Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1890-11-07
FINDING FORTUNES.
HOW A REGIMENT WAS DEMORALlzED
BY A BIG GOLD MINE.

a famous EPISODE OF the war heiated
as 1t Occurred by the officer i'm Com
mand of the Troops who Found the
Tr..s,ra -, ,to uaoL -, Con,ooo
"When Gen. Sherman's army was push
ing the Confederates westward beyond
Raleigh. and not long nrior to their sur-
rendar - s.id Con Sanderson "n,v rooj.
-. a.. III oft -. II:
memo '"e i."'i Oi,i' icing III
auN"ice' arr Gu az 'ne Ni,i"seo Vi Ooinp any
SHOPS on the North carolina railroad, ana
camped for the night on the edge of the
town. With my staff | took possession of
house as joint tenants with the family,
all ladies' who occupied it, Shortly after
Maj Stratton, of my regiment, came in
bearing a specie box stamped Bank of
Commerce of North Carolina and said
that it, with other boxes containing SPECIE
had been dug up by the regiment.
"Ohicers were at once sent to ascertain
the extent of the find, 1t seemed clear to
me that the money belonged either to that
bank or to the government, and in no sense
to the finders. The discovery of the money
seemed to demoralize the regiment, and
every one was using his best endeavors to
secure some of the gold and silver. Some
of the men were gone for days before they
rejoined their companies, and do not be-
lieve hundred men OF the regiment slept
that night
The amount of the money was after
ward ascertained to be S156,00O. 1t was
placed where it was found by officers of
the Bank of Commerce, only short time
before we arrived. 1t had been taken from
the vaults of the bank, placed in boxes and
conveyed in box car toward Goldsboro,
but fearing hat 1t would fall into the
hands OF the mon army they stopped the
car ut Company shops and the treasure was
buried III the ground
DIGGING UP a FORTUNE.
The Union soldiers who had marched
with sherman to the sea and back north
ward through the Carolinas had become
adopts at discovering any disturbance of
the surface OF the ground, indicating the
burial place OF silverware and treasure,
which the owners in their hasty flight
could not carry along. Sometimes boxes
hiled with imported china would be found
and used by the soldiers to embellish their
rude tables on the greensward, and when
the order came to march the rare china
was thrown against trees and caissons and
broken IN pieces. Confederates who had
money qua not deem 1t safe to carry 1t on
their persons, and would bury 1t, taking
some trusted slave into their confidence,
VINO TOOK pleasure IN pointing out the lo-
CAVITY TO the hrst Union soldier he met.
On the evening when the money was
round a member OF Company X, before he
dlsmounted from his horse to blvouac,
thought he saw evidences of something
having been recently planted, and securing
Ratchet he began digging. Soon he
struck specie box. Others had gathered
around, and when he disclosed the glitter
ing $50 gold pieces there was lively
scramble. To attract them away from
him he threw shower of gold pieces in
the air, and while the men were scram-
ping Tor them he unearthed two more
boxes and ran into the woods to secrete
ms valuable hnd. What followed may be
Imagined
GEN. sCHoFIELDs WRATH.
Every conceivable means was resorted
TO TO hlde the gold The question of trans
portatlon never had been more serious
during the whole war than it then was to
some OF the men who had secured 5000
to Slo,Ooo each Many rushed to the suit
ler's tent, and though gold was at II heavy
premium they traded 1t for paper money,
which they could conveniently carry. Some
of the men buried their treasure and after
the war returned to Dixie and secured it.
AS was expected Gen. Schoiield, now
commander-in-chie of the army, ordered
an investigation, hoping TO secure the
treasure and turn it over to the govern
ment, and the order was issued to Gen.
Fitzpatrick, commanding our division. Re-
alizing the utter impossibility of ever OBJ
tanning any important portion of the
treasure then widely scattered, he APP
pointed an officer, Capt. l.. NJ. Brink, who
was impressed with the same views Capt
Brink reported that none of the money
could be recovered except that which had
already been placed in the hands of Gen.
Fitzpatrick.
THE report was not satisfactory to Gen.
Schofeld, and while | was in Raleigh on
my way north on leave of absence | re-
ceived an order to report to him and re-.
voking the leave of absence | obeyed the
order and presented myself before Gen.
Schofed on Sunday
"The interview was at first stormy and
unpleasant He declared that no officer or
private of the Tenth Ohio cavalry would