the tarps. I’m going to get Jayne so we can get out of here as soon as possible. I want to start loading all of this stuff back into our vehicles before anyone sees us. I’ll be right back to help you guys.”

  Jayne had been standing guard alone for several hours when Paul approached her to tell her to come help them finish up. She was relieved to see him as she had become bored by her necessary, but unexciting task. “Well, are you going to tell me? Did you find what we hoped to find?”

  “Oh, yeah! But we don’t have time for you look at it now. You need to help us police the area where we have been working. We need to get our stuff back to the vehicles quick, daylight will soon be here.”

  As soon as they finished filling in the second hole, Bobby Ray and Pete swept the two areas where they had been digging for any tools Chick had not seen. Paul did the same and they found nothing had been missed. The areas around the two holes were also free of any extra soil and sod. They had all done what they could to police the area.

  Pointing out the two areas where they had been digging, Paul gave Jayne a task to complete to make sure they had not missed anything. “The rest of us are going to start loading everything back into our vehicles. I want you to take one of the metal detectors and run it over the entire area where we were working just to make sure nothing has been missed. Make sure you wear the headset in the event the detector pings so it is not heard by anyone else. I’ll come get you when we are done.”

  The others had already started carrying the now heavy and full plastic buckets of coins, and some of their other gear, back towards the parking lot when Paul caught up to them. He was carrying the plastic tarps and some of the tools they had been digging with. He quickly moved past them as they struggled carrying the heavy buckets. As he did, he urged them to work quickly so they were not delayed in getting away from the marina. Soon he had the tarps and the tools packed away in his truck by the time the others reached the parking lot. Now he helped them place the buckets into the bed of his truck. It took them two trips back and forth from the cemetery to the parking lot, but soon they had everything loaded back into their vehicles. Finally done putting everything away, they realized just how tired they were. They had been up all day, had worked through the night, and had just finished carrying the heavy buckets of coins, the gold and silver bars, and all of their gear back to their vehicles. Tired, but happy at what they had found, Chick leaned against his van to catch his breath. “Paul, we need to hire some younger guys to do the grunt work for us. This is way too much for us old guys.”

  “Amen to that brother, amen.” Bobby Ray was also clearly tired from a long night as well. He had to be at his real job in less than three hours.

  Dropping down to one knee to catch his breath, Pete looked up at Chick. “When I signed up for this gig you told me I wouldn’t have to dig in any sewers, but you never told me I would have to be digging in a bone yard at night. You know that you people are very sick, don’t you?”

  Pete’s comment made them laugh and in some way they each realized what they had just done was beyond what was normal for them to be doing. None of them had ever thought about digging for gold in a cemetery at night before yesterday.

  After resting for a few moments, Paul jogged back to the cemetery to get Jayne. As he pulled himself up on the cemetery’s rear wall he could see she was still running the metal detector over the areas where they had been working. Looking up, she saw Paul had turned on his small work light to get her attention. Turning off the metal detector, she quickly walked over to where he was on the wall.

  “Jayne, let’s go!” Paul helped her to the top and then he jumped down outside the wall. Jayne jumped to the ground still holding onto the metal detector. “How are we looking in there? Did we leave anything behind?”

  Reaching out and grabbing Paul’s left hand, Jayne whispered to him. “Just this! I found it on the ground by where the buckets had been stacked by the wall.”

  Kneeling down behind the brick wall, Paul turned the work light on. Shining the light into his left hand, he saw Jayne had found an 1860 ten dollar gold coin on the ground. “What the heck, that’s no big deal, it’s likely only worth a couple of thousand dollars these days.” Jayne knew Paul’s remark had been made sarcastically and she quietly laughed at the comment.

  “Anything else?”

  “Nope, we are good to go.”

  “OK, then lets get out of here, but let’s just play it safe. Casually sweep the ground with the metal detector as we make our way back to the parking lot.”

  They had just started driving back towards the security booth when it started to rain, lightly at first then heavier. “Let’s hope it rains for a day or two. It will help to cover our tracks and it will keep our friend Woody from working in there.” Paul looked for a response from Bobby Ray, but saw he had already fallen asleep, worn out from an evening of manual labor.

  ******

  It did not take long for them to drive back to Paul’s house. Backing his truck up towards his garage, Paul could see in his rearview mirror that Donna had seen them pulling into the driveway. She had hit the button to open the garage door for them and now the door finished opening as the truck came to a stop only a couple of feet away from the garage. Now awake from his ten minute power nap, Bobby Ray jumped out of Paul’s truck carrying his rolled up Murrells Inlet sweatshirt with him.

  Walking up to Donna, who was standing in the garage wearing her bathrobe, Bobby Ray handed her the dirty sweatshirt. It was still holding some of the coins they had found. Looking at her, he jokingly told her what he wanted done with it. “Wash and iron this for me, no starch please, and keep the change!” Donna had not expected anything but a dirty sweatshirt being handed to her. She nearly doubled over from the unexpected weight of the coins.

  “What is in this sweatshirt? What have you guys found tonight?”

  Placing the dirty sweatshirt down on the folding table in the garage, she unfolded it. The loose coins spilled out across the table. “Oh, my. I guess you guys found what you were looking for!”

  Looking up from the table, Donna saw the full buckets of coins now being carried into the garage. She was about to say something when Jayne came in carrying the plastic Rubbermaid container they had packed the seven gold and silver bars in after leaving the cemetery. Handing Donna one of the gold bars, Jayne introduced herself to her as they had yet to meet each other before now. “We found seven of these, four gold and three silver.”

  “Oh, Lord! I never would have imagined this. That poor soldier died for all of this.”

  “You know, I don’t think he was the only one who died over this money. I bet several others probably did as well.”

  “Probably so, probably so.”

  After they had carried the wooden barrel and the torn saddlebags into the garage, Paul closed the garage door. He did not want any of his neighbors to see what they were doing so early in the morning inside his garage.

  Standing guard while the others had been working, Jayne now saw the fruits of their labor for the first time. “This is way more than what we found in North Carolina and that doesn’t even factor in the gold and silver bars. I can only imagine what these bars themselves are worth. Wow!”

  Before they started to examine what they found, Pete documented their find on videotape. Jayne soon followed his lead by taking several digital photos of the coins and bars as well. They had not taken pictures of the saddlebags or of the coins which had spilled out of them at the cemetery as Paul had
not wanted to risk having photos taken when they worked without the protection of the tarps. He had been concerned about the camera flash being seen by others.

  After they documented what they had found, Paul emptied the part of the saddlebag still containing the coins. Donna and Jayne soon filled another small plastic bucket with the 196 gold and silver coins the saddlebag had held for so many years.

  Finished counting the coins with Jayne, Donna brought out two six-packs of Coors Light from the kitchen. Thirsty from their hard work, they all stood there enjoying the cold beer as they admired what they had found. Soon Bobby Ray was enjoying his second beer as he sat in plastic lawn chair examining the gold and silver bars which had been spread out on the folding table.

  Jayne had started cleaning off the accumulated sand and soil from one section of the saddlebags when she asked Paul to confirm what the soldier’s name was he had found.

  “Captain Judiah Francis. Why?”

  “I’m guessing these are his saddlebags then. The initials ‘J.F.’ have been embroidered into them.”

  Looking at the embroidered initials made the find of the money, as well as the other items, much more personal for Paul. He could not explain it to the others, nor did he try, but somehow he felt a connection to Captain Francis.

  “This certainly appears to tie Francis to the coins, doesn’t it? This also explains why all of the money was not found in the same spot. The barrel full of money and the saddlebags full of money were likely buried at two different times. His letter tells us that, but until Jayne noticed the initials I had no way of making the connection. His letter clearly spoke of his saddlebags being stuffed with coins. I wonder if he buried them because he was being chased or because he had been shot and knew he was dying. Think about it, the graveyard and the place where I found his remains are not that far apart from each other.”

  Paul then went into the house, returning a few minutes later carrying a copy of each of the letters he had found. “These are copies of the four letters I found. I guess it’s time I showed them all to you at one time. You deserve that and more for all of the hard work you have done. I’m sorry I have not shown them to you before this.”

  As Donna and Paul had done when they read the letter Francis had written to his father, the others, even Bobby Ray, soon had tears in their eyes as well. Even though she had read the letter before, Jayne began to cry after reading it for a second time. Soon she was wiping away her tears with the sleeve of her dirty sweatshirt. “Paul, now we know what has driven you to find this money. Thanks for allowing us to be a part of it.” As Paul already felt, now Jayne also wished she could have met Judiah Francis.

  “These letters are worth as much as the money is to me. They are priceless.” Chick had read many Civil War era letters during his career, but he told the others the letter Francis had written was the most touching he had ever read. “Very personal, truly a touching letter. I’m honored to have had a chance to read it.”

  As Donna gathered up the letters, everyone else began cleaning off the coins of their accumulated sand and soil. They needed a decent cleaning before they could be taken to the bank later in the morning. Still seated at the folding table, Bobby Ray began wiping down each of the gold and silver bars with a white towel.

  After they had worked for about an hour, Paul called a halt to their efforts. “I’m sure you all are as tired as I am. I know Bobby Ray has to be at work soon, but I need the rest of you to help me package all of this up so we can put it under lock and key later this morning. Go home and get a couple of hours of sleep and be back here by eleven.” Then he handed Jayne a fifty dollar bill, telling her to buy as many Tupperware containers she could find. Containers which later that morning would be filled with gold and silver coins and then placed in the safety deposit boxes he planned on renting.

  With their work finally done they sat down to enjoy another beer, surrounded by piles of gold and silver coins that a few weeks ago they never would have imagined finding. Soon the others left Paul and Chick to fall asleep in the garage, protecting the money until they returned in a few hours to help move it to the bank.

  ******

  Later in the morning, after they had packaged all of the money up into the Tupperware containers, Paul would fulfill his promise and call Duke on the phone. Paul always kept his promises. Soon both a waitress and a librarian would be pleased that he did.

  Fall, 1863

  24

  No Way Out.

  “It is well that war is terrible, else we grow fond of it.”

  General Robert E. Lee, at the Battle of Fredericksburg

  A noisy carriage rushing down the street outside the warehouse woke Judiah Francis up early in the morning. Lying on his bed of straw on the wooden warehouse floor, he could hear the various sounds a city makes as it wakes up each morning. He could hear people talking outside as they walked by the warehouse, he heard horses pulling wagons on the cobblestone street, and he heard people, perhaps even soldiers, arguing about something down the street. It was far more noise than he was accustomed to since they had left Richmond several weeks ago. He tried to fall back asleep, but soon realized it was a futile effort. Sitting up, Francis looked at his men who were still fast asleep on the floor around him. He marveled at their ability to stay asleep despite the noises which had woken him up. “Why are they still sleeping so soundly and I am not?”

  After taking care of his personal morning necessities and after pushing open the two large wooden doors in the back of the warehouse, Francis made a small fire in one of the several fireplaces. It only took him a few minutes to warm up the remaining coffee from last night’s dinner. After pouring himself a cup, he walked around the interior of the large warehouse. He had been too hungry and too tired to do so the previous evening. As he did, he came across the various types of damaged cannons Colonel Hodges had told him about. They had been damaged, some even captured, in various battles across Virginia and North Carolina. The cannons had been transported to Charleston by both trains and wagons in the hopes of getting them shipped further south to be repaired. The hopes of getting them repaired and returned to fight again in future battles was now remote.

  Francis knew from speaking with Colonel Hodges that the Confederacy, now crippled by the Union naval blockade and still without the support they had hoped would come from Europe, did not have the skilled labor to repair these damaged cannons. They also did not have the raw materials or the factories to produce new ones. While the North continued to produce cannons for their armies, the lone cannon factory in the South, the Tredegar Iron Works in Virginia, was no longer operational. The South now had little choice but to stockpile these damaged cannons in this warehouse, hoping they could find a way to have them repaired. The priority now was not to repair these damaged cannons, but rather it was trying to staff their armies with enough men to continue the war. Francis also knew trying to maintain the few remaining railroads in the South was another important priority for the Confederacy.

  The Confederacy had little choice but to roll the dice, hoping their armies, victorious in so many battles early in the war, could continue to supply them with cannons they seized from the Union army. Their only other hopes for cannons were ones they could purchase from Europe, but these were few and far between because of the naval blockade.

  “Captain, it’s too bad about these here cannons. Instead of them just sitting here broke and all, our boys should be using them to fight with.” Sgt. Odom’s comments startled Francis as he had not heard Odom walking towards him. Now he watched as Odom walked around the damaged cannons. He was still startled that Odom had walked up behind him without making a noise, but he knew that was a skill acquired from back home. It was learned from years of hunting in the woods.

  Finished with his thoughts regarding Odom’s hunting skills, Francis responded to what his sergeant had said about the damaged cannons. “Yes, you’re right, serge
ant. I’m told we have neither the men nor the proper material to fix them fast enough so they haul them here waiting for when the time is right to repair them. Just like you do, I also hope the time comes soon so we can start repairing these cannons. As you said, our boys who are fighting could surely use them. If that does not happen we will need to keep stealing them from the Yankees.

  Francis then pointed to a particular Napoleon style cannon. He told Odom it looked very similar in its damage to one he had seen at the Battle of Ball’s Bluff. “I wonder if it is indeed the same one? It would be very ironic if both of us ended up in this same warehouse. Don’t you think?”

  Deep in his own thoughts, Odom just nodded his head. He was thinking of some of the battles he had fought in and how scared he had been during his first real fight. The noise from the cannons had terrified him the first time he heard them roar. They had fired repeatedly at the Yankee troops charging across the battlefield that morning. Now a veteran of many battles, he chuckled to himself as he recalled being so startled when the cannons had fired for the first time. He had dropped his rifle as he tried covering his ears with his hands to block out the loud noise the cannons had made. Dropping his rifle was something his fellow soldiers had teased him about for several weeks. The cannons had made such a noise that Odom knew he would never forget the sound they made. It was noise a country boy from the woods of Alabama had never heard the likes of before. Like all soldiers, he would never forget the first fight he was in during the war.