If you find yourself poking around Mathews County, Virginia, especially in the “Haunted Woods” you might want to stay a while and look for a treasure left behind by the British General Charles Cornwallis also known as “The Earl Cornwallis“. Sounds like a pretentious old fart, doesn’t he?
The Haunted Woods or Old House Woods, depending on who you talk to, are supposed to contain the goods plundered by the pretentious old fart and his men. According to legend, in 1781 Cornwallis had his men bury a large cache of coins and jewelry in the area located about five miles from the Mathews County Courthouse.
This same year Cornwallis engaged in a loosing battle with American and French forces and the men who buried the coins and jewelry were killed, taking the exact location of the cache with them to the grave. Cornwallis himself was forced to surrender however, he skirted around that a little to save face. It seems that on the day the Earl was supposed to surrender, October 19, 1781, he decided he was sick so he sent Brigadier General Charles O’Hara to hand over his sword.
I guess the Earl didn’t want the embarrassment of getting his butt kicked to show on his face.
I don’t have any other information on this treasure but I’m sure if you do some more research on General Cornwallis and his command you can found out where they were and what routes they took to get there.
Good luck and good hunting!
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