In April 1865, the Southern Confederacy faced defeat. The Confederate government fled the capital of Richmond to avoid capture. The Confederacy still possessed a large store of gold and silver coin, but it disappeared in the chaos of the time. What became of the Confederate gold? No living soul is certain. In his exciting and moving novel, Thomas Moore imagines what might happen if the treasure reappeared through the discovery of a long-lost coded message. The Hunt for Confederate Gold is a suspenseful thriller that dramatizes the Confederate gold as a source of confrontation between a shadowy Southern group still seeking independence and a team of rogue Government agents determined to recover it at all costsincluding breaking the law. This exciting foray into one of Americas most tantalizing mysteries is also a love story, a cautionary political tale, and tour de force of a little-known chapter of the Civil War.
This historical mystery contains two stories which gradually merge into one. One occurs during 2011, while the other takes place in 1863 during the height of the Civil War. In 2011, after moving to South Carolina, Paul Waring, a retired Connecticut state trooper, and his wife start their new life. Soon after moving, Paul makes a startling discovery. He discovers the remains of a long-forgotten Confederate soldier, along with several Civil War artifacts. Those artifacts include two glass bottles containing several clues he must decipher. Paul determines that one clue concerns the whereabouts of the lost Confederate treasury; a treasury largely comprised of gold and silver coins. He later discovers much of this gold was stolen from the United States government at the outbreak of the Civil War.
Explores the legacy of a Civil War-era secret society, the Knights of the Golden Circle, and describes efforts to crack the society's system of codes and symbols to identify hidden treasure sites across the American south and west.
Mike and Kyle must outrun both a hurricane and thieves who will do anything to get their hands on a fortune in Confederate gold! The year is 1862. The Skink, a Confederate ship, is attacked by Union forces and sinks off the Alabama coast in the Gulf of Mexico. Although the ship was rumored to be carrying newly minted gold coins, no trace of the wreck and not even a single piece of Confederate gold is ever found. Fast forward to 1973. Mike is prepared for another routine summer in Pensacola with his marine biologist father. But plans suddenly change and Mike finds himself on Shipwreck Island—right near the site where the Skink went down. Mike and his new friend Kyle are intrigued by a salvage ship anchored just offshore. Some say it was brought in by fortune hunters, but when the boys scale a fence at the fort on the island, they realize that the fortune hunters may be looking in the wrong place. There in the sand-covered floor of an abandoned chamber they spot something shiny: an old double-eagle gold coin. Mike and Kyle agree to keep their discovery a secret and start their own investigation into the shipwreck and the missing gold. Award-winning author Sneed B. Collard III blends history and mystery to create a dramatic, page-turning story featuring a strong friendship and plenty of action.
Clay Cantrell and his partner Mac Harper are restoring a 200-year-old mansion when they uncover a dusty old journal, a Confederate captain's diary that points the way to a horde of Confederate gold coins locked in three strongboxes. Coins that today will be worth millions, if the horde can be found. The son of well-to-do parents, Clay Cantrell is not your ordinary contractor. An ex-Army Ranger who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, he has settled back into everyday civilian life in his hometown of Staunton, Virginia. He restores old houses there for a living, but can't quite shake a nagging itch for adventure. So the chance to go on a treasure hunt is a stroke of luck tailormade for Clay. The adventure takes an ominous turn though, when Clay finds himself accused of murder, before he, Mac, and a third friend start out on their treasure hunt. Lost Treasure alternates between this modern-day treasure hunt-murder mystery and flashbacks to the Confederate captain's story. The captain commands a secret Confederate supply depot, hidden deep inside a cavern in the wilds of Virginia's Allegheny Mountains. That's where the Confederates put the treasure for safekeeping in the last months of the Civil War, and where the fate of the captain's command was sealed. What really happened in that cavern 150 years ago? Who is trying to frame Clay for a murder he didn't commit? Will Clay and company find the treasure? Lost Treasure is a fast-paced, tightly plotted mystery adventure that will keep you guessing to the very end. It's the first in a planned series of Clay Cantrell mystery adventure novels by Bruce Wetterau, who is currently at work on the second book in the series, Killer Fog. Visit his website at www.brucewetterau.com, for free postings of Chapter One of Lost Treasure, and The Illustrated Civil War Chronology & Travel Planner. Reader reviews of Lost Treasure: "I found myself eagerly turning the pages, as though I had found the captain's diary myself. Lost Treasure is found gold." --Rob Mason, software engineer "On a scale of 1 to 10, Lost Treasure is a 10. The book has it all--mystery, adventure, history with a strong sense of our heritage, and even a soft touch of romance. It pulled me in, kept me turning pages and wanting more. I'm looking forward to Clay Cantrell's next adventure." --Tim Fulk, CW3, Army medivac helicopter pilot "Lost Treasure makes you feel like you are right there with Clay and his two friends. The tight plot whisks you through a maze of twists and turns, saving the biggest surprise for last. Lost Treasure is a must read." --Warner Granade, library circulation manager
With his storyteller's gift, Jameson relates episodes from early explorers through the colonial period, the Civil War, the settling of the West, and the roaring 1920s. As a professional treasure hunter, he has followed the trails of many of the lost mines and buried treasures he describes. Sample treasures include Sir Francis Drake Treasure, Benedict Arnold Treasure, Lafayette's Sunken Riches, Maryland's Lost Silver Mine, The Wandering Confederate Treasury, Lost Treasure of the Gray Ghost, Oklahoma Outlaw Cache, and Lost Spanish Gold in the Sandia Mountains.
The tale begins over three-hundred years ago, when the Fair People—the goblins, fairies, dragons, and other fabled and fantastic creatures of a dozen lands—fled the Old World for the New, seeking haven from the ways of Man. With them came their precious jewels: diamonds, rubies, emeralds, pearls... But then the Fair People vanished, taking with them their twelve fabulous treasures. And they remained hidden until now... Across North America, these twelve treasures, over ten-thousand dollars in precious jewels, are buried. The key to finding each can be found within the twelve full color paintings and verses of The Secret. Yet The Secret is much more than that. At long last, you can learn not only the whereabouts of the Fair People's treasure, but also the modern forms and hiding places of their descendants: the Toll Trolls, Maitre D'eamons, Elf Alphas, Tupperwerewolves, Freudian Sylphs, Culture Vultures, West Ghosts and other delightful creatures in the world around us. The Secret is a field guide to them all. Many "armchair treasure hunt" books have been published over the years, most notably Masquerade (1979) by British artist Kit Williams. Masquerade promised a jewel-encrusted golden hare to the first person to unravel the riddle that Williams cleverly hid in his art. In 1982, while everyone in Britain was still madly digging up hedgerows and pastures in search of the golden hare, The Secret: A Treasure Hunt was published in America. The previous year, author and publisher Byron Preiss had traveled to 12 locations in the continental U.S. (and possibly Canada) to secretly bury a dozen ceramic casques. Each casque contained a small key that could be redeemed for one of 12 jewels Preiss kept in a safe deposit box in New York. The key to finding the casques was to match one of 12 paintings to one of 12 poetic verses, solve the resulting riddle, and start digging. Since 1982, only two of the 12 casques have been recovered. The first was located in Grant Park, Chicago, in 1984 by a group of students. The second was unearthed in 2004 in Cleveland by two members of the Quest4Treasure forum. Preiss was killed in an auto accident in the summer of 2005, but the hunt for his casques continues.
