During his presentation, and during each of the interviews he did, Paul failed to tell the reporters the grave site of the three soldiers was also likely the same spot Captain Francis had chosen to bury some of the Confederate gold and silver he had been charged with moving south. The same gold and silver Southerners had talked so much about over the years that it had become a legend. He had not failed to tell the reporters about what other secrets the grave site held. It had been his plan all along not to do just that.
******
After the media finally left, Paul went over and sat down next to Bobby Ray. He had waited patiently until the interviews had been completed. From the facial expressions he displayed, it was obvious Bobby Ray was still upset. Now Paul did his best to calm him down. “Look, I know you think I should have told you about finding these items, but I didn’t tell you about them because I didn’t want to put you in a situation that would have made you feel uncomfortable. I didn’t want you to feel obligated to have to tell your boss about these items if he asked you any questions. Besides, I just found these items, I didn’t steal them and I am going to turn them over to some historical society or to someone else when this is over, I promise!”
“What is it that you want, Paul? What do you expect to find from these items you kept? I just don’t understand why you couldn’t tell me about them!” Bobby Ray was still upset with his friend, one he thought he could trust.
“Like I said, I didn’t want to put you in an uncomfortable position with your boss, OK?”
“No, that’s not OK!” The tone of Bobby Ray’s voice reflected the displeasure he was now feeling towards Paul. “I appreciate y’all looking out for me, but I’ve been a cop a long time, so why don’t you just stop jerking my chain and just tell me the real reason you didn’t let me know what was going on! What do you think you are going to find from this big mystery of yours? Perhaps another saber, another bayonet or two, or maybe even his musket, or is it the bones of three dead soldiers your morbid curiosity wants to find? Wow, big deal!”
Paul looked around the large conference room to make sure no one else was still in the room before he responded to his friend. Seeing no one except Chick and Jayne, he calmly spoke to his friend. “Bobby Ray, any of that would be nice to find, but I expect to find at least ten million dollars of buried Confederate gold and silver.”
“Yeah, sure.” His friend scoffed at him.
Before he spoke again, Paul stood up and reached into his pants pocket. Withdrawing the gold coins he had found near the soldier’s remains, he sat back down and handed the coins to Bobby Ray. “Well, here’s part of it. Ten million is what I expect to find on the low end, but I hope its worth much more than that when we find it all. I believe I have found the clues we will need to find it. This is the same gold and silver you Southerners have talked about for years, the same gold and silver from the missing Confederate treasury.” He paused for a moment as Bobby Ray examined the gold coins. The next question was one Paul already knew the answer to, but he still asked it anyways. “You coming to help me find this money? I could sure use your help or are you still that ticked off at me?”
“You ain’t joking with me, are you?” The anger Bobby Ray had previously allowed to fester inside of him was now spent. He was stunned by both the gold coins he was now holding in his hands and by what his friend had just told him.
Paul then explained the press conference had been a staged event; one done with an ulterior motive. “I had to pull some kind of stunt to try and find the wooden cross we know existed at one time. I didn’t tell you about that either as I did not want you to get in trouble with your boss.”
Looking up from the gold coins he had been examining, Bobby Ray asked only one more question. “You think you can find it?”
“Bobby Ray, the question is not if I am going to find it, but rather the question should be when am I going to find it. I don’t know what ten million dollars in gold and silver coins looks like, but it has to be one big pile of coins. I will tell you that I am not pulling your leg about this. Just one thing though, if you are coming to help me, you need to promise me you will not mention this to anyone, not even to your lovely wife. You promise?”
“Ten million dollars . . . . wow! Yeah, I promise, and you bet I’m tagging along on this here hunt. I ain’t letting some damn Yankee dig up the whole dang state of North Carolina looking for gold without me being there. Damn straight I’m gonna be there!”
Paul laughed at what Bobby Ray had just said. He knew his friend had gotten over being mad at him. “Bobby Ray, I promise, no more secrets. Now listen, your first job is to follow me to the bank. I want you to help me put some of these items in a large safety deposit box I have rented so they are under lock and key. Too many people will soon know about them and I don’t want them to go missing. Do that for me and then I’ll buy you a beer or two back at my place. OK?”
“Let’s get it done. I need a beer already!”
“Good. We still friends?”
“Not right now we ain’t. Perhaps when you buy me that beer we will be, but right now we ain’t.”
Bobby Ray’s answer made Paul laugh again. Then with Chick and Jayne in tow, the four of them, along with their precious artifacts, started back to Murrells Inlet so they could lock up whatever they could fit in the safety deposit box.
After securing those items they went back to Paul’s house for a few cold beers. Then they sat and waited for the phone to ring. They hoped it would be someone telling them where Captain Judiah Francis had buried the gold and silver.
Summer, 1863
20
Georgetown to Charleston.
“Well, it is over now. The battle is lost, and many of us are prisoners, many are dead,
many wounded, bleeding and dying.”
Major General George Pickett, CSA, Gettysburg, 4 July 1863
It had been a warm gentle rain which had fallen on them during most of the night, but dawn had brought clearing skies and the clean fresh feeling in the morning air gave a nice start to the new day for Francis and his men.
Sgt. Odom had been out scouting the area around their camp to make sure they were not being watched or about to be ambushed by Union troops, but now he returned to camp to report that nary a sole was in sight. The men knew the day was going to be a day of rest for them as Francis was soon to leave them so he could scout the area around Georgetown. They also knew he would try to obtain some fresh food for their journey to Charleston as little was left in the wagons in the form of provisions. They all enjoyed the rare lazy start to the day by drinking their morning coffee and hanging their still wet clothing, wet from the previous night’s rain, from every available space they could find on the wagons so it could dry in the sun.
Before he left for Georgetown, Francis spoke with his men, telling them Odom was coming with him. He would be driving one of the wagons so the provisions could be brought back to camp. Francis warned the others about being too lazy during the day, telling them to make sure they kept a close lookout for approaching Yankee troops and other strangers. “Enjoy the easy day y’all have in front of you, but make sure someone is out riding around the camp. I best not come back to find the gold and silver missing, for if I do y’all better be dead from defending it. Y’all hear me?” His men knew he was joking with them, but they also knew he was serious about someone being awake and protecting their precious cargo the whole time he was gone.
After a short morning ride, Francis and Odom entered Georgetown. They stopped at Wood’s General Store, on Front Street, to obtain what was available in provisions for their journey towards Charleston the following day. They had already stopped at a small Confederate Quartermaster’s Office in town, but the shelves were bare of provisions.
“Captain, I ain’t got much left, but what I got you certainly can have for a fair price. I know you soldier boys got it tough. I doubt you boy
s are likely eating too well these days. I got some corn meal, a small amount of flour, some dried beans, a few onions, and some carrots, but that’s about all the food I can spare at a fair price. Will that do?”
“If that’s all you have, then that will do fine. My men and I appreciate your help. As you guessed, we have not had much to eat recently so anything you can spare is a blessing. Write the bill up and I’ll sign for it. You can get reimbursed down at the Quartermaster’s Office. I was able to get a couple of new blankets from them this morning, but what they had left in food had been shipped out in wagons two days ago. Pickings are getting slim, I guess.”
“Yes, sir, that they are. Say, you know we got us a bunch of wild pigs running around on the outskirts of town, folks will show you where they are. Perhaps one of your men can shoot one and you can have a right fine meal tonight. They’s good eating, I hear.”
“OK, thanks.” Francis gave the suggestion about shooting one of the wild pigs a brief thought, but for now his main interest was getting back to his men outside of town.
As Francis turned to leave, James Wood, the proprietor of the store stopped him. “Captain, wait a moment, I’ve got something for you!” Wood then disappeared into the store’s back room. As he returned to where Francis had been waiting for him, he set two bottles of liquor down on his wooden counter. In appreciation for his service to the Confederacy, Wood graciously presented them to Francis. “Captain, I don’t see much money these days, mostly folks trade their goods with me for food or supplies. Fella from town traded me these two bottles of spirits for some things he needed. I’d like you and your men to have them.”
“Thank you, Mr. Wood. I am most grateful to you for your kindness.”
As they had spent a few more minutes talking, Francis noticed a change had quickly come over James Wood. He noticed sadness had quickly appeared in Wood’s face.
“Captain, this life we are all leading these days, you know with the threat of war coming further south every day, well that’s no way for decent folks to live. Life has already been too unfair to me personally. I don’t need the war to stop at my doorstep and neither do the folks who live in these parts. I’m already a broken man in life, a sad man really, been that way since my wife passed away. Her name was Susan. Susan Schilling it was before we were married. I always loved the way her name sounded when I spoke it. She’s been dead almost nine years now, she died during a difficult childbirth; so did our infant son. We had chosen Michael for a boy’s name. You know, I have somehow managed to live without them, but the pain of losing them is still with me. I think of them everyday, her especially, and still talk to them each night when I finally put my head down at the end of the day. That likely sounds corny to you, but it helps me stay sane somehow. The pain I still feel is different than the pain I likely would have felt if I had sent a son out to fight against them Yankees and he had gotten killed in some type of fight. Don’t know if I ever could have gotten over that kind of loss. My wife and my son dying like they did, well that I can deal with as I figured the good Lord just brought them home to the Promised Land a little earlier than I expected, but losing a son in a war, well that’s just a damn waste of a life. Too many folks, Northern and Southern families alike, folks just like us, are grieving these days over the loss of a loved one, lost in this terrible war. Personally I don’t care if they are Yankees or Southern folks like us; I just feel for them. I hate to say such a terrible thing, but in some perverse way I am glad my son did not live to see this war. Who knows how long it’s gonna last, but him gone off fighting some place would have scared me to death; news of him being killed would have likely killed me also.”
As he finished speaking, Wood paused for a few moments before he spoke again. As he paused, Francis could see the tears which had welled up in Wood’s eyes, tears clearly caused by the painful memory he lived with every day. As he put his hand on the shoulder of James Wood to comfort him, Francis had no way of knowing this was the first time he had spoken to anyone about the loss of his family in almost five years. He had done so to a total stranger.
“Captain, please forgive me as I should not have put the burden of my loss on your shoulders today. I am sure you have far too much on your mind already. Sir, please forgive me.”
“Mr. Wood, I assure you that you have nothing to apologize for. Sometimes we need to talk about matters like these to others. I am honored you did so with me. I am truly sorry for the loss you have had to carry for these past many years. I am not sure I would have been able to endure such a loss as well as you have.”
Wood shrugged and offered a weak smile to the compliment Francis had given him. “I am not so sure I have coped with my loss very well. I have often felt that I have just carried on as best I could, just as my wife would have wanted me to do.”
An uncomfortable and awkward silence then existed briefly between the two men before Wood broke the silence.
“Captain, your men are likely the type of men I would have hoped my son would have become, so give these bottles to your boys and tell them Georgetown appreciates what they are doing for us. Let them all have a drink on me tonight, ain’t gonna harm nothing. That one bottle there has got a picture of George Washington himself on it. Pretty fancy, don’t you think?” Wood finally smiled again, free of the sadness he had just felt.
Placing the two bottles inside his uniform blouse, Francis shook hands with James Wood, thanking him for his generosity. “Mr. Wood, I know the men will appreciate your kindness. I will make sure they know you were thinking of them. They will indeed enjoy a taste of your spirits tonight with their meal.” Then, as Wood walked with him to the wagon Odom was loading the supplies into, Francis asked him what he knew about any Union troop movements in the area.
“We ain’t seen any Yankees down this way yet, but we heard about some Union cavalry being seen up north in Cherokee County. Heard they burned down a few barns up there also. Best y’all be keeping a sharp lookout though as they likely will be upon us soon enough.”
“What about Charleston? Heard of any problems down there with Union troops or with the Union blockade?”
“Ain’t heard about any Yankee troops there, but we heard a bit back the Union boys were going to try and seal the city off. You know, try to starve them into a surrender and all. Ain’t happened yet, but it might. From what I’ve heard the city gets a few shells thrown at it once in a while from them Union navy boats, but nothing too bad from what I dun been told. I hear our boys fire right back at them. We got the whole harbor surrounded with our guns so I doubt them Union boys are gonna risk having their ships sunk right out from underneath themselves. I know I wouldn’t risk it!”
“How about the railroads? Any still running?”
“Not that I know of. Between train and track problems, as well as sabotage by either the Yankees or their supporters, I dun heard our folks are too afraid to run them out of fear of losing more train engines. Costs too much to fix them and ain’t no one skilled enough to be working on them when they do break down these days. Them regular train people are out fighting the war and working on trains in other places I’ve been told. Heard Chattanooga, you know where a great many of them trains run through there on their way south, heard fighting is fierce up there. Dun disrupted a great many of them trains running through there. Damn shame too, we need them trains to be running. Damn shame, that’s what it is!”
Shaking hands with Wood again, Francis climbed up on his horse and gave him a wave goodbye. He then started riding alongside the wagon which Odom had already turned back towards their camp and to the men who waited for their return.
They had been riding for about twenty minutes outside of town, Francis reflecting upon the sad story James Wood had told him, when Odom, who had been staring down at the ground on the right side of the wagon, turned and looked at Francis. “Captain, you may not be able to see this, but look over here. Some riders been through
here recently, looks like maybe four, maybe five sets of fresh horse tracks.” As Francis moved to see the tracks which had been left in the soft soil, he immediately felt an uneasy feeling enter his stomach. The tracks led in the direction of where his men were waiting for them back in camp.
“Sergeant, take the wagon west and into the line of trees up there above the camp. But stay on the backside of the hill so you are less likely to be seen. I’m going to ride up ahead. I’ll meet you in the tree line. Do what you can to keep the horses quiet.”
By the time Odom arrived in the tree line, Francis had confirmed his worst fear. Looking down at where they had been camped, he saw his men had been surprised by four strangers on horseback, strangers who now had his men seated on the ground and away from the wagons. As his men sat on the ground, they each held their hands behind their heads. What Francis and Odom looked down on was not a good sight to see.
“Captain, look over near the campfire, I think that’s Griffin laying face down on the ground.” Francis had been too busy making sure he counted the right number of strangers within the camp to notice Griffin was down on the ground and likely dead. He momentarily bowed his head over what the loss of another man would mean to the success of his mission.
Francis then told Odom what he wanted done. “We need to move off to our left so we can put the wagons between us and those men. After we get closer to the wagons we need to make a run at them before they see us coming. When we reach the wagons you go for the two men on the left and I will go after the two others on the right. Take your time, but make sure you get at least one of them. It looks like they are too concerned about what is going on down there as they have yet to look up here or anywhere else for several minutes. Go quickly as possible, but be as quiet as you can, we need to catch them boys off guard. You ready?”
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