I overheard a couple of guys talking in Applebee’s here in Kanawha city a few days ago about some supposed treasure. I’m not sure how much of it I believe, but I wrote down what I remembered of it. They weren’t being all that quiet about it, but it’s not like they were shouting either. I only really noticed because they were sitting at the table next to us. I don’t know how much of the story I missed, mind you, it’s not like I was there for anything other than dinner with my fiancé. So then, I started paying attention when I heard them talking about a payroll chest, I didn't hear if it was captured from the confederates or if it was a union one though.
From what I heard, it sounded like there had been some kind of battle going on in Virginia, and that they had been looting houses late in the civil war. If names were mentioned, I didn’t hear them. Supposedly, the officer in charge of payroll had gotten drunk (as well as most of the army? I wasn’t too clear on that). Supposedly there were five people originally, and they had gotten their hands on a chest containing paper currency as well as silver and copper coins. I never once heard an amount mentioned, and I didn’t ask them. The five men were supposedly disgusted with the actions of their fellows, and had chosen to desert. They took this chest, as well as all of the loot they could find, and fled Virginia to the North West. The main guy talking believed that he’d tracked them to Charleston, and was convinced that they had hid the treasure here.
This guy said that he’d read that they had taken sanctuary at the First Presbyterian Church early in 1865, and that by this time there were two left alive. He claimed to believe that one of the survivors was related to someone in the church at the time. He claimed to think that they hid their treasure on the property. I really wish I’d gotten some names, but I did a little research all the same. I went looking to see if the 1st Presbyterian was even around during the Civil War era. I found an article from an old paper listed below. It was a “Remember when” article from: 11-6-1938
"(Remember) when the Kanawha Presbyterian church was founded over 80 or more years ago? The precise date is lost. It was the first Presbyterian church in the Kanawha Valley, the parent church to all that have since taken root here. The Rev. Henry Ruffner, D.D., LL.D., a native of Charleston and afterwards president of Washington College (now Washington and Lee University), first preached here, and probably organized the church. The church property extended from Kanawha to Virginia street."
If that's right, it could have been around from as late as 1858. It would have been a fairly new church before the Civil War started. I haven't found any real information on when it was founded beyond this article, and I haven't been up there to ask around yet.
My source for that article: Kanawha County history sources
The other thing I was looking for was any kind of drunken army during the Civil War from Virginia. I hadn’t heard anything about that kind of lack of discipline in the union forces, but I’m a transplant. I’m originally from Arizona, and most of the treasure I've researched has to do with the Superstition Mountains and Native American gold. With just a little bit of looking I found the below information. It was an article about some army units that attacked Weldon railroad in Virginia. The army had gotten drunk and was committing atrocities. I noticed the specific information on missing people:
“Casualties stemming from the expedition were not specifically reported, but we know that the Union lost approximately 200 infantry and 130 cavalry, including 225 missing. Confederate losses were unrecorded.”
I'm not sure if that was from the entire engagement, or just from the original force. The time frame was Early December 1864 (If they were real and did desert it was probably after the 9th, but before the 15th.) and supposedly the looting got worse and went into outright atrocities. 1-6 Union soldiers were found dead on the steps of the Sussex County Courthouse, and were the reason given for the additional burning, pillaging and raping of the area. I say 1-6 as opposed to 2-6 since I noticed later on that the journal of one Major General Gouverneur Warren only mentioned seeing a single instance of seeing a soldier with his throat cut.
Source: Union Soldiers
Here’s the thing though, I can’t find any information about this story anywhere else. Sure, the story could be true, but even if these five really had fled from VA, there’s no way that I know of to say for sure they actually came this way. Literacy among commoners of the day isn’t nearly what it is today, so I wouldn't necessarily expect to find a journal from any of them at the local library. If nothing else, they were fairly expensive for the time. While the guy talking seemed like he believed the story, for all I know he was making it up to impress his friend. It was an interesting idea and I thought I’d share it here.
I plan to head up there sometime, but my metal detector didn't survive the trip up here. I plan to ask around more after I've got a new one, see if maybe some of the old timers up here might have heard anything about Union soldiers coming up here around the end of the war. Who knows, maybe I'll get lucky. The big thing to me is that I never heard how much was in this chest, and if they carried it I don't think it was likely to be too big. If it's real, and really hidden on the property, it could be anywhere from buried on the property to hidden in the church.
From what I heard, it sounded like there had been some kind of battle going on in Virginia, and that they had been looting houses late in the civil war. If names were mentioned, I didn’t hear them. Supposedly, the officer in charge of payroll had gotten drunk (as well as most of the army? I wasn’t too clear on that). Supposedly there were five people originally, and they had gotten their hands on a chest containing paper currency as well as silver and copper coins. I never once heard an amount mentioned, and I didn’t ask them. The five men were supposedly disgusted with the actions of their fellows, and had chosen to desert. They took this chest, as well as all of the loot they could find, and fled Virginia to the North West. The main guy talking believed that he’d tracked them to Charleston, and was convinced that they had hid the treasure here.
This guy said that he’d read that they had taken sanctuary at the First Presbyterian Church early in 1865, and that by this time there were two left alive. He claimed to believe that one of the survivors was related to someone in the church at the time. He claimed to think that they hid their treasure on the property. I really wish I’d gotten some names, but I did a little research all the same. I went looking to see if the 1st Presbyterian was even around during the Civil War era. I found an article from an old paper listed below. It was a “Remember when” article from: 11-6-1938
"(Remember) when the Kanawha Presbyterian church was founded over 80 or more years ago? The precise date is lost. It was the first Presbyterian church in the Kanawha Valley, the parent church to all that have since taken root here. The Rev. Henry Ruffner, D.D., LL.D., a native of Charleston and afterwards president of Washington College (now Washington and Lee University), first preached here, and probably organized the church. The church property extended from Kanawha to Virginia street."
If that's right, it could have been around from as late as 1858. It would have been a fairly new church before the Civil War started. I haven't found any real information on when it was founded beyond this article, and I haven't been up there to ask around yet.
My source for that article: Kanawha County history sources
The other thing I was looking for was any kind of drunken army during the Civil War from Virginia. I hadn’t heard anything about that kind of lack of discipline in the union forces, but I’m a transplant. I’m originally from Arizona, and most of the treasure I've researched has to do with the Superstition Mountains and Native American gold. With just a little bit of looking I found the below information. It was an article about some army units that attacked Weldon railroad in Virginia. The army had gotten drunk and was committing atrocities. I noticed the specific information on missing people:
“Casualties stemming from the expedition were not specifically reported, but we know that the Union lost approximately 200 infantry and 130 cavalry, including 225 missing. Confederate losses were unrecorded.”
I'm not sure if that was from the entire engagement, or just from the original force. The time frame was Early December 1864 (If they were real and did desert it was probably after the 9th, but before the 15th.) and supposedly the looting got worse and went into outright atrocities. 1-6 Union soldiers were found dead on the steps of the Sussex County Courthouse, and were the reason given for the additional burning, pillaging and raping of the area. I say 1-6 as opposed to 2-6 since I noticed later on that the journal of one Major General Gouverneur Warren only mentioned seeing a single instance of seeing a soldier with his throat cut.
Source: Union Soldiers
Here’s the thing though, I can’t find any information about this story anywhere else. Sure, the story could be true, but even if these five really had fled from VA, there’s no way that I know of to say for sure they actually came this way. Literacy among commoners of the day isn’t nearly what it is today, so I wouldn't necessarily expect to find a journal from any of them at the local library. If nothing else, they were fairly expensive for the time. While the guy talking seemed like he believed the story, for all I know he was making it up to impress his friend. It was an interesting idea and I thought I’d share it here.
I plan to head up there sometime, but my metal detector didn't survive the trip up here. I plan to ask around more after I've got a new one, see if maybe some of the old timers up here might have heard anything about Union soldiers coming up here around the end of the war. Who knows, maybe I'll get lucky. The big thing to me is that I never heard how much was in this chest, and if they carried it I don't think it was likely to be too big. If it's real, and really hidden on the property, it could be anywhere from buried on the property to hidden in the church.
