CIVIL WAR ERA STRONG BOX FOUND BURIED AT LOUISIANA PLANTATION!!!

[KONO]

UPDATE AT BOTTOM

Note on Story in Green, THIS STORY IS HYPOTHETICAL (The parts about the Box and its Burial)
THIS IS OUR THEORY, IT IS NOT CARVED IN STONE

The year is 1862, the day is April 24th: a wealthy, landed, Northerner living in New Orleans has just gotten word that Union ships have ran the Mississippi River Blockade at Forts Jackson and St. Philip. The city is in a state of chaos as the ill equipped Louisiana Militia scrambles to prepare for the defense of New Orleans. The man, whose name will not be revealed, is soon heading to his recently purchased state-of-the-art Louisiana Sugar Cane Plantation with one intention... to bury a strong box. This Strong Box is constructed with a quarter inch thick cast iron, lockable, lid; the sides of the box are constructed of solid Oak. The man arrives at the Plantation, and buries the strong box by a group of Slave huts, as to avoid detection by Yankees dispatched to the area. The Union Soldiers on patrol loot another man's small plantation just up the road , bayoneting family portraits, and stealing all valuables. The wealthy man has just left his plantation, and passes the Union Soldiers on the road. The wealthy man is headed back to New York, where he will remain until the war's end. The Union patrol makes it to the wealthy man's Plantation, only an unnoticed disturbance in the ground remains near the Slave Huts. While The Union Soldiers raid the Plantation Home little interest is given to the Slave Huts, they and the surrounding grounds go by unscathed.

The story you have just read is based upon both Historical Fact and Personal Theory.

Begin Playing Now.




The story resumes 151 years later in early July: The Garret Ace 350 Screamed as it maxed out on the detection 'key', this was caused by a large flat solid iron object 2 feet down that we had began to uncover. My fellow diggers and I knew that this object was abnormal in its size and material for being buried underground at a Plantation. I Personally Presumed, from the ornately rounded corners, it to be an Iron Plate over a casket, as I knew it was not an Iron Casket. We had only uncovered three sides and two corners at this point. We tired and left for the day, vowing to return. Since we could only presume the nature of the object we decided to dig to the object to determine if its length was 6 feet long, which would identify the objects possible ghoulish nature.

We returned Today, Thursday July 25th for a dig of a newly discovered Plantation site with the intention of finishing the dig of what we called "the coffin." Before the detecting could begin, my fellow metal detector, who brought the only metal detector of the day... sliced through his Ace 350 with a Carbide tipped Bush Clearing Circular Blade...


When a machine of discovery meets a machine of destruction...

We could no longer detect, so we decided to dig an already known object of interest. After several hours of digging we hit the fourth edge of the object, the object measured 2x2 Feet, revealing itself as a box... I quickly snapped a few photos...



I then proceeded to lift the quarter inch thick steel lid with my bare hands.... The box opened and we stared inside. The Oak still remained intact, preserved by the wet Louisiana Clay. The box interior was filled with 151 year old River Sand mixed with Clay...

View attachment 833991

And this is where the story ends for now...

UPDATE: We have not completed the Excavation of the Box, and the Exhuming of the Box. The water table is currently to high due to recent rain storms, and we do have a hand dredge pump. We will try digging the site tomorrow after the water level has settled. The Lid of the Box, as well as the very fragile Oak sides have been left in place. We will bring my metal detector to stick into the dig area, in absence of the iron lid. The area will be scanned thoroughly. So far, we have not hit the bottom of the box; we do not know if the contents are deeper in the ground, in the wet clay.

This is no treasure story, we believe it to be a civil war cache. We do not know if the box's contents were removed, or are still present. We do not know what was in the box. We know who owned the Plantation at the time, but their is no record of any box. The Plantation has been owned by the current owners only since the 1890's, so there are no family legends. We rely on Conveyance records, and some Private Records and Recollections. None of which mention the box. We obviously know the owner of the Plantation, where he was from, and the extent of his wealth. We also have all Plantation Manifest. We know that Union Soldiers did raid homes in the area, and did bayonet a neighbor's family portraits. We can safely assume a box was not buried with nothing it and for no purpose, though it's contents could have been removed after the war.

We discovered this chest, assumed it was a casket and left it be, we returned and proved our concerns ill founded. We then proceeded to dig the chest, if you had a sharp set of eyes you would have noticed I mentioned the "package" in a previous thread, and had the thread removed. We found the Clay marble on top of the "package", and took down the thread mentioning the "package", just in case we had found a casket which we would not disturb. We decided an iron plate would not be over a casket, and began to dig again on the 25th... and here we are today.

We will let you know what we find whether the box be empty or full. However, if it contains something extremely valuable, for obvious reasons I would not reveal it; I would be sipping Mint Juleps in Geneva.

I will now take your questions, and hear your theories, and hopefully not your hatred.

Note: I am surprised at the amount of dis-taste of my posting of such an amazing find (the buried box itself), I do not know if its jealousy, disbelief, or what... I hope this update will ease the tension and apprehension.

As GRiley put it: "I know one thing for sure you will not ever forget it empty or full of treasure.........."


It's Revealed!

http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/today-s-finds/367090-civil-war-era-strong-box-reveal.html


Follow my other digs here:
http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/relic-hunting/366228-official-louisiana-plantation-dig.html



So now one question remains... who will I be, Mel Fisher or Geraldo Rivera?

 

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[huntsman53]

KONO,

Thanks for sharing! Sorry that there was nothing in the strong box! Once you are done excavating all pieces of the strong box, I hope you plan to suction the water out of the hole and run a metal detector down in the hole. The empty strong box on top, might have been a decoy (sometimes called a dummy) and the real strong box with contents, could be buried several feet below it.

Good luck!


Frank

 

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[ATpro5]

KONO,

Thanks for sharing! Sorry that there was nothing in the strong box! Once you are done excavating all pieces of the strong box, I hope you plan to suction the water out of the hole and run a metal detector down in the hole. The empty strong box on top, might have been a decoy (sometimes called a dummy) and the real strong box with contents, could be buried several feet below it.

Good luck!

Frank

Never thought of that! And the suspense Carries on...

 

[huntsman53]

Now there are some nice people on here... Like huntsman (frank) for example... But people Like jason in enid ruin this site.

ATpro5,

Thanks! I try to keep an open mind and not be too critical.


Frank

 

[KONO]

KONO,

Thanks for sharing! Sorry that there was nothing in the strong box! Once you are done excavating all pieces of the strong box, I hope you plan to suction the water out of the hole and run a metal detector down in the hole. The empty strong box on top, might have been a decoy (sometimes called a dummy) and the real strong box with contents, could be buried several feet below it.

Good luck!


Frank

Wait.... your telling me I have to come back from Switzerland to get the rest?

 

[VERDE]

Give them Heck KONO! Let me know when you get back from S'Land and I will be happy to help you dig the remains!! GOOD HUNTING!! VERDE!!

 

[Mekong Mike]

If you took those pics with your iphone then everybody will know exactly where to find it. Pics on iphones have GPS attached to them. Better dig it up quickly.

 

[Nickleanddime]

Oh God another one of those stories that will never know the truth but will drag on. Just tell us or don

 

[BVI Hunter]

Oh God another one of those stories that will never know the truth but will drag on. Just tell us or don

regardless of what's in the box or not - you gotta admit we would ALL like to find something like that - just that feeling of "what if" for those few minutes make us do what we do, yes?

Keep at it Kono - best of luck!!

PS was this thread locked at one point??

 

[KONO]

regardless of what's in the box or not - you gotta admit we would ALL like to find something like that - just that feeling of "what if" for those few minutes make us do what we do, yes?

Keep at it Kono - best of luck!!

PS was this thread locked at one point??

Thanks, the lid is cleaning up really nicely. (Pictures will be presented when it is done)

We are currently not hunting due to the 100 degree heat in the Louisiana Jungle.

I'll try and post some other finds soon. I've got some unidentified lead objects from the 1850's railroad bed, and a button, from a very short trip last week.
I also need to post the marked china and bottle pieces, and a few other items.

The other thread was locked due too an agitator.




If interested in all our finds, check here: http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/relic-hunting/366228-official-louisiana-plantation-dig.html

Some finds will be posted in other categories, but will eventually be archived/cataloged in the Official Thread.

 

[KONO]

Have been away; update coming in the future.

KONO.

 

[prolab69]

so why bother to re-bury an empty box? .. and in such a wet area? ... may i ask how you dated it to be "civil war era"? like your title says. or was that just a guess from the square nails?

 

[KONO]

so why bother to re-bury an empty box? .. and in such a wet area? ... may i ask how you dated it to be "civil war era"? like your title says. or was that just a guess from the square nails?

Who said the box was reburied?, perhaps the contents were removed.

Do you really think an area in Southern Louisiana that has gone through Hurricanes Betsy, Katrina, Rita, Gustav, & Issac was not dry at one time? I don't know if you own the place, but the actual owner was around when it was bone dry grassy fields.

The chest is from the mid 19th century. Square nails, cast iron lid, metallurgical components...
What other event would cause some one to bury a chest in Southern Louisiana in the 19th century?
We know Union troops were dispatched to the area, and bayoneted a neighbors family portraits (the owner of the Plantation even saw the old bayoneted portraits). Some surrounding Plantations were razed to the ground. (possibly including another plantation home that was on the property, i'll talk about that in a few months when we dig it) and the Plantations were looted.

The chest likely contained some family silverware and a little hard currency, probably nothing else. We know the extent of wealth of the former Plantation owner during the Civil War, by the way.


Please quit illogically questioning our assumptions and absolutes until we are done. We are not going to start digging again until Winter.

 

[KONO]

Next post will have to wait until Winter. (Unless there is an unexpected major development)

Until then, Good Hunting.

 

[VERDE]

Hey KONO!! Obviously you made it back from S'Land!! Great Story and Hunt!! Hope you had a good trip!! Looking Forward to the continuing Saga!! In any event, Keep up the Finds!! GOOD HUNTING!! VERDE!!

 

[KONO]

Update: Digging has not resumed as of yet. There is still a different hunting season going on. Chest area is currently flooded and is slowly draining.

 

[got2dig]

Who said the box was reburied?, perhaps the contents were removed.

Do you really think an area in Southern Louisiana that has gone through Hurricanes Betsy, Katrina, Rita, Gustav, & Issac was not dry at one time? I don't know if you own the place, but the actual owner was around when it was bone dry grassy fields.

The chest is from the mid 19th century. Square nails, cast iron lid, metallurgical components...
What other event would cause some one to bury a chest in Southern Louisiana in the 19th century?
We know Union troops were dispatched to the area, and bayoneted a neighbors family portraits (the owner of the Plantation even saw the old bayoneted portraits). Some surrounding Plantations were razed to the ground. (possibly including another plantation home that was on the property, i'll talk about that in a few months when we dig it) and the Plantations were looted.

The chest likely contained some family silverware and a little hard currency, probably nothing else. We know the extent of wealth of the former Plantation owner during the Civil War, by the way.


Please quit illogically questioning our assumptions and absolutes until we are done. We are not going to start digging again until Winter.

WOW!

 

[foiler]

Some details are a bit off from the norm of the times. Since union troops where near valuables where buried in haste. I say that because the date of this tale s 1862. With the war in its infancy people in the deep south did not expect union troops to be making a visit. They had no need to 'hide the silver' yet, they where using it every day. Strong boxes where few and far between, not the usual container used to bury valuables at a large plantation. And then there's the location. The slave quarters would be the absolute last place to freshly bury anything. It's one of the first places a troop commander would go. They had orders to do so and, as a matter of common sense who else would you seek out for information about a large plantation than the very people that work every square inch of it. There are a couple spots common to plantations that where favored for quickly hiding treasures discretely. Slave quarters is not one of them. There was a group of us in the '60/70's that had some success in this area in La & Miss.

 

[ironhorse]

Some details are a bit off from the norm of the times. Since union troops where near valuables where buried in haste. I say that because the date of this tale s 1862. With the war in its infancy people in the deep south did not expect union troops to be making a visit. They had no need to 'hide the silver' yet, they where using it every day. Strong boxes where few and far between, not the usual container used to bury valuables at a large plantation. And then there's the location. The slave quarters would be the absolute last place to freshly bury anything. It's one of the first places a troop commander would go. They had orders to do so and, as a matter of common sense who else would you seek out for information about a large plantation than the very people that work every square inch of it. There are a couple spots common to plantations that where favored for quickly hiding treasures discretely. Slave quarters is not one of them. There was a group of us in the '60/70's that had some success in this area in La & Miss.

Best answer...EVER!