We were somewhat upset by what we heard yesterday from each of the state presentations. We were equally upset by the presentation which was made by the National Park Service. Actually it is what we did not hear that is upsetting. While all offered plans on how they would use the funds to build new schools, new roads, or for other similar needs, no one said they would use the money to preserve any of the Civil War sites which are located within their respective jurisdictions. Nor was there any mention of the funds being used to acquire privately held property which has historical value attached to it from the Civil War. Nor did any of the presenters suggest they would use any portion of the funds to preserve Civil War monuments which currently exist. My friends and I heard no mention of using any part of the money to fund educational programs related to the war. For what it is worth, we believe it is important for us to remember our past, especially since the financial means to do so are now available.
Your Honor, thirty-two million dollars is a great deal of money. While we firmly believe the money belongs to the people of the United States, we also believe it primarily belongs to the people of those states who were part of the Confederacy. It was their relatives, their friends, and their states whose money likely created a portion of the funds that comprised the treasury of the Confederacy. The same treasury we are meeting here to discuss.
My friends and I would like to see this money divided up amongst those states who are here today, the states who truly were the states of the Confederacy. However, certain states like Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia, possibly Mississippi as well; they deserve a larger portion of the found money than the other former Confederate states do. It was those states I have mentioned who had the most prominent roles, the most battles fought in them, and who had the largest burdens placed on their civilian populations than the other states did during the war. We just think they should get a bigger slice of the pie than the other states, but everyone should get something.
Your Honor, we are meeting here in Charleston, the city which most historians, if not all, cite as being the place where the first hostile shot of the Civil War was fired. As you may know, Charleston has recently had to cancel its plans to host the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary celebration of the start of the Civil War. Like so many cities and towns across our country, Charleston is facing tough economic times. They had to cancel the anniversary celebration so essential city services could still be provided to the city’s residents. Your Honor, no matter what anyone’s position is on the Civil War, whether someone believes it was good or bad is not the issue. We all know too well the horrors of war and we all know slavery was an embarrassing blemish on our past, but the Civil War has a significant place in our country’s history. As my friends and I believe the states represented here today should get a portion of the money which has been found, we also believe the court should allocate a portion of the money to the city of Charleston. Some of the money we have found was money hidden in likely the very same cannons that fired the first shots of the war. In our opinion, Charleston should be given a portion of the money so it can properly host the anniversary celebration of our nation’s most tragic war. That celebration is not just for the people of Charleston to take part in; it is one for everyone to take part in.”
Pausing for a moment, Paul saw Mayor Davis nod his head at him. It was a nod silently thanking him for going to bat for the city and for the mayor’s political future as well.
Before he could continue, Judge Morgan asked Paul a question. “Mr. Waring, am I correct in hearing that you believe the court should come up with some simple formula and then, just as simply perhaps, divide the money between the states that are represented here? Am I also correct in hearing you believe this formula should somehow allow for a greater disbursement to the states you just mentioned? Is that what you are saying?”
“Yes, Your Honor. Each of these states made a conscious decision to leave the Union so they could support the Confederacy. Each state made their own sacrifices to the war and as they each shared in the Confederacy’s defeat, they would have also shared in the victory with the other states if they had won. If victories and defeats are to be shared, so then should the found Confederate treasury. Besides those states I have mentioned and the unique roles they each played in the war for the Confederacy, we see no real reason to complicate the distribution of part of this money. Trying to figure out which state gets what percentage of the found money based on how many battles were fought in each state or deciding who gets what based on how many soldiers each state contributed to the cause, would be a ridiculous task to try and undertake. My friends and I believe as each of the states equally shared in the bitter defeat of the Confederacy, they should also equally share their found treasury. It is a simplistic approach, but one we believe is a fair one. However, we hope the court would impose stipulations on those states who receive some of the money. It is also our hope the court will consider a couple of other allocations we would like to see made.”
Judge Morgan had been making some notes as Paul had talked, but he quickly put his pen down and interrupted the presentation being made. “Mr. Waring, did I hear you correctly? Did you say stipulations? And what other allocations would you be referring to? The majority of the states that comprised the Confederacy are here today, who else might you be referring to?”
“Yes, sir, those states are all here, except for Texas of course. I did use the term stipulations and I promise I will clarify that point in a moment. But I, I mean we, we also believe the federal government deserves to be compensated as well for its losses.”
Ronald Nihill, an Assistant Attorney General from the state of Louisiana, stood up and waited for the court to recognize him. After being recognized, he questioned Paul on his position regarding compensating the federal government with a portion of the found Confederate treasury. “Mr. Waring, why should the court consider compensating the federal government with some of this found money? It was not theirs to start with.”
“Sir, I beg to differ. Some of it, in fact, likely a very large portion, was very much their money.”
“How so?”
“Well, if I remember my history correctly, I seem to remember it was just after Louisiana seceded from the Union that a group of Confederate soldiers, secessionists, Southern patriots, or whatever they were called, and likely with a few other men from Louisiana mixed in with them, seized the United States Mint located in New Orleans and made off with a bunch of money. I seem to remember they appropriated somewhere around $20,000,000 in cash, bonds, and notes. This was all done for the benefit of the Confederacy. The money they seized was the property of the United States government. A good portion of the money was in the form of gold and silver coins, some of which may be the same very coins my friends and I have recently found. To take the point even further, I seem to recall a rather prominent Confederate general, perhaps the same one who led the attack on Fort Sumter, helped coordinate the raid on the mint.”
“Well . . . I . . .”
“To take it a step further, I also seem to remember a certain Confederate state, in fact, the same one we are meeting in today, started the hostilities of the Civil War by firing their cannons at a fort. It was Fort Sumter to be precise, a fort also owned by the United States government. Seems I remember learning about that fort and a couple of others just like it sustaining some pretty heavy damage from Confederate cannons being fired at them. I also seem to remember these forts were all located in the South.” Paul paused for a moment to look at Attorney Nihill’s reaction to his comments before continuing. “In this case it’s a pot of money, but it seems we should be fair when the pie is being sliced up. Fair is fair, at least that’s what I have always been told.”
“Sir, the United States government has enough money already, don’t y’all think?”
“Perhaps so, but if they did it seems they, just like the states sitting here, would likely be doing
a better job at preserving Fort Sumter and so many other important Civil War sites across the South. As far as I can tell they are not doing a great job at it and I suspect your states are not either. Probably comes down to a lack of money all across the board, for them and for you.”
Judge Morgan tried, but he could not help but chuckle at Paul’s comments. He knew the points raised were valid ones. They were also ones the state representatives could not logically argue against as both time and many historians had well documented the facts now being spoken about.
“Sir, we are not saying the United States government is the only entity besides you folks who should get a portion of the money. Nor are we saying they should get more than you. We believe a site in Pennsylvania should also get a portion of the money as well. Brave men from both sides died fighting for the causes they believed in at a place called Gettysburg. We as a nation, likely from a speech President Lincoln gave there, consider that to be hallowed ground. It is all of that and more. Seems to us we should be doing a better job of caring for that piece of property than we currently are so that future generations of Americans can appreciate the terrible battle which took place there. At the same time, perhaps we should also consider buying some of the adjacent land surrounding the Gettysburg battlefields, land where many a brave young Confederate soldier died while fighting for your cause. Those properties need to be preserved as much as the other sites there already have been. Especially now because we have the funding available to do so without burdening the taxpayers even more than they already are.”
Paul paused for a moment to reflect on the points he had just raised and to gather his thoughts on the points he still wanted to address.
“My friends and I are not proposing we give any money directly to the United States Treasury or to Pennsylvania. We are suggesting the court should consider allocating a portion of the funds directly to the National Park Service, with a mandate these funds are to be used exclusively for the upkeep of both Fort Sumter and Gettysburg. The mandate, in our opinion, should limit the use of these funds for three specific needs. The Park Service should be told these funds are only available for use to preserve these two locations, for use in funding continuing education programs at both locations, and for future property acquisitions which are adjacent to the Gettysburg battlefields.”
Seated as Paul had spoken, Attorney Nihill stood up from his chair to make a follow up response to Paul’s comments, but then quietly sat down. He passed on an opportunity to speak when Judge Morgan asked him if he had anything else to say.
Paul then continued with his presentation. “Your Honor, the court is in the unique position of not only being able to allocate a portion of the found money to the states which comprised the Confederacy and to the Park Service so they can care for the two national parks we have already mentioned, but the court also has the opportunity to make one more important allocation to the Park Service. This additional allocation is one which will benefit the public and not the Park Service per se. We strongly urge the court to do so. Doing so will also recognize another important anniversary in our nation’s history. As we hope Charleston will be awarded a portion of the money so the city can properly host the upcoming historic anniversary of the start of the Civil War, we also hope the court will award the Park Service a portion of the money so they can prepare our national parks for the upcoming one hundredth anniversary of our first national park. We would like to see our parks receive some much needed maintenance before this anniversary arrives. Currently the Park Service does not have the funding for completing this maintenance. We hope the court will honor our national parks with an additional allocation of money needed to restore some of them to the condition they should be in.”
Raising his right hand to indicate he had a comment to make, Virginia’s Attorney General, Robert Tolomeo, waited until Paul had finished with his comments. “Your Honor, the state of Virginia, the state where the capitol of the Confederacy was proudly located, and the home of Captain Judiah Francis, is proud to support the recommendation Mr. Waring has just made. He makes a very logical argument for a portion of the funds being granted to the federal government, specifically to the National Park Service.” In short order, the representatives of Alabama, Georgia, and North Carolina, joined Virginia in supporting Paul’s recommendation regarding the Park Service being granted a portion of the assets which once were part of the Confederate treasury. The comment made by Attorney Tolomeo gave Paul some hope that his points were being taken seriously.
“Your Honor, our friend Duke Johnson is with us today. I believe everyone here now knows about the rich history of the Johnson property in North Carolina. It is also now well-known that his granddaddy, as did Duke’s father, and as Duke himself has also done, cared for a grave on their property for many years. It was not the grave of family members they were caring for, but rather a grave which has turned out to be the resting place of three Confederate soldiers for so many years. They did so not because they knew they were tending the grave of Confederate soldiers, but rather they did so because they knew another human being had been buried there. They simply wanted the grave to be cared for. To my friends and me, as it hopefully does to all of you, the Johnson family epitomizes what Southern families, what all American families stand for, and that is caring about others. Recently his family has donated a part of their special tract of land to the state of North Carolina so it can be converted to a state park; it is being done so as we speak. It is the same land where those soldiers were buried. Your Honor, my friends and I, and without Duke knowing about this before now, believe the Johnson family should be compensated for their generous donation of that piece of land which North Carolinians and others will soon enjoy for many years to come.”
Without a moment of hesitation, North Carolina’s Attorney General, Anthony Cummings, rose to address those who were present. “I would like to thank Mr. Waring and his friends for recognizing the Johnson family and for recognizing the generous donation of some of their land so another beautiful North Carolina state park can be built. Your Honor, as Virginia has done before us on a previous recommendation of Mr. Waring’s, the state of North Carolina, in grateful appreciation to the Johnson family, who are long and proud members of our fine state since before the Civil War, recommends that this suggestion of Mr. Waring’s also be given serious consideration and approval. North Carolina believes the Johnson family should be compensated for their donation of not only the land they have given to our great state, but also for the time their family has spent caring for the grave of three brave Confederate soldiers. Thank you.”
Judge Morgan paused momentarily to reflect on the comments Mr. Cummings had made. “Mr. Cummings, the point raised by Mr. Waring regarding the Johnson family, and your subsequent support of his recommendation, will be so noted. The previous comments made by Mr. Tolomeo, which received support from you and from two other states, have already been so noted. Thank you for your comments.”
After being sure Judge Morgan had finished speaking, Paul then continued with his presentation. “Your Honor, as I have mentioned my friends and I are not filing any claims against this money despite the fact we were directly responsible for finding nearly thirty-two million dollars in gold and silver. As you all are aware, this money had been lost for years and was money no one else could find. However, I do have two requests for a small portion of this money.” Nervously, Paul paused for a brief moment before continuing. “We are requesting the court allocate one hundred thousand dollars to my friends and me for a project we are undertaking. Chick Mann and Jayne Ewald, both of whom are educators here in South Carolina, and Pete Cater, a professional videographer who has been working with us, along with our other colleagues and me, are planning on making a documentary film on what we have found during our hunt for the missing Confederate treasury. We believe this video will help preserve our nation’s history. We also believe it is simply a great story which needs telling.”
“Yes, we have, Your Honor. After all expenses are paid, any profits will be distributed to various veterans’ hospitals across the states, both in the North and in the South, who had soldiers participate in the Civil War. We would like to think the soldiers of the Civil War, who were often treated so poorly for their wounds due to the medical practices of that time, would be proud to know the story we want to tell about them might make some money to help care for our soldiers who have been injured while defending our country today. My friends and I are willing to operate under any financial guidelines set by the court to monitor the use of such funds. When the documentary starts to show any form of a profit we will be happy to demonstrate to the court and to others, anytime the court requests, how any profits have been allocated. Judge, this is a self-serving statement, but we promise we will not embarrass the court in any way if this request is approved.”
Judge Morgan, as did several others in the room, nodded their heads in silent approval at the project Paul and his friends planned to undertake. It was obvious to Paul they were pleased how profits from the film project would benefit today’s wounded soldiers.
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