Civil War Treasure in Alabama

Towards the end of the Civil War the south was moving some money so that Confederate forces in Columbia, Tennessee could get paid and have supplies. The money, said to be $100,000 in gold and silver coins was being transported in two wooden crates. Each of the crates were supposed to be 2 feet x 3 feet x 4 feet in size and they were being transported in a wagon.

As the group of men transporting the money neared Athens, Alabama the wagon became stuck in the mud of a “bog hole” and they had to stop to try to free it. As they tried to get the wagon free they were warned that a group of Union soldiers were on the way through the area and being afraid the money may fall into the hands of the enemy, they did what they thought best which was to bury the boxes of gold and silver.

This cache of gold and silver coins has supposedly never been recovered. According to the stories the treasure was buried about a half mile west of an old stream crossing which was about four miles north of Athens, Alabama in Limestone County.

Keep in mind the stream and the crossing would have been in the 1860’s so you will have to find some of the older maps of the area if you go looking for this one.

Oh yea, for those “believers” out there, there was not any mention of the K.G.C. or any elaborate vaults being involved in this cache. Just regular old Confederate soldiers trying to keep the money they had safe.

You might want to do a little looking into the size of the crates that were supposed to have been used to haul this treasure. Those mentioned in the story seem to be pretty big to move just $100,000 in gold and silver. Of course you are talking about a treasure that should weigh in at more than 300 pounds but it's also something that would fit in a couple of much smaller boxes.