Lost Mines and Buried Treasures of the Civil War

Book excerpt: To a professional treasure hunter, the era of the Civil War is attractive in a number of ways. For one thing, many of the lost or cached military payrolls are documented, so the fortune at the end of the search remains a real one as opposed to a folklorical or mythical one. The truth is, there are millions of dollars worth of such payrolls waiting to be discovered. Further, recovered artifacts associated with both the Union and Confederate armies can sometimes yield impressively high values among collectors. Recovered weapons caches find a viable market. Most tales of lost mines and buried treasures are steeped in history and/or lore. The added element of the fascinating era of the Civil War adds a particular level of interest and excitement to the quest. For the first time, an exhaustively researched collection of some of the most notable lost treasures of the Civil War is presented in this book.