Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1885-12-31
How and Where the COnfeder.
acy was Born, and How and
Where it Died
How the Boys Divided the Kegs
of Gold without a Payroll.

selves IN EIfIDg Teams 1Or Inc Trans
portation of the contents of this car.
Abbeville is about 20 miles from the
Savannah river, which divides South
Carolina from Georgia, and is the
terminus of the branch of the Colum-
bia e Greenville road that runs off
about twelve miles from Hodges depot
to this village. Consequently the
only way TO reach the Georgia frontier
IS by horse power.
By Ten o'clock that night enough
horse teams were secured, and they
began loading from the mysterious
car. The goods rolled out were in
stout little kegs Of phenomenal
weight, and though the packages were
small, they taxed the strength of the
bodied negroes detailed for the
work. At length the loading was ac-
complished, and amid the flash of
lanterns and the crack OF whips and
the cries Of drivers, the long line OF
teams pulled out of the muddy rail
ROAD yard to the steep, sloppy hill,
through the village streets, where
curious crowds had gathered to watch
them pass, and disappeared in tho
darkness on the winding "snake road"
Cn2C leads 10 Georgia.
When the teams had gone about ten
miles, forty or fifty men rushed upon
the astonished drivers and care takers,
held them mute under the muzzles of
pistols, and proceeded to unload their
stout little kegs. A cloth was spread
uBon the ground, and around it assem-
bled the ring, with Pickering torches
held aloft, while def hands stove in
the heads of the kegs and poured their
contents into a single heap It was
gold-bright, yellow, glittering gold
pieces by the thousand The hungry
eyes behind the masks cleaned with
reelected avarice. 1t was weird,
mystic scene, like a page from some
Arabian romance. The abysmaI 81
lence of the forest, broken only by
the rearing and plunging OF the
affrighted mules, the shriveling ring
of light, varying as the torches were
moved to and fro in the surrounding
gloom, the anxious faces of the negro
drivers gazing with startled eyes and
gaping lips upon this fantastic specta-
Gle, the eager circle of masks, and last,
the solid pile of sovereigns. the center
of the whole-all formed a panorama
which those who saw will never for
get.
With all possible haste the money
was divided up between the masked
men, and IN fifteen minutes they
were gone. So was the gold. Nothing
remained but the empty kegs and the
empty wagons, and the care-takers of
the last remnant of the confederate
treasury sent the teams back to Able
vile, while they continued on their
way to Georgia. What became of the
money, and who got it, remains to
day profound secret, and will prob
ably never be learned. Ny Informa-
ton about the forest scene was derived
from one of the negro drivers of the
teams, TO whom a masker had thrown
a tin bucket full of gold in exchange
for commodious carpet-bag, and he
showed the gold in confirmation of
his story.
A few days after this, stray squads
Of Wheeler's cavalry began to wander
through Georgia and through part
of South Carolina, a little lower down
than Abbeville. The broken forces
which opposed Sherman were taking
the back track a little higher up, and
seeking to reach the pine lands of
Georgia.
One evening about shutdown Jeffer-
son Davis reached Abbeville Judah
2. Benjamin was with him and two
other members of his cabinet, think,
but who they were ] do not now re-
member. Abbeville is long, strag-
Cling town of one street, being built
on the crest of hill until Il reaches
a point where it branches off into the
upper or western part. Just in this
fork is situated what used to DO the
residence of Armistead Burt, who
was before the war congressman
from South Carolina. Mr. Burt is
dead now and the house is In strange
hands. The house itself is a square,
solid, uGpictureseue three-story build
ing, surrounded by what used to be
lovely grounds and garden and orch
ards. Jefferson Davis and his cabi-
net proceeded to the house Of Mr..
Burt, where they were Hospitality re-
ceived.
A strange coincidence! Has it ever
been noted before? ] believe not.
Here was about to be performed the
last official act of confederacy, while
hardly stones throw from the spot
was Secession hill, the grove which
gave birth to the war, Just four years
previously this amphitheatrical hill,
Shaded by oaks and other giant trees,
was filled with a sea of excited faces.
all looking toward a stand construct
ed against three tree trunks at its foot
and containing the leading men of the
state. It was the first of the secession
meetings. Speaker after speaker di
lated in glowing terms on the neces-
sity Of severing the relations
of the state with the union,
and every word was cheered to the
echo. At length the venerable Judge
Wardlaw, a man whose decisions had
been quoted throughout the land, and
who held place in the front rank of
jurists, rose and solemnly warned the
people against the rash step they were
taking. He told them plainly that
they would be crushed, that they had
not a single chance, and that, aside