Brigadier General Stoughton and the Union Forces under his command had been enjoying several weeks of looting in Virginia when they were captured in a surprise attack by Confederate Captain John Mosby at Fairfax Court House, Virginia. Stoughton had accumulated a large amount of family treasures as he had looted Southern homes. This loot was captured along with Stoughton and a number of his men in a night raid Mosby perfectly executed.
Gathering the loot and prisoners, Mosby and his men made tracks back for the Confederate lines some 40 plus miles to the south. Enroute to Culpepper, Va. Union forces were detected and the raiders swung to the southwest of Haymarket, Va. along what is now Highway 211. Having traveled several miles and worried that the loot would fall back into Union hands Mosby decided to stop and bury the recently captured goods. Choosing two large pine trees Mosby marked the trees with his knife and buried the sack of treasure between them.
Several months went by and Mosby decided to send a sergeant, that was with him at the time the treasure was buried, back for the hidden loot. The sergeant chose six of his best men and made tracks for the sack of southern treasures. Unfortunately the sergeant and his men were captured, declared guerillas, and promptly hanged. This left Mosby as the only person to know the exact location of the buried loot and to his dying day regretted never having returned to find the sack of heirlooms he had so long ago buried.
There's a good chance that somewhere a few miles from Haymarket along what is now Hwy 211 is a small fortune in Southern family heirlooms. Research into old roads and trails heading to Culpepper might help narrow the location down a bit more.
