Treasure of Choctawhatchee Bay

Do millions in gold and silver await discovery?

Choctawhatchee Bay in Northwest Florida.

by Dale Cox

Editor's Note: This article continues "Monstery and Mystery Month" on Two Egg TV! To read the first article in the series, please see Pirate Ghosts of the Emerald Coast!

Long before real gold rose from the sands of Destin and South Walton, Choctawhatchee Bay was the focal point of a series of searches for buried treasure. In fact, many would-be millionaires still believe that a fortune in Spanish gold and silver remains to be found somewhere in the bay.

The frenzy surrounding the purported treasure reached its height in 1921-1925 after a man named W.S. Teachout claimed to know its precise location:

Mr. Teachout, who is about seventy years of age, said he could go and put his hands on three of the ships--one that was under only a few feet of sand, that he found it several years ago, and was only waiting for someone with enough money to tackle the job. He was told that men and boats were at his disposal, and that dredges, pumps, and divers would be gotten if necessary. [1]

Rocky Bayou as seen from the shoreline at Fred Gannon
Rocky Bayou State Park in Niceville, Florida. The park is
one of the prettiest spots on Choctawhatchee Bay's north shore.

The legend, as told by Teachout, was that a flotilla of pirate ships was cornered in Choctawhatchee Bay by Spanish warships. East Pass was too shallow for the vessels to escape, and the Spanish had blocked the channel leading from the Choctawhatchee through Santa Rosa Sound to Pensacola. Instead of surrendering to face not just the loss of his treasure but his execution on the gallows at Pensacola, the pirate leader scuttled his gold-laden ships and escaped into the woods with his crew.

No documentation that the legend is true has ever been found, and there is a good reason for skepticism. Evidence, however, has never been a barrier to true believers!

Mr. Teachout found ready investors, and they met him at Valparaiso, ready to begin the search. That's when things got very strange:

...Wednesday night there was a dance in Valparaiso and several strangers were present, two of whom attempted to draw Mr. Teachout into conversation about the treasure. Thursday morning when a boat went out with Teachout and others an airplane soon appeared and hovered over the boat. The boat remained out all morning, and so did the plane. It hovered over the treasure seekers’ boat until noon, when the boat returned to Valparaiso, and the plane flew away. [2]

Did a flotilla of treasure-laden pirate ships meet its end
in Northwest Florida's Choctawhatchee Bay?

The 1921 search focused on areas along the north side of the bay between Valparaiso and Freeport. Newspaper writers reported seeing "mysterious figures," including one of a ship carved into large trees along the shore.

To his own chagrin, Teachout was not able to lead the searchers to the treasure, and the hunt came up empty. The effort to find gold and silver in the bay, however, was far from over. Things got hot again in 1925 when a mysterious dredge left Pensacola and made its way through Santa Rosa Sound to Choctawhatchee Bay:

…Movement of the big barge through the narrows of the sound is a costly process but it was accomplished, the first stop of the barge being at the south shore in Hogtown Bayou. In the past days the dredge has been working off Camp Walton [i.e. Fort Walton Beach]. 

     Lands on the north shore of Choctawhatchee bay, where old timers say treasure is really cached, are owned by the Dixie Town and Land company, and its officials have announced that they will permit no trespass of their properties or riparian rights. The barge crew has been warned not to come within 1,000 feet of this shore line or injunctions will be obtained against them. [3]

The north shore of Choctawhatchee Bay is said by some to be
the location of a mysterious buried treasure.

Part of the north shore of the bay - then as now - was the property of the U.S. Government. Military officials were so concerned about the treasure seekers that they launched planes to shadow their movements. This might also explain the mysterious aircraft that followed the 1921 expedition.

The expense and determination expended on the 1925 expedition failed to bring treasure up from the bottom of Choctawhatchee Bay. The search came up empty, and legends of buried treasure continue to this day.

Is there really a buried treasure? And if so, who could have left it there? The only real answer to the first question is that anything is possible. No documentation of Spanish ships cornering a pirate flotilla in Choctawhatchee Bay has ever been found, but it is challenging to prove a negative. As to who could have left it there, legend current in 1925 credited the famed Louisiana pirate Jean Lafitte.

Editor's Note: Watch for another mystery tomorrow right here on our web channel at www.twoeggflorida.com. 

REFERENCES

[1] Wiregrass Farmer quoting the Valparaiso Herald, September 8, 1921.

[2] Ibid.

[3] The Tampa Times, September 12, 1925.

Pirate Ghosts of the Emerald Coast

Headless Pirates haunt Santa Rosa Sound

by Dale Cox

Santa Rosa Sound at Fort Walton Beach, Florida.

Editor's Note: October is Monster & Mystery Month on Two Egg TV! Check back daily for new stories of monsters, mysteries, and more from Florida, Alabama, and Georgia.

Santa Rosa Sound is a beautiful natural waterway that extends east from Pensacola Bay past Mary Esther and Fort Walton Beach to Choctawhatchee Bay. It separates the sparkling white sand beaches of Santa Rosa Island and the rising condominiums and hotels of Okaloosa Island from the prehistoric Native American mounds and waterfront of Fort Walton Beach.

This stretch of water is a popular playground today, but is it also the haunt of a band of headless pirates? Legend holds that just such a crew is condemned to perpetually sail its surface on moonlit nights. The following report of an encounter with these seafaring specters appeared in Florida and Alabama newspapers in 1921:

One night Mr. Lee Jernigan’s vessel was sailing up the sound, just drifting along. As they passed Pirates’ Cove a yawl came out of the cove and was rowed alongside. Mr. Jernigan was below. There were three men on deck, and they declared that every man in the yawl was headless that they watched the boat several minutes, when all at once—just like a flash—boat and men disappeared. The three men took oath, kissed the Bible, and swore that they saw this. [1]

Santa Rosa Sound on a "ghost story" perfect winter's day.

Pirates' Cove is a shallow body of water within the limits of today's Gulf Islands National Seashore. It is directly across Santa Rosa Sound from the City of Mary Esther, Florida. Entirely surrounded by the dunes of Santa Rosa Island, it is connected to the sound by a shallow inlet. 

The vicinity achieved note in 1906 after a significant storm exposed a cache of lost treasure:

...Spanish coins have been found in the sands of Santa Rosa Island, and only a few years ago, 1906, after a great storm twenty were found on the island in the sand. This find was on Santa Rosa Island, opposite Mary Esther. They were stuck together, showing that they had been buried for a long time aggregated in value several hundred dollars. Not far away is Pirates’ Cove, a little bay in Santa Rosa Island, so named because a pirate ship was sunk there.[2]

The Face of a Real Pirate
William Augustus Bowles as painted
in London in 1790.

The ghosts of the lost pirate and his crew, of course, are said to be searching for their lost cache of coins. They are presumed to also be protecting other treasures that remain hidden on Santa Rosa Island and along the shores of Choctawhatchee Bay. 

Anyone familiar with food and fun on the Emerald Coast is familiar with Fort Walton Beach's legendary Billy Bowlegs Pirate Festival. This fun escapade has been part of the local cultural scene since 1953 and celebrates the "life" and lore of a supposed pirate named Billy Bowlegs. The founders of the festival associated their event with the adventurer and pirate William Augustus Bowles, who prowled the waters of the Gulf of Mexico in 1799-1803. (Note: The real Billy Bowlegs was an important Seminole Indian chief. William Bowles never used the name).

So far as is known, Bowles never sailed from Choctawhatchee Bay, but the best pirate stories are not always the most authentic! The festival is fun and does exactly what its founders intended by bringing tens of thousands of visitors to enjoy a weekend in Fort Walton Beach.

Long before the pirate festival came into being, though, the ghost pirates were a force to be reckoned with for those sailing in Santa Rosa Sound. Strange lights were seen on the island at night in the vicinity of Pirates' Cove, and many fishermen swore to their own encounters with the spirits:

"You may ask any sailor who has passed Pirates’ Cove at night," continued the newspaper accounts, "and he will tell you of the lights and boat and headless men and if he has not seen them his ship mates have."

One man was so frightened by his encounter with the ghosts that local residents swore and began to tremble so badly that "he became bowlegged." 

If you want to see the pirate ghosts for yourself, just enjoy a midnight boat ride west from Fort Walton Beach down Santa Rosa Sound in the direction of the Navarre Bridge. The red pin on the map below points out Pirates' Cove.

Editor's Note: The lands surrounding Pirates' Cove are part of Gulf Islands National Seashore. Treasure digging is strictly prohibited and can lead to a lengthy prison term!

Money Hole on the Florida Gulf Coast

Are pirates responsible for hidden Wakulla County treasure?

by Dale Cox

Spanish treasure on display at the
Florida Museum of History in Tallahassee, Florida.

One of Florida's oldest treasure hunts began nearly 175-years ago in the marshes and wetlands near St. Marks.

The historic coastal community chases its origins back to the Spanish conquistador Panfilo de Narvaez. Its fort of San Marcos de Apalache - also called Fort St. Marks and Fort Ward - was the scene of conflict and international intrigue for hundreds of years. Nearby Apalachee Bay was often infested with pirates and the twisting creeks and rivers between St. Marks and the Gulf often provided a safe harbor for ships fleeing these marine raiders.

Legends of buried treasure abound, but perhaps the most intriguing has led to digs in a mysterious "money hole" since at least the 1850s. The story was attributed to Florida Secretary of State H. Clay Crawford, a treasure aficionado who gave the critical details to the Pensacola Journal in 1906. 

According to Crawford, a gold shipment valued at $5,000,000 left New Orleans aboard a Spanish gunboat at the time of Florida's transfer from Spain to the United States in 1821. The vessel shadowed the coast and was off St. Marks when it was disabled in a storm:

...In fear of pirates, who infested the coast, the captain with several of the crew landed and buried the gold, then returned to the gunboat. They drifted for days and the crew was finally picked up by a vessel bound for Peru. During the voyage the scourge broke out on the ship and the officers and many of the crew died, those who survived landing, penniless, at Peru. - Pensacola Journal, August 12, 1906.

Ruins of the Spanish fortress of San Marcos de Apalache
can still be seen in St. Marks, Florida.

Some 44 years later in 1865, a mysterious sailor named Bell appeared in St. Marks. The War Between the States or Civil War was then underway, and Union warships blockaded the mouth of the St. Marks River. An inland raid by Federal soldiers intent on capturing St. Marks, Tallahassee, and even Thomasville, Georgia, was defeated by Confederate forces at the Battle of Natural Bridge on March 6 of that year.

The sailor was quite elderly and all but helpless:

...He was an old man, feeble and ill, and was kindly cared for by a man named Smith, whose home he reached in his wanderings. He lingered several months and then died. When he found that he was about to die he told Mr. Smith the story of his life. He was one of the crew of the ill-fated gunboat that carried the Spanish gold from new Orleans. He told of the burying of the money after the boat became disabled, and of the crew being carried to Peru. He said he had spent his life trying to get back to St. Marks where the gold was buried. Before he died he gave Mr. Smith a chart by which the spot could be located. He was buried at St. Marks. - Ibid.

The map or chart described the burial place of the treasure as being in a spot marked by three mature trees, one of which had an iron spike driven into its trunk.

Looking south from the fort of San Marcos de Apalache
into the marshes of the St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge.

Smith set out for the spot with two African American men and found the trees exactly where the treasure map indicated. Noticing an unusual knot on one of the trunks, the men cut into it and revealed the iron spike. So many years had passed since it was driven into the tree that the wood had grown and covered it over.

Mr. Smith did not trust his two companions and required them to wait near the boat while he stepped off a set number of paces into the marsh and began to dig for gold:

...He was equipped only with a hoe and a spade and besides was an old man, and encountered much difficulty in the work. He decided to return home and get better equipment and assistance, believing firmly that the treasure was buried there and intending to return and dig for it. - Ibid.

The end of the war brought hard times to St. Marks, however, and Smith was never able to fund an expedition to find the treasure. Some years later, however, another mysterious sailor - this one named Ballou - arrived in Wakulla County:

The flag of Spain flies over historic St. Marks, Florida.

...He also was an old man of very secretive habits. He fitted out a boat, bought picks, axes, spades and supplies and disappeared. At intervals he would return for supplies. When his funds were exhausted he taught school during the winter, hoarding his earnings like a miser and spending them for supplies for his trips in the summer. Finally exhausted from labor and the hardships he had endured, Ballou became ill and died at the military hospital at St. Marks. From his papers, it was learned that he was a survivor of the crew of the Spanish gunboat that sailed from New Orleans with the five millions for Spain. - Ibid.

The "military" or marine hospital at St. Marks was built with stone from the old Spanish fort of San Marcos de Apalache. Its surviving foundations provide the base for the museum at today's San Marcos de Apalache Historic State Park.

The story of the treasure by this time had become well known along the coast. Some of Wakulla County's most prominent individuals invested in or led searches to find it, but only one expedition ever came close:

The "Money Hole" site is deep within the marshes of the
St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge in Wakulla County, FL.

Since that day many have sought in vain the millions hidden in the marshes of St. Marks. That it lies there, few who have heard the story from those who lived there in those days can doubt. Various expeditions have been secretly fitted out to search for it even in recent years. One party composed of George Ladd, a son of Daniel Lad, Swamp Angel Bill Denham, Castillo, Bryant and Kennedy fitted out a boat and went in search of the gold. They all got drunk and one of the party thought he had located the money but they got into a fight over the probable division and had to go back to St. Marks for repairs and could never again find the place. - Ibid.

The last major expedition was led by "Col. Slusser and Mr. Geo. Lamb,  Mr. Register, and Mr. Hall." They found the site of the earlier digs and began their own excavation, only to find that the brackish water of the marsh quickly seeped into the hole causing it to fill in with mud. Timber cribbing was installed to hold back the walls and pumps employed to drain the water, but the quicksand still proved too much for the would-be millionaires.

The gold - worth more than $376 million today - was never found. 

The site of the money hole became part of the 68,000-acre St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge in 1931. Treasure hunting there is strictly prohibited.

To learn more about beautiful Wakulla County, Florida, be sure to click www.visitwakulla.com.

Massive diamond buried in Jackson County, Florida?

A dream of buried treasure!

by Dale Cox

Site of the treasure dig.

Jackson County is the only Florida county to touch two other states. Perhaps its location - where Florida borders both Alabama and Georgia - makes it a focal point for legends. Whatever the reason the county has more than its share of buried treasure stories.

The tale of the Money Pond is perhaps the most famous. Legend holds that Native American warriors dumped a fabulous treasure of gold and silver into a swamp in the northeastern part of the county to save it from Andrew Jackson's soldiers. Other alleged treasures include one near Little Zion Road north of Sneads and a rumored cache of Confederate gold.

One of the strangest stories, however, emerged from a dream:

Your correspondent has been favored with the facts of a most wonderful dream. The dreamer, Mr. Hardy Lewis of Decatur county, Ga., has for the past seven years dreamed of finding gold and a large diamond buried on the bank of the Chattahoochee river. - Letter dated "Neal's Landing, Fla., May 3," Columbus Enquirer, May 6, 1881.

Chattahoochee River at Neals Landing, Florida.

Mr. Lewis was described as a "highly respected citizen of Decatur county" and regularly told neighbors about his repetitive dream. They still must have been surprised, however, when he announced that his dreams had finally revealed the date on which he would find the treasure: May 5, 1881.

The man was absolutely convinced that his dreams were directing him to the fortune of a lifetime. He prepared supplies, tools, and helpers for a dig and headed for the banks of the Chattahoochee River on May 1, 1881:

...Being so much impressed by such an innocent dream he resolved to go to the spot and try the virtue of his visionary wondering. He came to the river opposite Neal's landing and recognized instantly the place where his treasure was buried, although this was his first visit. He has been digging two days, but states he will not find the object of his search until May 5th. - Ibid.

Lewis's dream was particular as to the value of the treasure. It consisted, he said, of a diamond "valued at $24,000" as well as a large quantity of gold. Taking inflation into account, a diamond worth $24,000 in 1881 would be worth $603,696.47 today.

Fine quality rough or uncut diamonds are difficult to price but currently sell for around $2,600 per carat. Assuming the diamond is of fine quality - and surely a dream diamond would be - then it would weigh 232 carats.

Another view of the Chattahoochee River at Neal's Landing.
The fallen tree was toppled by Hurricane Michael.

The dig took place in the riverbank between Neal's Landing and the mouth of Irwin's Mill Creek on the Jackson County side of the Chattahoochee River. The work was followed with great interest by residents of the area:

...At the time of this writing the digging is still going on, Mr. Lewis is an old and highly respected citizen of Decatur county, and the result of his excavation is awaited, by a large number, with much anxiety. - Ibid.

May 5 came and went, however, with no trace of the diamond or its accompanying gold. The search ended in failure, and all that survives as a reminder that it ever happened is a shallow depression in the riverbank.

In this era, when dreams no longer hold the significance that they did in the late 1800s, it is easy to smile and disregard the treasure hunt as foolishness. Doing so might be foolish as well.

The interpretive sign at Neals Landing survived Hurricane
Michael, while trees all around it were toppled.

The very spot selected by Lewis for his dig is within feet of the point where the paddlewheel steamboat Eagle caught fire and ran aground in 1854. The boat was carrying a season's worth of cotton money from Columbus, Georgia, down to Apalachicola, Florida, so it could be sent by ocean-going vessel to banks in New York. 

The value of the gold shipment in modern terms? $3,048,714.29.

Some of the money was recovered shortly after the wreck of the Eagle, but much of it remains buried beneath a 165-year accumulation of mud and silt. There is no mention of a lost diamond in the available accounts of the steamboat Eagle disaster but aboard the steamer were some of the wealthiest residents from along the Chattahoochee River. The wreck most certainly could contain a lost diamond and other pieces of jewelry.

Before you grab a shovel and head out, however, keep in mind that the site is now the property of the people of the United States. Digging is a federal offense that could send you to a U.S. penitentiary for years to come.

Please click here to read more about the wreck of the steamboat Eagle. 

The Very Jaws of Death: The Wreck of the Steamboat Eagle

A Nineteenth Century Tragedy at Neal's Landing

by Dale Cox

Site of the wreck of the steamboat Eagle.

Neal's Landing - One of the greatest tragedies in the history of Jackson County was the sinking of the steamboat Eagle in less than fifteen minutes on January 29, 1854.

The massive 150-foot boat was a true "floating palace" that rivaled the finest Mississippi riverboats of her day. Propelled by a big paddlewheel at her stern, she carried 200 tons of cargo plus her cargo and crew and was less than two years old when she left Columbus on January 28, 1854, in route down the Chattahoochee and Apalachicola Rivers to Apalachicola, Florida.

The Eagle carried 1,303 bales of cotton on that ill-fated trip and her cabins were filled with passengers, many of them children. She had just reduced speed as she approached Neal's Landing (spelled Neals Landing today) in the northeast corner of Jackson County, Florida, when the smell of smoke suddenly filled her decks.

The cause was never determined, but fire broke out on the boat that day. The flames were first discovered in an area behind the engine room and directly below the "Ladies' Cabin." The gleaming decks burst into flame and fire engulfed the Eagle so fast that crew and passengers alike were surrounded by walls of flame.

The pilot stayed at his post even as fire consumed his vessel. The engines were still running and he steered the bow of the Eagle for the Florida shore to help the crew and passengers get ashore. 

"The children and ladies had either to come down with ropes or be let fall from a height of 13 tiers of cotton bales into the arms of those below on the main deck," wrote one survivor, "then jump to shore."

The same eyewitness continued with a remarkable story of heroism:

...All speak in the highest praise of the conduct of my daughter, not 10 years old. She neither cried nor screamed, but stood upon a pile of cotton, holding one of her little cousins (boys) by each hand, exhorting them not to cry or jump, nor would she leave the burning wreck until she saw them safely landed; she then, in the most self-possessed manner, asked if there was any person that would save her?

One member of the crew yelled out "I will" and, at the risk of his own life, climbed the burning decks and "snatched her from the very jaws of death."

The mighty steamboat Eagle disappeared into the waters of the Chattahoochee within fifteen minutes. Nothing remained to be seen, according to eyewitnesses, but "a few blackened particles of cotton."

All of the people who could be saved were rescued within the first five minutes after the discovery of the fire. Four people - three men and one woman - died. All were members of the crew who remained aboard helping passengers escape until it was too late for them to save themselves.

The loss of the Eagle in financial terms was estimated at $100,000, a remarkable sum for the time. In fact, $100,000 in 1854 was the equivalent of $3,048,714.29 in 2019 dollars.

The estimate did not include a huge shipment of gold and silver being sent to Apalachicola by the banks of Columbus on behalf of the cotton merchants in that city. The season had been extremely profitable and the specie was on its way to be placed aboard an ocean-going vessel for shipment to New York.

Some of the money was recovered, but the banks never revealed how much was lost with the Eagle and remains buried in the mud on the bottom of the Chattahoochee River at Neal's Landing.

A mystery of murder & missing gold on the Ocheesee Road!

This rare 1849 $20 gold piece is at the National Museum of
American History. Could a treasure of similar coins worth
millions of dollars be hidden south of Grand Ridge, Florida?
National Numismatic Collection, National Museum of American History

The end of the War Between the States (or Civil War) brought with it a time of hunger and starvation for people of all races in the rural counties of the Florida Panhandle. It was also a time when ruthless outlaws, many of them deserters from either the Union or Confederate army, stalked the roads and byways in search of plunder.

It was a time when anyone thought to possess gold or other valuables could quickly become the victim of a robbery or worse. 

A man named S.D. Thom learned this deadly lesson on the night of September 2-3, 1865, when he set off from Ocheesee Landing in Calhoun County to meet up with a man named Luke Lott:

Thom came ashore at Ocheesee Bluff in Calhoun County,
Florida. He traveled west from here to meet with Luke Lott.

From a private letter, written from Chattahoochee on the 6th, we learn that Mr. S.D. Thom, a well-known citizen of Columbus, was found dead, on Sunday, Sept. 3d, on the road between Luke Lott's house and Gregory's saw-mill, in Jackson county, Fla., about fifteen miles from Ocheesee, with nine buckshot in his body. He was buried on the 4th. - Columbus Daily Enquirer, September 19, 1865.

Thom, as the above excerpt notes, was a prominent businessman in Columbus, Georgia. He had gone down the Chattahoochee River from that city in a small boat and stayed with a friend named A.D. Bull on the night of August 26th:

...[H]e showed a bag which he said contained $800 in gold, and told his host that he was going to see Mr. Luke Lott, whom he knew, and whom he had promised a visit, if he ever came to Florida, to buy bacon. He left the next morning in a bateaux, a negro being with him, for Lott's place. - Columbus Daily Enquirer, September 19, 1865.

Calhoun County as it appeared in 1860
when it still extended all the way to the
Gulf of Mexico. Ocheesee is at the top left.

The mention that Thom had gone to Florida to "buy bacon" means that he was planning to purchase a large supply of pork. He was engaged in business in Columbus and the amount would have been considerable.

Luke Lott, said by the article to have been an acquaintance of the murdered man, was a fascinating - and deadly - character. 

He lived in northern Calhoun County between the Apalachicola and Chipola Rivers, but owned a large plantation that extended well into Jackson County. He had been successful and highly-regarded before and during the war, although there were also rumors that he had murdered one of his slaves. Lott was the captain of the Calhoun County Home Guard unit and military records indicate that he was a friend of Governor John Milton. 

He was a pro-secession "fire eater" - to use the terminology of the day - and became a bitter enemy of the "Carpetbaggers" (Northerners who moved South) and "Scalawags" (Southern political allies of the Carpetbaggers) who controlled Florida during the Reconstruction era. He was, in fact, later accused of becoming an armed assassin.

...The report is that he went to Lott's deposited his money with him, remained a day or two, and was last seen with Lott, going towards Marianna to buy bacon. Report further says that Thom had deposited some $8,000 and $4,000 with Lott, but the writer is confident that he had not exceeding $400. Some friend should examine into the affair. - Columbus Daily Enquirer, September 19, 1865.

The reports of the time do not mention the exact location where Thom's body was found other than to note it was on the road between Luke Lott's home, in Calhoun County, and Gregory's Mill, in Jackson County.

The beautiful old Gregory House at Torreya State Park was
the home of Jason Gregory, the builder of the mill mentioned
in the accounts of S.D. Thom's murder.

Gregory's Mill had been built in around 1850 by Jason Gregory, a well-known resident of Ocheesee, It stood on the headwaters of Carpenter Sink Creek about 1.5 miles west of State Road 69 and about the same distance north of the Calhoun County line. Gregory is primarily remembered today as the builder of the beautiful old Gregory House that once stood at Ocheesee but now can be toured at Torreya State Park.

Lott lived almost due south of the mill in northern Calhoun County, although he had extensive land holdings throughout the area.

Civil law had broken down in the region by the end of the War Between the States, largely due to the capture or killing of so many local authorities during the Battle of Marianna. The U.S. military responded to the reports of the murder and an investigation of sorts followed:

We learn that Mr. LUKE LOTT, a citizen of Calhoun county, well known here, is under arrest in this city charged with the murder of Mr. THOM, of Columbus, Ga. Since his arrest a negro has been taken into custody for the same offence under suspicious circumstances. The case will be tried before a Military Commission. Mr. D.P. Holland is council for the accused. The case of Mr. Lott, we understand, is one of mere suspicion only. - Tallahassee Semi-Weekly Floridian, October 25, 1865.

Jackson County as it appeared in 1888 (more or less!). The murder took
place south of Grand Ridge on the Calhoun County line.

D.P. Holland, who served as Lott's attorney during his trial before the military tribunal in Tallahassee, had been a lieutenant colonel and later a colonel in the Confederate service. His legal expertise proved worthwhile and Lott was acquitted of the charges against him. 

The fate of the African American man also charged with the crime is unknown. It is interesting to speculate whether he might have been the same man who accompanied S.D. Thom on his trip down the Chattahoochee River from Columbus, but this is not known with certainty.

The value of the stolen money is difficult to assess because so many different amounts were given by writers at the time. Gold was worth $30 per ounce in 1865 so a rough estimate, based on the range of values given for Thom's bag of coins, would be $16,738.05 to $503,400 at today's gold price of $1,258.50 per ounce.

This estimate is based strictly on the value of the gold itself and does not consider the value of 19th century gold coins to collectors! A single $20 Double Eagle gold piece from 1865 in excellent condition can be worth thousands of dollars today.

In other words, S.D. Thom's lost bag of gold could be worth millions. 

The money was not recovered at the time of his murder and may still be out there today, buried somewhere near the line that divides Jackson and Calhoun Counties.

#95 Lost Treasure of the Money Pond (100 Great Things about Jackson County, Florida)

The Money Pond in Jackson County, Florida

The lost treasure of the Money Pond is #95 on our list of 100 Great Things about Jackson County, Florida. Click here to see previous items on the list.

In the northeast corner of Jackson County, legend holds that a pirate treasure waits to be found deep beneath the mud and muck of a swampy body of water. Locals call the place the "Money Pond" and many believe there is enough gold and silver at its bottom to make the person who finds it an instant millionaire.

Spanish treasure on display
Museum of Florida History in Tallahassee

That is likely even more true today thanks to the astronomical price of gold, which at the close of the markets today was selling for $1,339.50 per ounce.  Silver closed at $20.89 per once. Legend holds that the pond contains 7 horse loads of gold and silver, each said to weigh over 100 pounds.

If true, that means there is somewhere around 11,200 ounces of gold and silver at the bottom of the Money Pond. If half of it is in gold, then the value for the weight of the metal alone would be nearly $8 million!

More Spanish Treasure at the Museum of Florida History

And that's just the beginning of the story. The actual value of the treasure could be much, much higher because each of the coins would be worth far more to collectors than the value of its weight alone. A much smaller hoard of three cans containing gold coins from the 19th century was recently found in California and is already thought to be worth more than $10 million.

So is the story true?  Is an unbelievable treasure waiting to be found at the bottom of a swampy Florida pond?

The answer to those questions may be... yes.

William Augustus Bowles
Self Portrait of the Pirate "Billy Bowlegs"

The story has its roots in the real life of the famed pirate and adventurer, William Augustus Bowles. He is celebrated in Fort Walton Beach today as the Pirate Billy Bowlegs, which often causes him to be confused with the later Seminole Indian chiefs of the same name.

Born in Maryland in around 1763, Bowles joined the British military service in 1776 when he was thirteen years old. That was the year, of course, that the United States declared its independence from Great Britain. Bowles was from a family of Tories, however, and his loyalty was to King George III.

According to an early History of the Bowles Family, he fought at the Battle of Monmouth, New Jersey, before traveling with his regiment from New York to Jamaica and from there to Pensacola. Spain had lost Florida to Great Britain at the end of the French & Indian War and it is a little known fact that East and West Florida remained loyal British colonies during the American Revolution.

According to family historian Thomas M. Farquhar, Bowles was driven from the British service following a dispute with one of his commanding officers. The exact details remain murky and there are several different versions of what happened.

Lower Creek village in Jackson County, Florida

Only 15 years old at the time, he decided to walk home to Maryland and set off on his own through the vast wilderness of the Florida Panhandle. He quickly became completely lost, but was discovered by a party of Lower Creek Indians from the Perryman towns. These villages, located in today's Jackson County, Florida and neighboring Seminole County, Georgia, were headed by Thomas and William Perryman. The son and grandson of English trader Theophilus Perryman and his Creek wife, the two Perryman chiefs were wealthy mestizos (a term meaning they were of mixed Creek and European ancestry).

Since the Creeks were on good terms with the English, the warriors carried Bowles to their towns and he quickly ingratiated himself with the Perryman family. He later married Thomas Perryman's oldest daughter and led the Perryman warriors during the Battle of Pensacola in 1780.

Flag flown by William Augustus Bowles

In 1791, at the age of 22, he traveled to London where he negotiated docking rights at British ports in the West Indies for ships flying the flag of what he called the "Creek and Cherokee Nation." These rights in hand, he traveled to New Providence in the Bahamas where he purchased a small sloop and began trading voyages back and forth to the Lower Creek towns on the Chattahoochee River.

On a more ominous note, however, he armed his vessel with cannon and soon entered the life of a pirate, capturing merchant ships on the Gulf of Mexico. He was very good at being a pirate and his one ship soon turned into a flotilla of pirate vessels.

To give these ships at least a semblance of legitimacy, he declared the independence of what he called the "State of Muskogee" and declared war on Spain. Florida had returned to Spanish control at the end of the American Revolution, but the British trading firm of Panton, Leslie and Company had remained behind. Turning his flotilla of pirate ships into the "Muskogee Navy," Bowles became a major thorn in their side.

He and his pirate crews, which included white, black and Creek Indian men, raided merchant vessels traveling in the Gulf. On one occasion they defeated Spanish coast guard vessels in a fierce battle on Apalachicola Bay. Among the vessels of his fleet were the warships Mackisuky and Tostonoke.

Ekanachatte in 1778
From the Purcell-Stuart Map

In one of his letters, Bowles mentioned plans to bring a ship loaded with cargo up the Apalachicola River to either the trading post of James Burges (Burgess) at what is now Bainbridge, Georgia, or a place he called "The Bully's" on the Chattahoochee River.

The Bully, so named for his prowess as a trader, was the chief of the Lower Creek town of Ekanachatte ("Red Ground") which lay on the west bank of the river at what is now Neal's Landing Park in Jackson County. He was a supporter and business associate of Bowles and was fabulously wealthy for his time.

Bowles became such a threat to Spanish and merchant shipping that a reward of $6,000 (in 1790s currency) and 1,500 kegs of rum were offered for his capture. He eventually was captured and died while on a hunger strike at the fort of El Morro in Cuba.

Chattahoochee River at Neal's Landing (Ekanachatte)

According to legend, however, his treasure remained behind at Ekanachatte (Neal's Landing). It stayed safe there until 1818 when, during the First Seminole War, the Creek troops of Brigadier General William McIntosh drove south into Florida as part of Andrew Jackson's invasion. Fearful that the treasure would be captured, the chief and warriors of the town sank it into the Money Pond.

McIntosh defeated the Ekanachatte warriors at the Battle of the Upper Chipola near Bellamy Bridge in March 1818 and the treasure was forever lost. See Battle of the Upper Chipola.

The Money Pond

The story, however, does not end there. During the early 1900s, two major expeditions were launched by treasure hunters to find the lost gold and silver of William Augustus Bowles. The largest of these arrived in northeastern Jackson County in 1927, dug a ditch and drained the Money Pond.  Once the mud had dried somewhat, they started digging... and found Spanish silver coins in the muck at the bottom of the pond!

Before they could recover the main treasure, however, it began to rain. 1927 is remembered today as the year of the Great Flood. From Louisiana east and the Ohio River south, flood waters rose to unheard of levels. In Jackson County, the Chattahoochee surged from its banks and flowed as far inland as Malone. The treasure dig came to an end as raging flood waters flowed through the swamps and forced the men to flee for their lives.  They never came back.

The treasure, it is said, is still there today.

To read more of the story of William Augustus Bowles and the Money Pond, please consider my book, The History of Jackson County, Florida: The Early Years.  It is available at Chipola River Book & Tea in downtown Marianna or online from Amazon.com by clicking here: (Kindle)The History Of Jackson County, Florida: The Early Years.

The Kindle version is available for instant download by clicking here: The History of Jackson County, Florida: The Early Years.

Ekanachatte, near the legendary Money Pond, is one of the stops on the new Jackson County Spanish Heritage Trail. The 150 mile driving tour passes 11 key Spanish colonial sites in Jackson County. The new guide booklet is available at the historic Russ House and Visitor Center in Marianna. Learn more online at http://visitjacksoncountyfla.com/heritage/spanish-heritage-trail/.