[Josh] So Jefferson Davis is on the run with 40 barrels
of gold and silver. -Exactly.
That's Civil War history in your hand right there.
Could this have been part of the robbery?
Absolutely.
Josh, I think this is the best evidence we have
of where the money ended up.
It's an eyewitness account.
[Josh] From someone who was there?
From someone who was there.
-[Josh] Is that a coin? -That is.
-What's the date? -1861!
Oh!
There's areas back in there that have never been searched.
Pretty good hit here.
-Oh! -Oh, it's a coin!
Hunting for treasure on Jet Skis!
-So our mission is to find this lost road. -Yes.
Ha! Troy, look at this!
Watch out!
[Troy] We're on the verge of treasure hunting history.
Dig it all.
Oh! Troy?
Troy, get over here.
It was, as they say, brother against brother.
For four years, from 1861 to 1865,
the United States was locked in a brutal civil war
between the Southern Confederacy and the Union states.
As the war reaches its bloody conclusion,
Confederate President Jefferson Davis moves
vast amounts of money out of Richmond, Virginia,
desperate to keep it out of Northern hands.
He escapes with $900,000 worth of Mexican silver
and American gold,
a fortune in ultra-rare coins that would be valued in
the hundreds of millions today.
We know this immense treasury
makes it as far south as Georgia.
But then, in the dead of night, much of it is stolen
in a brazen ambush by former Confederate soldiers,
who make off with bags filled with loot,
which they then bury in the woods.
And just like that,
the legend of the lost Civil War gold is born.
It's a puzzle that's gone unsolved
for more than 160 years,
and one that people have been bugging me about
since I first got into the mystery hunting game.
People are obsessed with this story,
but is the money out there,
or is everyone just whistling Dixie?
Now, new historical evidence may finally reveal
the true story.
My old friend, treasure hunter Troy McCormick, is using
a newly uncovered witness account to challenge
where most people think the gold ended up.
And another legend says Jefferson Davis himself
may have stashed untold millions nearby.
And a statement from one of his own men may reveal
the location of the fortune.
Fantastic fiction or forgotten American history?
Join me as I cross the Mason-Dixon line
in search of lost gold, hidden secrets,
and a legend that refuses to stay buried.
The past is all around us.
Look! It's working!
A world of mystery.
This is the Thunderbolt! Yes!
Danger.
-Fire in the hole! -Whoa!
And adventure.
That's gold.
Oh, whoa! Look at this place.
I travel to the far corners of the earth to uncover
where legends end...
-It's a key! -It's a key!
...and history begins.
OK, let's punch it.
I'm Josh Gates and this is "Expedition Unknown."
♪♪
[Josh] To track down the truth behind legends of Confederate gold,
I head south to the Peach State.
This is the town of Washington, Georgia,
population 3,623.
Well, 3,624 now that I'm here.
And it is a little slice of Southern charm, complete with
weathered storefronts, sleepy porches,
and over 100 homes built before the Civil War.
Now, if you half remember middle school history
like I do, shout out to Mrs. Johnson,
you know that the Civil War ended on April 9th, 1865,
when General Robert E. Lee's army surrendered
to Ulysses S. Grant in Virginia.
[music builds then abruptly fades out]
Except, what if that's not when the Civil War ended at all?
What if Mrs. Johnson lied to us?
Because it turns out that the Civil War actually ended
nearly a month later, not in Virginia,
but right here in Georgia.
It's true, of course, that Lee surrenders
at Appomattox Courthouse,
but the president of the Confederacy, Jefferson Davis,
is one of history's sorest losers,
refusing to accept that the war is over
until Union troops are on his doorstep.
He flees the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia,
with $900,000,
in today's numbers, about 20 million bucks.
Davis planned to lick his wounds out west before
using that money to fund another attack on the Yankees.
For almost a month, Davis and the gold stay ahead
of pursuing Union troops, until on May 4th,
they arrive in Washington, Georgia.
The gold and silver are locked in a vault
at the State of Georgia Bank, and Davis,
finally accepting that he's lost,
convenes a meeting of his cabinet
just outside that vault, where he officially,
and finally, disbands the Confederacy.
According to the plaque outside, it says that
"At this meeting,
"the Confederate government was dissolved.
"The last official papers were signed
"and the residue of coin and bullion
"brought from Richmond was disposed of
and that the officials separated to make their escape."
So, disposed of how and escaped to where?
We have a lot of questions. Time for some answers.
And to get those answers,
I'm going to the Washington Historical Museum
to meet the guy who literally wrote the book on this story,
author and former mayor of Augusta, Georgia -- Bob Young.
-Hey! -[Bob] Hello, Josh.
[Josh] Mayor Young, nice to meet you.
Welcome to Washington, Georgia.
Thrilled to be here.
Hey, listen, you can park that mayor thing.
-That expedition's over. -That's in the past.
-It's gone. -Happily retired?
Very much so.
I'm actually happy you're retired, too, because I know
that you've been doing some writing.
I have, I've written some history books,
one in particular that I think you're interested in...
-Yes. -...because it's about a treasure hunt.
That's right.
So, "Graball Road:
The True Story of the Civil War's Greatest Mystery."
And I have to say, I think that's accurate.
You know, we get lots of e-mails,
suggestions about things we should investigate. -[Bob] Sure.
I cannot believe the amount of people who've reached out
saying you've got to look into this Civil War gold story.
And so, in your research, what did you come up with?
I came across some very interesting documents.
What I'd like to do is share those with you.
-[Josh] OK. -And maybe that'll answer your question.
I love it. Please, let's see what you found.
OK.
[Josh] Bob leads me inside to the museum archives,
where we pass through an incredible collection of
Civil War-era artifacts, including a desk belonging to
Jefferson Davis that came with him from Richmond.
It's the perfect size for, you know, when you're being
pursued by the entire Union Army, but you still have
important paperwork to attend to.
You have to have a desk.
-Gotta have a desk, right? -You have to.
[Josh] One thing is for certain, though, Davis had plenty of
accounting to do on his way to Georgia.
There's actually two sources
of this Confederate treasure, right?
-Two pots of money. -[Josh] Right.
One of it is the money that the government ran on,
the Confederate treasury.
Right, so this is the actual funds of
the Confederate government. -[Bob] Yes, sir.
-OK. -Pot number two is the deposits
of the banks of Richmond.
So Richmond, capital of Confederacy, they're afraid
they're gonna fall to Union forces.
They say, "Let's get all the money out of the banks
and get it out of town." -[Bob] Absolutely.
And each pot is worth how much?
-About $450,000. -Each?
-Each. -[Josh] OK.
All that money gets loaded onto a train and ends up here
in Washington, Georgia. -In Washington, Georgia.
[Josh] The first $450,000 from the Confederate treasury,
worth a cool $10 million or more today, is dispersed by
Davis to pay soldiers and debts.
But he doesn't touch the other half,
the money from the Virginia banks.
That stays in the vault while Davis flees town.
He's captured four days later with only a few dollars
in his pocket.
And so Jefferson Davis is gone.
That money's sitting in a bank vault.
-What happens to it? -[Bob] The war is over.
The banks in Richmond made very stringent efforts to get
their money back up to Richmond. -Sure.
And on the 24th of May of 1865,
all the money's loaded into 40 barrels,
which are loaded onto five wagons.
Each wagon has a teamster to drive it.
The federal government provides seven soldiers
to be a guard for it.
And there are also four bank clerks
from Richmond, Virginia, who are with the wagons.
And let's talk about what's in these 40 barrels.
It's coinage, right? It's not paper money at all.
Yeah, no paper money, no bullion.
It's all coins.
There's some Mexican reals, but principally $20 gold coins.
Double eagles, they were called.
[Josh] The 19th century gold $20 piece,
now known as the double eagle,
is considered one of the rarest and most valuable
of American coins.
A single one can today fetch up to $30,000 or more,
and this robbery involved thousands of them.
And you probably know the silver eight real coins better
as pieces of eight,
once the common currency on most pirate ships.
All of this money is in these wagons and there's only
seven guards? -Yes, sir.
These seem like the perfect conditions for a robbery.
Josh, they don't seem like the perfect conditions.
They are the perfect conditions.
[Josh] The story goes that after leaving Washington
with the gold, the wagon train pulls off the old road
and sets up camp for the night at a nearby plantation,
sleeping in a horse lot that had space for five wagons
and the company of 16 men.
Late that night, a group of 20 Confederate cavalrymen
from Tennessee, possibly wearing stolen Union uniforms,
approaches the wagons and surprises
the Union soldiers who are escorting the money,
taking them out without firing a shot.
Nobody was hurt.
A lot of dignity was damaged
as a result of this. -For sure.
Then the robbers crack open the barrels,
stuffing their saddlebags, pockets, and boots with
thousands of the double eagles and silver reals before fleeing
into the nearby ravines and gullies,
littering the forest floor with spilled coins.
And because that much gold and silver proves too heavy
to haul quickly, the bandits then bury much of it
in the nearby woods.
The stories have created generations of treasure hunters
who have pursued the Confederate stash.
None have found it.
So for the last 160 years,
where have people been looking for this treasure?
They've been looking at the Chennault Plantation.
OK, what is that?
The Chennault Plantation is a 1,200-acre plantation,
which lies between Washington and the Savannah River.
And so people thought maybe that's where this wagon train
stopped for the night?
They did, that's what they thought, because some
of the robbers, the Tennessee Cavalry veterans,
were camped at the Chennault Plantation.
Uh-huh, I take it, though, you don't think that's where
people should be looking?
Well, if you do your research like I did, you're gonna find
something very interesting.
[Josh] In his own search for the robbery site,
Bob uncovered a long-overlooked letter in this very library,
written by a woman named Mary Lane,
who lived a mile away from the Chennault Farm
at a different estate, this one called the Moss Plantation.
So in her account, she says...
"One evening, just before dark, a man rode up to the front gate
"of our home and asked permission to camp
"in our horse lot.
"He said he had some loaded wagons,
"which he wanted his men to drive in
and camp for the night."
And then it says, "The next morning, early,
"one of our Tennessee boys came into the house and told father
"that he and some comrades had robbed those wagons
"as they were loaded with gold and silver money.
"They had hidden the money in the woods and gullies and in
every place where they thought no one would find it."
-There you go. -I mean, there you go.
-I rest my case. -This is hugely compelling.
Josh, I think this is the best evidence we have of where
the money ended up -- an eyewitness account.
[Josh] This is a game changer.
This newly unearthed eyewitness account from 150 years ago is
telling us that rather than the Chennault Plantation,
where all of the searches have focused their efforts,
we should instead look less than a mile away
at the Moss Plantation,
giving us an entirely new search zone
to find the lost Civil War gold.
I understand there's a team of metal detectorists already at
the Moss Plantation who are gonna survey the area up there.
That's where you need to go.
-That's where others have not. -Got it.
[Josh] Armed with new information,
I speed to the former location of the Moss Plantation.
And while I'm not taking a wagon train, I am in perhaps
the next best thing.
This is a 1988 Grand Wagoneer,
5.9 liter V8 engine, four-wheel drive,
and of course, sweet-ass wood paneling.
Sure, she only gets 10 miles a gallon, but hey,
unlike a Civil War two-horse wagon,
this baby's got 144 horses.
Let's ride.
-Whoo! -[engine sputtering]
Oh, I'm out of gas.
After a fill-up that costs roughly three double eagles,
I resume course toward the Civil War gold.
You want a literal sign that we're on the right track?
After the robbery, legend says, this road was renamed
to Graball, as in the robbers tried
to grab all the treasure they could.
I continue down Graball Road to the former Moss Plantation
to connect with a metal detecting team looking for
the stolen loot.
And it's led by a familiar face.
-Hey, Troy, how are you? -How are you, my friend?
-Good to see you. -You bet.
[Josh] My old friend, Troy McCormick, and I have been
treasure hunting together for years,
most recently in Northern California
on the wettest episode in the history of television.
Just something about these outdoor adventures.
-I think you're cursed, Troy. -[Troy] That might be it, too.
We've got this great treasure story,
and we've got wonderful weather,
so I think you're gonna like this adventure.
We'll see.
Hey, I want to introduce you to Michael.
Michael, nice to meet you.
-Josh, nice meeting you. -[Josh] Yeah.
Author and cartographer Michael Karpovage
is Troy's partner here on the land that was once
the Moss Plantation.
The original house is no longer standing,
but Michael and Troy know that the land remembers.
And the robbery, if it did take place here,
happened in a horse lot. -Right.
-And where would that have been?
I think in the far side of that house.
-[Josh] OK, so over there. -[Michael] Yep.
All right, so have you searched around
in that horse lot? -Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.
I mean, you've got a smile like a guy
who found something. -Sure have.
-Did you find something there? -Would you like to see it?
-What did you find? -Check this out.
What is this?
What? Are you kidding me?
Look at this!
[Josh] Wow!
[Troy] That's Civil War history in your hand right there.
OK, so this is a Civil War era revolver.
This old gun may have been part of a Civil War legend,
the armed robbery of 40 barrels of gold and silver
by a gang of Confederate veterans.
The coins they ran off with, worth millions today,
were then buried or dropped in the gullies along an old road
now known as Graball,
which is close to where we are right now.
Could this have been part of the robbery?
Oh, yeah, yeah.
That's an M1858 Lefaucheux revolver that typically
the Confederate cavalry would have worn on them.
-Cavalry wore this? -Yes.
And remember, Josh, we know that the robbers were
Confederate cavalry, and they would have been
carrying something just like that.
-[Michael] Yeah. -Wow.
So, OK, what's the plan from here?
We want to get into the woods where the gullies are,
just beyond where the gun was found. -Right.
Because that's the direction the robbers would have been
running back and forth to hide the gold and silver.
And have those woods all been searched?
No, there's areas back in there that have never been searched.
-That's where we want to go. -All right.
So, walking to the woods?
Oh, I can do better than that, Josh.
[Josh] Good lord!
Like a maze in here.
Also, I'm following a crazy person.
Troy, where are we going?
[Troy] OK, Josh, this is gonna bring us up behind
the Moss Plantation,
right up beside where the pistol was found.
You sure you know the way?
No, I'm just kind of making this up as I go.
[Josh] Perfect!
♪ Big man's talking ♪
♪ Little boy taking a ride ♪
This even a trail?
♪ Big man's talking ♪
♪ Little boy taking a ride ♪
Watch out!
[Troy] Here we go.
Up on the right is where the horse lot is.
-This the spot? -This is the place.
Let's do it, come on.
We dismount and trek into the woods, only to find...
we're not alone.
Troy and Michael have brought in a team of metal detectorists
known as the Relic Rats, who are already hard at work
looking for evidence of the robbery.
We join them and start swinging our detectors, which have
a tone that changes depending on the frequency of the hit.
[low beeping tones] Whoop, something here.
[Cliff] I think it's worth digging.
-[Josh] You do? -[Cliff] Yeah.
19, 20, 21.
Dude.
You just heard the number that was on my metal detector?
-I dig a lot. -Hey, what was the number?
19, 20.
-There you go. -On the money, dude.
What do you think that is? Trash?
Uh, probably trash or a.22 bullet
or something like that, I would think.
-OK, all right. -[Cliff] Now we have to dig that to see what it is.
I know, I just want to prove him wrong.
Shovel meets ground as I find out if Cliff is as good as
he thinks he is.
[rapid beeping]
All right. What is it, Josh?
Go ahead and tell us.
-[quietly] It's a.22 bullet. -[Cliff laughs]
What? What?
-[normally] It's a.22 bullet. -Oh, oh.
Get back to work, Cliff.
God. Guy's good.
Too good.
The slug can't be dated precisely, but if you're
looking for evidence of an armed robbery, ammunition is
usually a good sign.
We get back to work, and soon enough,
we're beeping again.
Got something.
But even Cliff has to wait to see what this is.
-Something. -That looks round.
[Josh] Oh, that is round.
-What is that? -[Michael] Oh, round is good.
It's too big for a coin.
Dude, look at that.
[Josh] Is it like an emblem or something?
-What is that? -That's a pocket watch.
-[Josh] That's a watch? -Yes.
-Oh. -It's almost all intact, too.
-This is crazy! -Wow!
[Josh] I mean, that is a beautiful find.
-Thank you. -May I?
-Yes, absolutely. -It's beautiful, dude.
Could this be from the period?
They often were much thicker later on.
So, the thin ones are probably the older ones,
right there in our period.
[Josh] This brass watch could easily be part of the robbery legend.
Belonging to either perpetrator or victim.
I mean, you know, look, you talk about the past
and these moments in history being frozen in time.
I mean, that is as frozen in time as it gets, literally.
All right. The bar has been set.
-Whoo! -Now to find some gold.
-That's right. Let's do it! -Here we go.
[Josh] And there's plenty more out here.
Everything from the plate from a horse bridle.
-Would have been along... -[Josh] That's exactly what that is.
...the side of the mouth.
[beeping]
Hey Josh, I got a good hit over here.
-[Josh] To a saddle badge. -It has that military look.
It's exactly what we're looking for.
[Josh] And an old ax head,
all of which appear to be from the same time period.
This was breaking open gold coins all over the place.
[Troy] Spilling everywhere.
[Josh] Gauging by this relatively small neck of the woods,
we could be zeroing in on where the robbery happened.
But it turns out Troy has a secret weapon
to dial us in even more.
Looking at the old maps and the modern LIDAR,
there might be something hidden here
that we need to take a look at.
[Josh] He's accessed recent government LIDAR scans of
the forest, cutting-edge laser mapping that will give us
a completely new look at the very area
we're standing in. -Well, take a look right here.
Tell me what you see.
[Josh] So wait a minute, wait a minute.
There is a line there. Is that a road?
[Troy] That is a road.
[Josh] And it runs parallel with the modern Graball Road.
There's a possibility that this could be part of
the original road or a farm road that leads
right along parallel with it.
And today that would just be in the middle of the woods.
-You can't see it at all. -Yeah, yep.
But it would have been right over there?
Correct, right behind us, running behind us.
-[Michael] Yeah, yep. -[Josh] OK.
Maybe start looking in here for some gullies and hiding spots?
Well, we've got gullies here, here, here to look at.
OK. All right, let's follow the invisible road.
Cool. We'll head back here.
-I love it, let's do it! -OK.
[Josh] Remember, according to the witness account of
the robbery, the coins were buried in gullies, and Troy is
betting that the ones closest to this previously hidden road
are promising candidates.
Big drop-off over here. Oh, this whole thing.
Yeah, this is the gully. This is the gully right here.
-Look at the size of this! -Yeah.
Look how deep that is, huh?
So we got to get down in here, search through these ravines.
-We need to work the walls. -OK.
-Here we go! -Let's go!
[Josh] The team descends upon the ravine,
which soon starts to reveal its secrets.
Hey guys, I think I got something cool over here.
-Oh yeah? -Something?
-Yeah. -Good one?
-Let's check it out. -Getting a good solid tone.
-Let's see here. -[rapid beeping]
[Josh] Oh, there we go, right there.
-Right there. -You're on top of it.
Now we're getting it.
[Josh] Oh, it's round. It's round.
-What is that? -What is that?
-Looks like -- -It's not a coin.
[Josh] In 1865, a gang of Confederate veterans robbed thousands
of gold double eagle, and silver eight real coins
from a wagon train that was camping for the night
on a Georgia plantation.
In a rush to flee, they buried and dropped a haul
that would be worth millions today.
-It's like a... -Two-piece button, yeah.
-Here, let me see that. -Yeah.
-Look at that right there. -[indistinct]
-That is a shield, yeah? -[Troy] Yes.
That shield, it's military,
maybe Confederate military.
[Josh] Yes, it's definitely a shield.
Oh, and writing. Oh, oh, oh, we got writing.
-[Troy] What do you got? -[Josh] So underneath it...
"Excelsior" maybe?
-Excelsior. -Excelsior.
[Josh] Excelsior isn't just Stan Lee's famous sign-off,
it's also the motto of the state of New York.
This appears to be a button off a uniform
of the New York Infantry, a unit of the Union Army
that wouldn't have been anywhere near the robbery.
What the hell is this doing here?
-Exactly. -Not what I was expecting at all.
Like this is the last thing
that I would have expected to find here.
There are stories that during the robbery,
the ex-Confederates were wearing Union officers' coats.
So they're disguising themselves to take over
that Confederate treasure. -[Josh] Right.
This is such a weird out-of-place artifact that
shouldn't be here, that you have to ask yourself,
what is a scenario where this thing could have ended up here?
-Right. -And that absolutely is a way that it could get here.
-Mm-hmm. -What a find.
That's a really, really cool find.
All right. Excelsior.
-Who knew? -Right.
All right, here we go. Upward, come on.
-Right. -Let's do it.
[Josh] The breadcrumb trail of artifacts takes us
further into the gully.
[beeping]
[Josh] Troy, you have a hit over there?
I've got one here.
It's got a higher number than anything I've seen today.
Swing right there.
[beeping]
How about 98?
I've seen aluminum cans go high.
If this is a beer can, I'm going home.
I know, I know.
[Josh] We start to dig up Troy's hit,
hoping the detector isn't leading us on.
[rapid beeping]
-To the side more. -Oh.
-Oh! Ooh! -Oh, that's not a beer can.
-I see shiny. -That's not a beer can.
Is that a coin? I hope?
-Oh, it's a coin. -Come on.
-It is, yes. -Oh, Cliff, look at that.
-That's a coin. -Oh, no doubt a coin.
That's a massive coin straight up and down.
-Ooh. -Oh.
[laughing]
-Oh, my God. -That's an eight real.
-No. -Look at the bird, the eagle.
Has to be from the robbery.
-[Troy] What's the date? -[Josh] Holy [bleep].
-18 -- -1861!
-Oh, yeah. -Period. Period.
-That's it? -That's it.
This is the exact currency in the robbery.
There's just no doubt about it.
And for it to be here
in the middle of the horse lot, unbelievable!
Where the robbery occurred.
-I think where the robbery definitely occurred. -Definitely.
Have you ever found one of these?
Oh, no. This is the find of a lifetime.
[Josh] Having found a silver Mexican eight real coin
that may very well be from the robbery,
the team and I spend the rest of the day
excitedly searching every inch of the woods.
But as the sun begins to set, Troy, Michael, and I are forced
to pause our efforts for the day.
So let's take stock of where we are.
I mean, obviously, awesome finds.
But beyond that, I think,
awesome validation of this site. -[Troy] Yep.
You know, I think we've put the X on the map.
Or in fact, we've actually moved it from one place
to another place. -That's right, yeah.
The evidence that we've found from the period of the robbery,
from our silver real to the infantry button
and pocket watch, to the axe head and horse bridle,
and of course, Michael's pistol, all suggests
that the stolen gold and silver was never at
the Chennault Plantation at all.
The theft most likely happened right here
on the Moss Plantation.
All right, so what's the plan now?
You know, I think there's no question.
Michael and the rest of the team, they're gonna stay
here and keep looking. -Yes, we are.
But I've got a really strong lead on where another part of
this money might be.
And I'd like to take you there and see what we can find.
All right. Meanwhile, you find any more round, shiny things Michael?
Calling you guys.
-Yeah, exactly. -We're gonna stay in touch.
OK, let's get out of here before we get caught in the dark.
-Yeah, let's go. -Here we go.
[Josh] The next morning, Troy and I are back in the saddle.
What do you think of the old Wagoneer?
-I'm kind of liking it. -Yeah, it's a classic, right?
Classic, it's fun to drive.
[Josh] No, you're not dreaming.
That really is me in the passenger seat.
Troy insists on taking the wheel because, well,
he's the only one who knows where we're headed.
All right, so where are we going?
You know, Josh, so far what we've been looking for is
the bank money from the robbery. -Right.
But there's another part of the story,
and that has to do with Jefferson Davis
and the Confederate treasury.
[Josh] You'll recall that the $450,000 that Davis fled
with from the Confederate treasury was distributed to
soldiers and other creditors.
But Troy's research has led him to a much different story.
Josh, I'd like for you to take a look at some documents that
I've got up here on the dash.
[Josh] This is a newspaper article?
[Troy] That is correct.
So this quotes a Confederate soldier
that was traveling with Davis.
It says that "Mr. Davis accompanied us incognito
"and that as we neared Parks Ferry, we learned we were
being pursued." What's Parks Ferry?
Parks Ferry is a ferry boat crossing across
the Oconee River. -[Josh] OK.
And so at that point, they turn into the woods
and drove somewhere below the confluence
of the Apalachee and Oconee Rivers.
"And there we buried the treasure."
-That is significant. -Wait a minute.
It says, "We then retraced our steps for some distance,
unhitched our teams, burned the wagons."
So they go somewhere in the woods,
bury this treasure, burn their wagons,
and everybody splits up. -That's it.
Davis goes across the ferry, stays at the inn.
Two days later, he's captured.
And he's got no money on him because he's buried the money.
It was all buried.
[Josh] If Mark Twain wrote a heist movie, this would be it.
According to this soldier, millions in gold are buried in
locked strongboxes near an old road below the meeting point of
two rivers, near the remains of the burned wagons
that once carried it.
And that info is all Troy needs to track it down,
that and this 19th-century map of the area.
-[Troy] So this shows the confluence of the two rivers. -[Josh] Right.
We also have on the old map here a railroad bridge
as a landmark.
-[Josh] And that's still there? -[Troy] It is.
And below that, down here, this is where Parks Ferry was.
[Troy] That is correct.
[Josh] So somewhere in between the meeting point of the rivers
and the bridge and Parks Ferry,
they bury this treasure. -Yes.
[Josh] Now this road that they talk about that they're on,
that's a known road?
Well, it was an old wagon road, but you won't find it
on any maps today.
OK, so our mission is to find this lost road.
Yes, and to find out if this story's true
and if there's anything buried there.
OK, but how do we drive to a road that's missing?
Oh, we're not gonna drive.
OK.
Well, surprise!
Troy has dropped us into the Apalachee River,
one of the landmarks on the way to where the soldier claims
to have buried Jefferson Davis' gold.
-How fast these things go? -Follow me!
[Josh] We go from zero to 1865 in just 10 seconds.
Easy! Easy, Troy!
And speed towards Civil War gold.
[Josh] Troy, how fast do these go?
Oh, I've heard they'll go 50 plus.
We should probably test that out, right?
Shall we?
[Josh] As it happens, I'm speeding toward a key clue to
a 160-year-old legend
involving locked strongboxes full of gold said to be buried
by Confederate President Jefferson Davis.
So what are we looking for?
-The confluence of these rivers? -That's correct.
Once the two rivers come together, we're heading
downriver because on the old map it shows a railroad bridge.
-We want to head past that. -[Josh] OK.
Hunting for treasure on Jet Skis.
[Josh] We're having fun, but we're hoping this search
could be serious business.
Eventually, we approach the area mentioned
in the witness account.
And so is that our railroad bridge?
[Troy] That's the railroad bridge. It's on the old maps.
[Josh] Got it.
-Here we go. -[Josh] Here we go.
[Josh] We've arrived in the exact spot reported
in the old soldier's claim,
a bridge at the confluence of two rivers.
We head to shore and ditch the Jet Skis.
It's time to go out of the river and into the woods to
chase down the next part of this account,
locating an old road
and the wagons that Davis ordered burned
after the money was buried.
We fire up the metal detectors and get swinging.
[low beep]
-Whoa, I'm gonna dig this one. -[Josh] Here we go.
[rapid beeping]
Oh yeah, it's right there.
What'd you get?
-Oh! -Oh, it is round. Look it there.
That's a two-piece button.
-Probably military. -With something on it.
Yeah, look at that.
Eagle.
-Oh, I see the wings. -[Josh] Yeah?
-[Troy] And a head. -[Josh] Absolutely.
That is a military button.
But it almost looks, to me, it looks like
a Northern or a Union symbol.
At the beginning of the war, all the uniforms had
the same buttons on them. -Right.
And then later, the South started making
their own buttons, and they put eagles and shields
on those as well. -[Josh] Got it.
But considering where we are, likely to be Confederate.
-Exactly. -Yeah, that's a good start.
-I think we're in the right area. -Yeah.
So far, so good.
A uniform button certainly indicates that there were
Confederate soldiers here, possibly the men traveling
with Jefferson Davis.
[steady beeping]
Josh, why don't you come up here and join me?
I'm still getting lots of signals up here.
[Josh] So you got something there.
Something here, too.
-Iron? -I'm getting iron here.
Oh, look at this.
-Big old piece of metal. [Troy] Oh!
[Josh] Old metal.
-It is. -What do you think that is?
You know, it could have been strapping on a wagon.
Wouldn't that be nice?
You know, we're looking for old and burned pieces of wagons
that were moved off of the road.
It's funny you say that because this does look charred,
but I don't know.
This could also be from anything.
-We need more than that. -Yeah, but could be something.
I like it.
[Josh] From the sound of it, the ground here seems like
it's full of metal.
But our biggest find doesn't require
a metal detector at all.
Josh, would you look at this?
Oh, my God!
Does this whole thing drop down?
Is this a road?
Ha! Troy!
Troy, look at this!
-Holy cow! -It's a road!
There's just no question about it.
No question!
We got these high berm banks on both sides.
[Josh] And it just goes in both directions.
I mean, this is incredible!
Let's see what's under it. Come on!
The discovery of a road here confirms a big part
of the cavalryman's story.
Now we just have to find relics to back the rest of it up.
We got something here for sure.
Come on.
That's some hard digging dirt, isn't it?
Come on.
-Oh, Troy, look at this. -What do you got?
[Josh] What the hell is that?
You know what that is? That's part of a horse bit.
That would be like the cheek plate.
-Oh, on the side. -Yes, yes.
-That the bit runs through. -That's correct.
That's exactly what that is.
And then you've got a place for straps.
[Josh] If you're looking for evidence of a wagon train,
a horse's bridle is a great place to start.
So we get back to it to see what else could be here.
[steady beeping]
-Another big iron hit there. -[low beeping tones]
That sounds like an overload signal.
Yeah, it's huge, whatever it is.
OK, I'm digging that up.
-[clunk] -Oh!
Dude, that's not a tree root.
No.
What is that? What the hell is that?
Whatever this is, it's huge.
Wait, wait, wait. Look at this!
-Oh, something round. -Can you pry it?
-Ooh! -There you go, there you go.
The whole ground's moving!
[Josh grunts]
Come on! Ho-ho!
What is it, like a manhole cover?
Oh, my word.
[Josh] What?
-Is this for like a wheel? -I think it is.
I think it's exactly what it is.
It's off a very heavy-duty wagon.
Dude, Troy.
[laughs] Look what you found, Josh.
Are you kidding me?
-That is a wagon wheel hub. -Oh, there's no doubt.
So if this is that wagon, then somewhere not far from
where we are right now, -That's correct.
would be where they buried that treasure.
Exactly.
[Josh] We've just found the road Davis' wagons may have been
riding on before they were burned and abandoned.
And now, here's a piece of a wagon itself.
Solid evidence cast in iron
to help back up the old cavalryman's statement.
But will it lead to strongboxes full of gold?
I am determined to find this Confederate treasure
and then donate it to a bunch of causes
that would make Jefferson Davis very unhappy.
Pretty good hit here.
We're on the verge of finding treasure hunting history.
Dig it all.
[Josh] Dig it all.
If Troy has a motto, that has to be it.
And in this case, it pays off big time.
Oh!
-Troy? -[Troy] What do you got?
Oh!
Look at that!
Look at this.
No!
-Are you kidding me? -That's a padlock!
That's a lock, yes?
-[Troy] I can see the keyhole. -[Josh] That's a lock.
-That is literally a padlock. -Oh my goodness.
[Josh] This padlock, rusted and broken, appears to
be from the 19th century, right in the pocket for
the Civil War legend we're chasing.
Look at that.
I mean, that is an honest to God padlock for a strongbox.
-Beautiful. -Beautiful condition.
Oh, my gosh, that's going to polish up.
So the real question is, what the hell was this locking?
I mean, there was something buried right here.
In the account, the guys that helped Jefferson Davis bury
this thing, they go on to say, you know, that they learned
a few days later that he'd been arrested. -Right.
But they weren't arrested, right?
So when you help your boss bury treasure out in the woods
and then he gets arrested, what do you do?
I'm gonna come back and get that gold.
I'm gonna do the same thing.
So we could have the right spot,
but the gold might not be here.
I mean this could be the final chapter of this part of
the story, right? -It very well could be.
That's crazy, Josh. Nice find!
I mean that is amazing!
All right, let's see if there's a key laying around here somewhere.
You look for the key, I'm gonna look for the coins.
[Josh] Some wars never truly end.
They live on in the scars, myths, and mysteries
created in their wake.
In this way, and others, the Civil War
has proven to be more persistent than most,
even 160 years after its end.
But because it was the most American of all of
our conflicts, its history is naturally rife with legends.
But amidst all the tall tales and outright lies,
it seems there's one story that may very well be true.
The strange case of the missing Civil War gold appears to have
real evidence to support it.
One half of the fortune may have been reclaimed by the men
who buried it, but the other half
could still be out there.
And thanks to the work of people like Bob Young,
Troy McCormick, and Michael Karpovage,
there are new places to look.
It was Abraham Lincoln himself who said,
"Gold is good in its place,
but living, brave, patriotic men are better than gold."
So, in this case, we can consider
our treasure found.