Chenault

Chenault. Mystery of the "Lost Confederate Gold". Traveling south ahead of her husband, Confederate President Jefferson Davis, First Lady Varina Davis and the Davis's four children departed Abbeville, South Carolina in late April 1865. Escorting them were the President's personal secretary, Burton Harrison, and a few Confederate soldiers. They crossed the Savannah River into Georgia on a military pontoon bridge at Hester's Ferry. Soon the plantation home of John Chenault came into view. Built in 1853, it was designed by John Cunningham. The home of John Chenault's brother, Methodist minister Dionysus Chenault, was about ¼ mile to the southwest toward Washington, Georgia. Varina Davis, her children, and their escort stayed overnight at the Chenault homes before continuing their journey to Washington., Several days later, near dawn on May 3rd, President Davis, members of his cabinet, staff, and their 2,500 Confederate cavalrymen escort used the same pontoon bridge to cross into Georgia. After stopping for breakfast and to rest their horses the Confederacy's Secretary of State, Judah P. Benjamin, announced his departure. Disguised as a Frenchman with Confederate Colonel Henry J. Leovy serving as his interpreter, Benjamin loaded a carriage with instructions “to perform certain public duties in Nassau and Havana, and to then rejoin [President Davis] in Texas.” But when a colleague asked his destination, Benjamin replied, “To the farthest place from the United States, if it takes me to the middle of China.” He traveled to Florida and eventually England, never returning to the United States., President Davis, his family and others were captured in Irwinville, Georgia on Wednesday, May 10th. Two weeks later, on May 24th, $450,000 in silver and gold coins belonging to six Richmond, Virginia banks that had been temporarily stored in Washington began traveling back to Richmond. They were guarded by a small contingent of the Federal 4th Iowa Calvary Regiment. Accounts vary as to whether its wagon train stopped that evening at the Chenault homes or nearby at the home of Susan Moss. In an audacious attack near midnight former Confederate soldiers and various others stole $251,000, mostly gold coins. One participant later recalled that their service “entitled them to a share of this [Confederate] gold and silver.” Within days former Confederate Brigadier General Edward Porter Alexander, a Washington resident, joined others to recover some $111,000 of the stolen coins., In late July 1865, more than a dozen Federal soldiers in the 156th New York Infantry Regiment led by Brigadier General Edward A. Wild visited both Chenault homes looking for more of the missing money. They attempted to learn the location of the treasure that the Chenault’s had played no part in stealing. Female family members were strip searched while the men were hung by their thumbs, tortured at length. Mary Ann Chenault Shumate, age 17 at the time, later recalled, “The pain was so great that ... they begged the Yankees to shoot them dead rather than suffer so.”, Today there are still wild rumors about buried Confederate gold in the area. None has ever been found.