Confederate Gold and Silver

by Peter F. Warren

  Followed by the others, Mayor Davis walked into the Public Works garage half expecting to see gold and silver piled up in front of him. What he saw was only a semi-circle of old black cannons sitting in front of him. In the semi-circle were a combination of Napoleon cannons of several different types, including an 1841 Seacoast gun, one 1841 twelve pounder and one 1857 twelve pound smoothbore cannon. With them sat two Griffin guns, made by the Phoenix Iron Company, in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania. Also present was one Parrott rifle, the Banded Brooks Rifle, and one Dahlgren cannon.

  “What’s all this? What are these cannons doing here and where’s the gold and silver you told us all about?” Nearby the mayor saw twenty-five blue tote bins. They were neatly stacked by the cannons, but were also void of any riches.

  “Mayor, when I found the soldier’s remains I also found clues he had left behind in a letter regarding the Confederate gold and silver. It took luck and determination to figure out what the clues exactly meant, but we have. The clues he left regarding the money hidden here in Charleston were the hardest ones to figure out.”

  Mayor Davis still did not understand what the connection was to the cannons. “Why the cannons?”

  As Paul answered the mayor’s question and as he had done earlier without interrupting to ask any questions, Judge Morgan listened in quietly. “For around one hundred and fifty years these cannons have been here in Charleston. Some of them likely fired upon Fort Sumter to start the Civil War. In fact, some of them may have even defended Charleston when the Union navy later sailed into your harbor. Certainly all of them have allowed scores of young children to climb on them so their parents could take their pictures. Since the summer of 1863, based on one of the letters I found, they have held the balance of the missing Confederate gold and silver. Captain Judiah Francis, the Confederate soldier whose remains I found, for some unknown reason chose these cannons to hide the gold and silver in. As I told you earlier today, he was the soldier charged by both President Jefferson Davis and General Lee to move the money south out of Richmond. The money was being moved so it could be kept out of the hands of the advancing Union army. Somehow Francis had made his way to Charleston and for some yet to be determined reason he decided to hide the money in these cannons. Who knows why he came here? Perhaps it was to rest, but more than likely it was to move the treasury further south by boat or perhaps by the railroad, but he never did. Again, he chose to hide the gold and silver here in these cannons for reasons we may never know. It’s been here ever since, just waiting to be found. There are other details to tell you, but we can save them for another time. Let’s go see what Captain Francis cleverly hid so many years ago.”

  Almost dumbfounded by what he had just been told, Mayor Davis first sought a clarification from Paul. “Let me get this straight. You’re telling us that these here cannons, the ones sitting right here under our noses while on display in our own parks, have held part of the missing Confederate treasury for all of these years? The money has been right here the whole time?”

  “Yes, sir. That’s what the clues are telling us.”

  “But what if the cannons he had hid the gold and silver in were later assigned to units in the field? The money would certainly have been found then.”

  “Our thinking is these cannons were likely damaged or they had been taken out of service for some other reason. Francis would certainly not have risked putting the gold and silver in new or serviceable cannons as the money would easily have been found. Not him, he would not have done that.”

  “Paul, it sounds like you have gotten to know this Captain Francis fellow pretty well.”

  “Mr. Mayor, I think I have actually gotten to know him very well over the past few weeks since I found him. I believe he was quite the person. He had to have been if President Davis and General Lee trusted him enough to move a significant part of the Confederate treasury for them. He had to have been a very special person.” Mayor Davis and Judge Morgan both nodded their heads in agreement to Paul’s comments about Captain Francis.

  “Mr. Waring, I’m not a Missouri boy, I’m a born and proudly raised South Carolinian, but you are going to have to show me you are right. I hope you are, but right now I’m pretty skeptical of the story you are trying to sell me on. It sounds more like a storyline for a movie than it does anything else.”

  “Mr. Mayor, I can understand your reluctance to believe me, really I can.”

  Paul walked with Mayor Davis, Judge Morgan, James Randall, Edwin Henion, and Chief Walter Barber, Charleston’s police chief, over to where the cannons were lined up. As he did, Pete filmed what was transpiring in the garage. Chick and Jayne followed the group to where the cannons sat. As the group stood talking by the cannons, Jayne also documented what was taking place by taking photos of them with her Canon camera.

  “Gentlemen, look at the end of this cannon, specifically at the mortar and tell me what you see.”

  It was James Randall who answered for the group now assembled by the barrel end of cannon number seven. “I can see someone has inscribed C.S.A. and the number seven into the mortar. What’s that mean?” Randall had even pointed out the periods which followed each of the three letters.

  “Tell you what, let’s find out. But remember what was inscribed into the mortar.” Paul then gave the Public Works staff the signal to drill out the century old plus mortar from within the barrel of cannon number seven.

  As Pete’s video cameras had captured Paul standing near the cannon inscribed with the number seven, and as the cameras had captured him explaining what the inscription meant at the end of the barrel to Mayor Davis and the others, they now continued to capture what was unfolding in the large garage. As the cameras caught the Public Works staff preparing to drill out the mortar from within the cannon barrel, they also caught the anxious facial expressions of all who were present. The cameras caught everything, even the tension and hopes which filled the large garage.

  The portable two-tone colored Sullair 375 air compressor had sat quiet outside one of the large garage bay doors. It had been towed into place by one of the Public Works department’s Chevy pickup trucks. As quietly as it had sat there, it quickly became loud and noisy as the compressor’s diesel engine fired up after Stephen ‘Tiny’ Cochran, the Public Works superintendent, had signaled the department’s Lead Mechanic, Gary Montano, to start it up. Montano quickly had the air compressor fully charged and ready to go to work.

  Despite sitting almost sixty feet away, the noise from the diesel engine startled Mayor Davis and several others when it fired up. They cringed at the loud noise even from where they stood within the garage. The black smoke that came from the diesel engine when it fired up, while thick and foul smelling at first, soon dissipated. Only the noise of the loud diesel engine was left to reverberate throughout the large garage.

  In moments, the long single three-eighth inch green rubber hose running from the air compressor into the garage was charged with air. The chipping hammer attached to the other end of the air hose vibrated as it sat on the garage floor. The vibrations caused by the compressed air signaled it was ready to go to work.

  Some of those present within the garage moved further away from where the air compressor sat as they hoped the few extra feet would somehow quiet the loud noise they now heard. Paul and Judge Morgan just stood there, simply donning the eye and ear protection Tiny had issued to all of them. All of their eyes were focused on the end of the cannon barrel as they watched Montano use the chipping hammer to quickly break through the roughly six inches of old mortar. After the mortar had crumbled under the pounding it had taken from the modern chipping hammer, Tiny motioned for the air compressor to be shut off and soon the garage was quiet again. A slight trace of mortar dust momentarily lingered in the air until the large ceiling fans in the garage pushed it away from where they all stood.

  Anxiously, Paul spoke first. “OK, let’s see what we found
.”

  With his two boys holding the ends of one of the large tote bins, Paul first pulled out pieces of the broken up mortar. Tossing them into the tote bin, he reached into the barrel and pulled out pieces of rotted wood, remnants of what appeared to be old cloth bags, and various items of torn and tattered clothing. With the help of the public works staff, he used a small metal hoe to rake the rest of the contents out of the barrel. The contents fall onto a blue plastic tarp which had been spread out on the floor. Nothing of value fell out of the cannon. A quick check of the cannon’s interior by Chick, who used a portable spotlight to see inside the barrel, showed it contained nothing else.

  Mayor Davis quickly uttered a sarcastic comment after Chick confirmed the barrel was empty. Paul had anticipated the comment and was ready for it. “I don’t see any lost Confederate money as you claimed there would be. All I see is old junk, perhaps precious in some way to Mr. Randall’s trained eyes, but nothing that’s of real use to the city. You said the cannons contained the missing gold and silver.”

  “Yes, I did, but I didn’t say this cannon did. Come look at these other cannons and tell me what is different about the mortar in the ends of those barrels compared to the one we just drilled.”

  Walking to where the next cannon stood, Mayor Davis was quick to launch another disgusted barb at Paul. “Nothing, I don’t see anything different. Just like the first cannon these other cannons have the same etching in the mortar as the first one did. If something is different, I don’t see it!”

  “Well, I do,” offered Judge Morgan, “the rest of these cannons all have even numbers inscribed in the mortar, the first one had an odd number. Mr. Waring, is that what you wanted us to see?”

  “Precisely, Judge. One of the clues we were able to figure out, a clue which Captain Francis left us, was only the cannons which have even numbers inscribed in the mortar contain the gold and silver he had hidden. We believe the odd numbered cannons were probably like decoys, perhaps to make them blend in with each other. Pretty ingenious we thought.”

  “I would have liked to have met this Captain Francis fellow. He sounds like he was an interesting character.”

  “Me too, Judge, me too.”

  Turning back towards Mayor Davis, Paul offered the mayor the next pick. “Mayor, pick an even number you see inscribed in one of these cannons and we will drill that one next.”

  Briefly the mayor looked over the choices he had in front of him. “Let’s try number ten as I hope we find ten million dollars hidden in these cannons.”

  As with the first cannon they drilled, the century old plus mortar quickly crumbled from the pounding it took from the chipping hammer. As Gary Montano, with help from a couple of other Public Work employees, dragged the long air hose out of the way, Paul told Brian and Sean to grab two tote bins. With his sons again holding one of the tote bins in place directly under the end of the barrel, a fairly large piece of mortar was removed from within the cannon. As it was being removed, Paul could see five coins had become set in the once wet mortar when it dried in the barrel so many years ago. He smiled when he saw the coins encrusted in the mortar as he felt a sense of relief that he had been right. It had taken a casual observation by his wife to see the markings in the mortar, but he had correctly figured out the remaining clues Francis left in his letter.

  First showing Chick and Jayne what he had pulled out from inside the cannon, he then held the mortar in his hands for another minute so Pete could film what they had found. As he turned around to show the others what the cannon had held for so many years, Paul asked Mayor Davis a question before handing him the dried piece of mortar. “Mr. Mayor, now do you believe us?” The mortar had dried with three silver coins and two gold coins encrusted in it. Mayor Davis proudly showed the others what he now held in his hands.

  “Pete, Jayne, are you both getting this?”

  “The cameras are rolling. We’re getting it.”

  After marveling at what had been handed to him, Mayor Davis looked at Paul. “I must confess I had my doubts, especially after you found nothing in the first cannon, but now it looks like you folks have correctly deciphered the clues your soldier left you. My apologies for doubting you. What other secrets does this cannon hold for us?”

  With the first chunk of mortar placed into the tote box, Paul reached into the barrel of the cannon and quickly withdrew two handfuls of coins. As the coins hit the bottom of the tote bin, he laughed to himself. He was thinking the mayor was likely already calculating Charleston’s cut of the gold and silver. After a few more handfuls of coins were scooped out of the cannon, two Public Works employees helped Chick as he used the hoe to rake the rest of the coins out of the roughly six foot barrel. The cannon held gold and silver coins of several different denominations. Soon the two tote bins were so full that the coins in the last tote bin began to overflow onto the blue plastic tarp. As the last of the coins tumbled out the end of the barrel, one fell out of the already overflowing tote bin and rolled off the tarp a short distance away onto the garage floor. Mayor Davis moved quickly to catch up to the coin as it rolled away. As he did, the others had a laugh at his expense as the sight of the city’s mayor chasing the loose coin proved quite comical to watch.

  “Hey, this gold dollar coin could be worth a few thousand dollars in today’s market. I don’t care how funny it looked. I’ll chase any coin worth that kind of money.” To his credit, he soon joined them in their laughter, realizing he probably had looked funny chasing the loose coin. “I know you folks are filming all of this, but I don’t think we need to show the mayor chasing down a loose coin in the finished video!” His comment made them all laugh louder than they already had been.

  After the laughter died down, the garage became strangely quiet as all who were present just stood there staring at the two tote bins full of gold and silver coins. They were transfixed by what they had just found in the barrel of one cannon. Edwin Henion, who had knelt down for a closer look at the coins, soon looked up at Paul. “I think your previous estimate of twenty million dollars has just increased.”

  As he was dragging the air hose towards the next cannon they were going to open, Tiny Cochran stopped momentarily to look at the coins Henion still knelt next to. “You know, I’m a Charleston resident my whole life. I still have a picture of my mom holding me when I was young, sitting on one of the cannons looking out at Fort Sumter. Some of you, or perhaps your own kids, might have even sat on one of those same very cannons. How could we have ever known we were sitting on so much money?” The comment from Tiny caused several of them to nod their heads as they reflected back on similar experiences from their youth.

  As Pete and Jayne documented what the cannon had held, Paul asked Tiny for several sheets of paper and a Sharpie pen. After receiving them, he wrote the number ten down on three sheets of paper, placing one sheet in each of the two tote bins of coins and placing the third sheet partway into the end of the barrel of cannon number ten. “This way we can still identify what cannon was what number and what each cannon contained before we emptied it.”

  “Paul, your law enforcement training is showing. I’m guessing you have used all of your skills with this adventure.”

  Handing the rest of the paper and the Sharpie to Bobby Ray, Paul figured he probably had. “Steve, I hadn’t thought about it, but I guess you’re right. Came in handy without me even thinking about it.”

  As they had with cannon number ten, they slowly emptied the next cannon of its contents, having similar results and similar thrills when the coins were freed from the black cannon that had held them for so long. The only change they had made to their procedure in emptying the coins from the cannons was one they made after they had emptied cannon number ten.

  They had not realized how heavy the tote bins were going to be when they were full of coins until they struggled to lift the heavy bins onto wooden pallets after emptying cannon numbe
r ten. Placing the bins on the pallets was done to make the loading of the armored car easier. It was Tiny’s idea to move a fork lift into place under each cannon so the bins could be filled while they sat on a wooden pallet directly under the end of the barrel. “Work smarter, not harder” was the comment Tiny made as he drove the fork lift into place under cannon number twelve.

  As the mortar was cleared away from the end of the barrel of cannon number twelve, they received another surprise. As Chick reached inside the barrel, he expected to find more loose coins. Quickly he withdrew his right hand as it had touched something his hand had not sensed as being coins. Peering into the cannon’s dark barrel, he asked for a light of some kind.

  “This work?” Bobby Ray asked him as he handed Chick a small black flashlight he sometimes wore on his belt. Twisting the end of the flashlight so it turned on, Chick soon had the inside of the barrel illuminated for the first time in many years. In moments, he handed the flashlight back to Bobby Ray.

  “Chick, what did y’all find in there?” Even the usually low-key Bobby Ray was now excited over the events of the afternoon. His excitement had grown as he knew something else besides loose coins had been hidden inside the barrel.

  “Not sure yet, but it’s proving tough to grab. Whatever it is it’s made of cloth. I can sense it’s tearing a bit as I tug on it.”

  It took a few more gentle tugs and tears in it, but soon Chick pulled out a decaying cloth bag of coins. After placing the bag of coins into one of the tote bins, he reached back into the barrel and grabbed onto another full bag of coins. As he began pulling the bag out, the decaying cloth bag ripped wide open and he withdrew just the ripped bag from inside the cannon. Only two silver dollars remained caught up inside the decaying bag. “Well, at least we know where the rest of the coins are.” Emptying the rest of the bags of coins out of the barrel proved difficult as they had partially adhered to the inside of the cannon. Extracting the bags and their precious coins took time to complete, but soon they had the barrel cleaned out.