davedog79
Newbie
- Apr 16, 2015
- 4
- 0
- Detector(s) used
- Garrett AT Pro, Bounty Hunter 101
- Primary Interest:
- All Treasure Hunting
Payroll Cache Buried & Lost
WASHINGTON COUNTY — Prior to the American Revolution, in 1774 the British Empire claimed all of northeastern America for the crown. It was the policy of the British army to carry payroll for the soldiers whenever they were on campaign.
It was June 1775 when a British patrol passed by the mouth of the Muskingum River along its west bank heading north.
About five miles north of the river’s mouth, which today would be west of the town of Devola, the patrol set up camp for the night. As dictated by policy, the treasure was buried nearby for safekeeping.
That night a war party of Indians attacked the soldiers, killing all but two who were taken prisoner. One died in captivity, the second was ransomed months later.
As the only survivor, he led a search party to the campsite where they had been attacked.
A search for the treasure failed to locate it, but the soldiers buried the remains of their fallen troops at the site.
We likely wouldn’t know anything of this cache had it not been for a letter Michael Paul Henson was able to obtain a copy of in the early 1980’s.
The letter was in possession of a historian in West Virginia who Henson does not name. It only offers two lines of text, which provides the information for this story. It read… “Although a diligent search was conducted, we were unable to locate anything of value except a few useless muskets, discarded during the skirmish. We did bury the remains of the men we found.”
It’s very likely this lost cache was forgotten after the burials were performed and the soldiers moved on.
If someone invested some research time to follow up on this lead they may get lucky - it’s probably still there.
I have looked for 2 years and have had no luck thinking about giving up on this one
WASHINGTON COUNTY — Prior to the American Revolution, in 1774 the British Empire claimed all of northeastern America for the crown. It was the policy of the British army to carry payroll for the soldiers whenever they were on campaign.
It was June 1775 when a British patrol passed by the mouth of the Muskingum River along its west bank heading north.
About five miles north of the river’s mouth, which today would be west of the town of Devola, the patrol set up camp for the night. As dictated by policy, the treasure was buried nearby for safekeeping.
That night a war party of Indians attacked the soldiers, killing all but two who were taken prisoner. One died in captivity, the second was ransomed months later.
As the only survivor, he led a search party to the campsite where they had been attacked.
A search for the treasure failed to locate it, but the soldiers buried the remains of their fallen troops at the site.
We likely wouldn’t know anything of this cache had it not been for a letter Michael Paul Henson was able to obtain a copy of in the early 1980’s.
The letter was in possession of a historian in West Virginia who Henson does not name. It only offers two lines of text, which provides the information for this story. It read… “Although a diligent search was conducted, we were unable to locate anything of value except a few useless muskets, discarded during the skirmish. We did bury the remains of the men we found.”
It’s very likely this lost cache was forgotten after the burials were performed and the soldiers moved on.
If someone invested some research time to follow up on this lead they may get lucky - it’s probably still there.
I have looked for 2 years and have had no luck thinking about giving up on this one
