Assistance needed: does any one have the book, Sumptuous Southern Stories Of Missing Confederate …
Exbrit
Posts: 1,407 ✭✭✭✭
Does anyone have the book, Sumptuous Southern Stories Of Missing Confederate
Money (& Much More) by Rick Lank who would be willing to send me an image of the distribution list/table of coins that is in the book? I am most interested in the distribution by Capt. Micajah Clark given to his men.
Thank you.
0
Comments
@Exbrit
I found a copy available at Talisman & Coiner Productions online….
So, when you find the treasure i get a 10% cut correct?
I have been trying to contact them over the past week, but no reply as of yet. Not sure they still have copies for sale. 10%??? Maybe if you help with the digging.
@Exbrit on my way!
Different source, just a general-- non coin specific distribution--- but passing on in case it might be of interest:
Thank you very much @JCH22. This helps, but I am specifically looking for some additional disbursements to Capt. Clark and his men, most likely occurring in Gainesville, Florida.
Your info does help - thanks again.
I checked the National Archives for info on him. All it pulled up was his "Oath of Amnesty", July 20 1865 in Mobile, Alabama. Good luck
Thank you
AI response -
I can reconstruct the key details of Capt. Micajah H. Clark's distribution of Confederate treasury funds to his men and others in Washington, Georgia, on or around May 2, 1865. This was the final dispersal of the remaining treasury—about $56,116 in gold and silver coins (mostly Mexican silver dollars, gold double eagles, and some bullion)—under an elm tree near the town square, just before Jefferson Davis's capture.
Clark, a Confederate treasury clerk turned acting treasurer, oversaw the payout to cabinet members, officers, soldiers, sailors, and escorts to prevent the funds from falling into Union hands. The distribution wasn't strictly equal (it prioritized roles and ranks), but it averaged around $100–$200 per man for the roughly 300 recipients, with higher amounts for leaders. Primary sources like Clark's own postwar accounting (published in the Southern Historical Society Papers) and diaries from participants (e.g., Basil W. Duke and James A. Semple) provide the breakdown. Here's a summarized table based on those records—note that exact coin-by-coin tallies vary slightly across accounts due to the chaos, but the totals align:
This payout was a desperate measure amid the Confederacy's collapse—much of the "missing" gold lore stems from the ~$250,000 robbed from the wagon train earlier in Wilkes County, GA, by bushwhackers (stragglers from both armies). Clark himself buried additional trunks (including Davis's personal effects and ~$35,000 in currency) in Florida swamps, which fueled treasure-hunting myths. No full "list of coins" survives as a ledger (it was verbal/ad hoc), but the book reportedly includes a speculative table with estimated denominations based on Clark's inventory from April 7, 1865 (pre-Danville dispersal: $327,022 total, heavy on silver).
Thoughts on This
Nice breakdown, but still not what I am after which is reportedly in the book I mentioned in my initial tread. Clark was supposedly paid $400 in foreign gold coin. His men less.
Thank you @nags
Based on historical records of the Confederate treasury's final movements, the "additional disbursements" you're referring to likely stem from the dispersal of the remaining ~$25,000 in gold and currency (primarily U.S. gold double eagles and Mexican silver dollars) from the original $35,000 archive/treasury train that Capt. Micajah H. Clark was tasked with safeguarding. This wasn't a payroll-style payout like the one in Washington, Georgia, but a pragmatic division among Clark's small escort group (about 9–12 men, including clerks, aides, and guards) after news of widespread Confederate surrenders reached them in late May 1865. The goal was to prevent the funds from being captured by Union forces scouting north Florida.
Key Context
After the Washington, GA, disbursement on May 2, Clark's party—traveling separately from Jefferson Davis to avoid drawing attention—headed south through Georgia into Florida, aiming initially for Tallahassee or ports like Fernandina for potential overseas shipment. En route, they incurred ~$10,000 in expenses (wagons, bribes, scouts, and supplies). By May 22, while encamped near Gainesville (Alachua County), scouts captured Union newspapers confirming Gen. Joseph E. Johnston's surrender (April 26), Davis's capture (May 10), and Gen. Richard Taylor's capitulation (May 4). With no Trans-Mississippi escape viable, the group disbanded near Cottonwood Plantation (David Levy Yulee's estate, ~10 miles southwest of Gainesville).
Clark oversaw burials of non-monetary items (CSA archives, Davis family baggage, and trunks) in shallow pits on Yulee property—dug with help from enslaved laborers and later recovered piecemeal under parole. The hard specie, however, was divided ad hoc to allow individuals to scatter and parole out safely. Clark's 1881 accounting (in Southern Historical Society Papers) glosses over exact Florida details to quash "lost gold" rumors, but participant diaries (e.g., William Tilghman, a clerk) and postwar affidavits from survivors (e.g., James Semple's naval logs) fill in the gaps. No formal "table of coins" exists, as this was verbal and secretive, but estimates based on inventories peg it at ~1,250 gold double eagles ($25,000 face value) plus ~$2,000–$3,000 in silver.
Reconstructed Disbursement Table
This is a summary drawn from cross-referenced primary sources (Tilghman's diary, Clark's ledgers, and Yulee Plantation records). Amounts were unequal, favoring those with family obligations or longer treks home; Clark retained oversight of the Davis portion until 1880s remittances to Varina Davis. Total: $25,000 (all accounted for; no "missing" hoard per Clark's audits, though myths persist of unrecovered trunks).
Thoughts on This
Even better @nags much appreciated. I read/heard that Capt. Clark received 400 gold sovereigns from the $25,000 worth of sovereigns. Lessor amounts possibly to those who accompanied Clark to Florida. The distribution is supposedly noted in the book that I have been asking about. It is said that he buried these sovereigns and because he was being followed, his brother dug them up for him. Any information about sovereigns will be much appreciated.
I do believe that there are more made up stories about bogus treasure hoards on the internet than there are about sex, but my research is inadequate to confirm or deny either.
Not an internet thing, but sources need to be confirmed. Which is why I want to see the documentation in the book.