Confederate Gold and Silver (76 page)

Prior to the meeting date, Judge Morgan extended written subpoenas mandating Paul, Chick, and Jayne be present for this meeting. After receiving his subpoena, and through a request Paul made to Judge Morgan through the judge’s law clerk, similar subpoenas were also sent to Mayor Davis, Bobby Ray, Pete, and to Duke Johnson, mandating they be present as well.

On the morning of Tuesday, February 17
th
, representatives from ten former Confederate states, as well as from the National Park Service, and the court’s guests, met for the first time with Judge Morgan to start discussions on how the found money should be disbursed. Early on it was apparent the states had not been able to agree upon a plan to disburse the money amongst themselves. Paul had been right again, greed had clouded the ability of three states to reach a mutual agreement with the remaining states. The Confederacy was at war again, but this time it was with each other and it was over money. Early on in the proceedings, Judge Morgan quickly let everyone present know of his displeasure.

For the rest of the day, with a court stenographer, a court clerk, and two Deputy United States Marshals present, Judge Morgan allowed each of the ten states who had filed motions seeking a portion of the money to demonstrate to the court their justification for laying claim to a portion of the Confederate gold and silver. The Park Service was also given the same opportunity at the conclusion of the state presentations. Previously the court had directed three private citizens, and several other civic and historical groups, who had filed claims against the found money to submit written responses to the court justifying their positions.

After listening to each of the presentations, each state was given an additional five minutes to summarize the reasons why they felt they were entitled to a portion of the found money. The Park Service summarized their reasons after the state presentations had concluded. After listening to each of the summaries, Judge Morgan recessed the meeting for the day, instructing the representatives to return at ten the following morning.

******

In his opening comments the following morning, Judge Morgan started by briefly summarizing the proceedings of the previous day. Then in a move which surprised all present, he allowed one more speaker to address the group.

“Last evening I took the time to reflect back on each of your presentations. I also gave a thorough review to the notes I had made throughout the day. As I did, I realized I had not allowed one person to speak. While not representing any of the states gathered here today, or the federal government, Mr. Paul Waring is the person most responsible for this meeting even being held. It is he, along with the assistance of those colleagues of his, whose efforts, some made of pure luck and others by their sheer determination, have led to the discovery of the long lost Confederate treasury. Without their efforts, I suspect we would all be doing something else today. I am quite certain we would not be meeting here. I believe we owe him the opportunity to present his opinion on how the money should be disbursed. Do any of you have an objection to him speaking to the court and to you?”

Raising his hand to be recognized, Devin Stilson, the Attorney General for the state of Mississippi, asked one question of the court. “Your Honor, the state of Mississippi is grateful to Mr. Waring and to his colleagues for their dedicated efforts in finding the lost gold and silver. It is truly a remarkable discovery. However, I do have one question for the court. How much influence does Mr. Waring’s voice have with the court in deciding how the money is to be disbursed?”

Taking a moment to remove his glasses, Judge Morgan placed them on the desk he was sitting at before answering Attorney Stilson’s question. “How can I answer your question when I have yet to hear what he has to say? I will remind the state of Mississippi, as I will also remind all of you, that in my entire career as a jurist no one has ever personally influenced any of my decisions. My decisions are influenced solely by the facts which have been presented, not by the individuals who have presented them. Does that answer your question, sir?”

“Yes, it does, Your Honor. I meant no disrespect to you or to the court with my question.”

“None has been taken. I understand the point you have raised.”

Then Judge Morgan invited Paul to stand and address the others who were present.

“Thank you, Your Honor. My friends and I sincerely appreciate being invited to attend these proceedings and to address the court with our thoughts. First, we want to again make it clear to everyone that we, either as a group or as individuals, are making no claim to any of this money as it is simply not ours to keep in any manner. The recent comparisons the media has made, some of which have labeled us as treasurer hunters, are both unfair and inaccurate as we have not done this for any financial reward or for any other type of personal gain. However, we do have our opinions on how we believe the money should be disbursed.

We were somewhat upset by what we heard yesterday from each of the state presentations. We were equally upset by the presentation which was made by the National Park Service. Actually it is what we did not hear that is upsetting. While all offered plans on how they would use the funds to build new schools, new roads, or for other similar needs, no one said they would use the money to preserve any of the Civil War sites which are located within their respective jurisdictions. Nor was there any mention of the funds being used to acquire privately held property which has historical value attached to it from the Civil War. Nor did any of the presenters suggest they would use any portion of the funds to preserve Civil War monuments which currently exist. My friends and I heard no mention of using any part of the money to fund educational programs related to the war. For what it is worth, we believe it is important for us to remember our past, especially since the financial means to do so are now available.

Your Honor, thirty-two million dollars is a great deal of money. While we firmly believe the money belongs to the people of the United States, we also believe it primarily belongs to the people of those states who were part of the Confederacy. It was their relatives, their friends, and their states whose money likely created a portion of the funds that comprised the treasury of the Confederacy. The same treasury we are meeting here to discuss.

My friends and I would like to see this money divided up amongst those states who are here today, the states who truly were the states of the Confederacy. However, certain states like Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia, possibly Mississippi as well; they deserve a larger portion of the found money than the other former Confederate states do. It was those states I have mentioned who had the most prominent roles, the most battles fought in them, and who had the largest burdens placed on their civilian populations than the other states did during the war. We just think they should get a bigger slice of the pie than the other states, but everyone should get something.

Your Honor, we are meeting here in Charleston, the city which most historians, if not all, cite as being the place where the first hostile shot of the Civil War was fired. As you may know, Charleston has recently had to cancel its plans to host the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary celebration of the start of the Civil War. Like so many cities and towns across our country, Charleston is facing tough economic times. They had to cancel the anniversary celebration so essential city services could still be provided to the city’s residents. Your Honor, no matter what anyone’s position is on the Civil War, whether someone believes it was good or bad is not the issue. We all know too well the horrors of war and we all know slavery was an embarrassing blemish on our past, but the Civil War has a significant place in our country’s history. As my friends and I believe the states represented here today should get a portion of the money which has been found, we also believe the court should allocate a portion of the money to the city of Charleston. Some of the money we have found was money hidden in likely the very same cannons that fired the first shots of the war. In our opinion, Charleston should be given a portion of the money so it can properly host the anniversary celebration of our nation’s most tragic war. That celebration is not just for the people of Charleston to take part in; it is one for everyone to take part in.”

Pausing for a moment, Paul saw Mayor Davis nod his head at him. It was a nod silently thanking him for going to bat for the city and for the mayor’s political future as well.

Before he could continue, Judge Morgan asked Paul a question. “Mr. Waring, am I correct in hearing that you believe the court should come up with some simple formula and then, just as simply perhaps, divide the money between the states that are represented here? Am I also correct in hearing you believe this formula should somehow allow for a greater disbursement to the states you just mentioned? Is that what you are saying?”

“Yes, Your Honor. Each of these states made a conscious decision to leave the Union so they could support the Confederacy. Each state made their own sacrifices to the war and as they each shared in the Confederacy’s defeat, they would have also shared in the victory with the other states if they had won. If victories and defeats are to be shared, so then should the found Confederate treasury. Besides those states I have mentioned and the unique roles they each played in the war for the Confederacy, we see no real reason to complicate the distribution of part of this money. Trying to figure out which state gets what percentage of the found money based on how many battles were fought in each state or deciding who gets what based on how many soldiers each state contributed to the cause, would be a ridiculous task to try and undertake. My friends and I believe as each of the states equally shared in the bitter defeat of the Confederacy, they should also equally share their found treasury. It is a simplistic approach, but one we believe is a fair one. However, we hope the court would impose stipulations on those states who receive some of the money. It is also our hope the court will consider a couple of other allocations we would like to see made.”

Judge Morgan had been making some notes as Paul had talked, but he quickly put his pen down and interrupted the presentation being made. “Mr. Waring, did I hear you correctly? Did you say
stipulations
? And what other allocations would you be referring to? The majority of the states that comprised the Confederacy are here today, who else might you be referring to?”

“Yes, sir, those states are all here, except for Texas of course. I did use the term stipulations and I promise I will clarify that point in a moment. But I, I mean we, we also believe the federal government deserves to be compensated as well for its losses.”

Ronald Nihill, an Assistant Attorney General from the state of Louisiana, stood up and waited for the court to recognize him. After being recognized, he questioned Paul on his position regarding compensating the federal government with a portion of the found Confederate treasury. “Mr. Waring, why should the court consider compensating the federal government with some of this found money? It was not theirs to start with.”

“Sir, I beg to differ. Some of it, in fact, likely a very large portion, was very much their money.”

“How so?”

“Well, if I remember my history correctly, I seem to remember it was just after Louisiana seceded from the Union that a group of Confederate soldiers, secessionists, Southern patriots, or whatever they were called, and likely with a few other men from Louisiana mixed in with them, seized the United States Mint located in New Orleans and made off with a bunch of money. I seem to remember they appropriated somewhere around $20,000,000 in cash, bonds, and notes. This was all done for the benefit of the Confederacy. The money they seized was the property of the United States government. A good portion of the money was in the form of gold and silver coins, some of which may be the same very coins my friends and I have recently found. To take the point even further, I seem to recall a rather prominent Confederate general, perhaps the same one who led the attack on Fort Sumter, helped coordinate the raid on the mint.”

“Well . . . I . . .”

“To take it a step further, I also seem to remember a certain Confederate state, in fact, the same one we are meeting in today, started the hostilities of the Civil War by firing their cannons at a fort. It was Fort Sumter to be precise, a fort also owned by the United States government. Seems I remember learning about that fort and a couple of others just like it sustaining some pretty heavy damage from Confederate cannons being fired at them. I also seem to remember these forts were all located in the South.” Paul paused for a moment to look at Attorney Nihill’s reaction to his comments before continuing. “In this case it’s a pot of money, but it seems we should be fair when the pie is being sliced up. Fair is fair, at least that’s what I have always been told.”

“Sir, the United States government has enough money already, don’t y’all think?”

“Perhaps so, but if they did it seems they, just like the states sitting here, would likely be doing a better job at preserving Fort Sumter and so many other important Civil War sites across the South. As far as I can tell they are not doing a great job at it and I suspect your states are not either. Probably comes down to a lack of money all across the board, for them and for you.”

Judge Morgan tried, but he could not help but chuckle at Paul’s comments. He knew the points raised were valid ones. They were also ones the state representatives could not logically argue against as both time and many historians had well documented the facts now being spoken about.

“Sir, we are not saying the United States government is the only entity besides you folks who should get a portion of the money. Nor are we saying they should get more than you. We believe a site in Pennsylvania should also get a portion of the money as well. Brave men from both sides died fighting for the causes they believed in at a place called Gettysburg. We as a nation, likely from a speech President Lincoln gave there, consider that to be hallowed ground. It is all of that and more. Seems to us we should be doing a better job of caring for that piece of property than we currently are so that future generations of Americans can appreciate the terrible battle which took place there. At the same time, perhaps we should also consider buying some of the adjacent land surrounding the Gettysburg battlefields, land where many a brave young Confederate soldier died while fighting for your cause. Those properties need to be preserved as much as the other sites there already have been. Especially now because we have the funding available to do so without burdening the taxpayers even more than they already are.”