With all the tales and legends of Confederate gold, what is overlooked is how a newly created country, the CSA, acquired the gold and silver to form a treasury, starting from scratch.
Upon succession, the Confederate government seized the US mints at New Orleans, Charlotte, N C, and at Dalonega, Georgia. The 1861 U S half dollars with the "O" mark, were minted by the Confederacy, and the gold coins of 1861 with the "C" mark of Charlotte were also minted by the Confederacy until they ran out of bullion, and the mint was converted into a hospital.
Several Southern banks were "nationalized" with coffers going to the CSA Treasury.
The Confederacy also sold bonds, payable two years after the ratification of a peace treaty with the US with 8% interest to be paid to bearer.
Southern ladies also donated jewelry for the Cause.
The rest of the CSA treasury was their printed currency.
Loans and credit were secured from British and French banks to buy armaments and other supplies from those nations merchants, but the loan money remained in those countries.
As CSA Major Caleb Huse, who was an CSA Agent in Europe noted," Never before was a government at war supplied with arms, munitions, clothing, and medicines, with so little money as was paid by the Confederacy".
Many British and French suppliers went bankrupt after the War, including several Liverpool shipbuilders, due to non payment by the Confederacy.
http://www.csa-dixie.co/liverpool_dixie/huse.htm
The point to this is that most lost Confederate gold stories are just that. The exceptions being what was captured with Jefferson Davis, what was captured at Washington, Georgia, what was recovered at Yulee's Cottonwood Plantation in Archer, Florida, and a lost 50 lbs of Spanish and Cuban specie cattle payment in southwest Florida.
There may exist small caches scattered about the South, but not the large amounts that have been written about in treasure books and magazines.
