Civil war gold athens ga.

birdman1

birdman1

Member
At the close of the civil war it is rumerd that a chest of gold bullions and coins from the CSA treasury was buried along the banks of the oconee river just south of athens, The site was marked with a huge chain hooked around a tree close to the river.:pop::pop::cheers:
 
tashwoo

tashwoo

Senior Member
more info please. Ive heard stories like this alot and heard about one that ended up at a post office in washington,ga...i think
 
mickbear

mickbear

Senior Member
when i was a kid in the late 60's a friend of my father gave my brother and myself an old bent belt buckle and a bunch of old lead bullets.we didn't think anything about them untill years later (40 +/-) when a old fella stopped by the house a month or so back to ask about getting some turnip greens,collards and cabbage i had growing in the garden.well he turned out to be dads old friend,now 84 years old!we talked a long time and the old stuff he gave us came up.i told him i was sad to say i didn't know what had become of the stuff but i'd call my brother.he told me that the buckle was a brass CSA buckle and the bullets where from confederate soldiers that had been removed at the old confederate hospital near where i live.he said when he was a child in the 30's on his grandfathers farm that there was a big drainage ditch that they had dug out to use for something.he said the ditch was full of buckles of all different kinds,buttons,bullets other stuff that came off the wonded soilders in the dirt that they dug out.i guess they just tossed the old bloody cloths and other stuff in a hole or ditch and covered it up.
 
fishfryer

fishfryer

frying fish driveler
A lot of people,myself included, would like to know where that ditch was.
 
Milkman

Milkman

Deer Farmer Moderator
Staff member
The story I heard was that the gold was hidden somewhere east of Lincolnton Ga, and is under the waters of Clarks Hill Lake today.
They say this was done as the Confederate Cabinet members were getting ready to assemble in Washington Ga for their last meeting in the spring of 1865.
 
mickbear

mickbear

Senior Member
fishfryer said:
A lot of people,myself included, would like to know where that ditch was.
Click to expand...
i live north of milner and grew up just a few miles from where i live and have allways seen the historical marker for a confederate hospital in Milner but i never put two and two together until after my fathers friend said something about the old hospital site.i called a neighbor and told him the story because he was from milner and he said he had heard that same story long years ago but couldn't remember where the actual site was but said it wasn't far from the confederate cemetery east of town.
 
W

westcobbdog

Senior Member
We had a General and a detail of men who took care of this gold. They paid off our troops and those in the detail. If memory serves it was SD Lee and I have read his account and am satisfied there was no hanky panky. I have an old AJC from the 1960's with the story of the chest being opened by a locksmith with a crowd watching..it was empty of course. Cool picture though.

The gold orginally arrived in Greensboro NC with another officer charged with its care, those whose care it was turned over to were amazed it was moved in every sort of rickety box or container available.
 
biker13

biker13

Senior Member
A lot of them bullets have teeth marks on them if it was near a hospital.There is a drainage in Union Point Ga that has some.
 
G

georgiarebel52

Member
mickbear said:
when i was a kid in the late 60's a friend of my father gave my brother and myself an old bent belt buckle and a bunch of old lead bullets.we didn't think anything about them untill years later (40 +/-) when a old fella stopped by the house a month or so back to ask about getting some turnip greens,collards and cabbage i had growing in the garden.well he turned out to be dads old friend,now 84 years old!we talked a long time and the old stuff he gave us came up.i told him i was sad to say i didn't know what had become of the stuff but i'd call my brother.he told me that the buckle was a brass CSA buckle and the bullets where from confederate soldiers that had been removed at the old confederate hospital near where i live.he said when he was a child in the 30's on his grandfathers farm that there was a big drainage ditch that they had dug out to use for something.he said the ditch was full of buckles of all different kinds,buttons,bullets other stuff that came off the wonded soilders in the dirt that they dug out.i guess they just tossed the old bloody cloths and other stuff in a hole or ditch and covered it up.
Click to expand...


Amputations were common during the war. I've read that many times they'd bring the soldier in, wrap his belt around the limb and tighten it down like a tourniquet, then amputate. They'd then toss limb and belt out the window. I know of two different places in North Georgia were people dug small piles of buckles at hospital sites.
 
mickbear

mickbear

Senior Member
georgiarebel52 said:
Amputations were common during the war. I've read that many times they'd bring the soldier in, wrap his belt around the limb and tighten it down like a tourniquet, then amputate. They'd then toss limb and belt out the window. I know of two different places in North Georgia were people dug small piles of buckles at hospital sites.
Click to expand...
after reading the post on here i got to looking into the old hospital and asking around and was told there were several around the milner and barnesville area .the historical marker has been moved a couple of times but it says:

Confederate Hospital
On this site stood one of Milner's temporary hospitals for Confederate soldiers wounded in the Battles of Atlanta and Jonesboro in 1864. These men were hastily evacuated south on the only railroad from Atlanta still operated by the C.S.A. at that time. Dr. John F. Hunt, local physician, doctors from nearby communities and townspeople fed and cared for the wounded. 108 of these soldiers, from various companies and several southern states, died at Milner and were buried in a cemetery a mile from town on the Liberty Hill Road. (US 41 (Ga 7) in Milner.)
 
Milkman

Milkman

Deer Farmer Moderator
Staff member
The first guy they interviewed at the museum in Richmond is Dr. Mark Waters from Washington GA. He comes and speaks to our SCV camp occasionally. He is a very knowledgeable person on the events of the WBTS. It was good to see him get a chance to participate in the show.

It was a good show indeed.
 
F

Fletch_W

Banned
That was a great show. I was hoping they'd mention something about Athens... I bet you that gold is under the Barnett Shoals dam. I'll be heading out there with my matrix this spring, looking for Knights of the Golden Circle symbols. It certainly explains why the sheriffs are always back there running people off from the golf course when they are just walking back there to "retrieve their ball"....
 
J

jcountry

Senior Member
good luck-

I don't think there is two square ft of the state which has not been rumored to have this gold on it... But who knows-mysteries are fun.
 
dbodkin

dbodkin

Senior Member
Same type story circulates in the hills of South West PA. Braddocks Gold was to have been buried as they retreat (Washington, Braddocks army) Buried the gold somewhere in the mountains arounds Jumonsville, PA
 
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