Horn Island and Maximilian's Treasure

For those treasure hunters who have searched for the Maximilian treasure around Castle Gap, Texas, the following little known story should be interesting. I quote, inpart, from the long out-of-print The Prospectors Club Newsletter (a publication devoted to treasure hunting) for August 1965:

"Lying about thirteen miles off shore from Biloxi, Mississippi, in Mississippi Sound, is an island discovered in 1699 by a French army five-man patrol.

"No one knows why, but the soldiers identified it on their map as Horn Island. The island is thirteen miles long and varies from one to theee-foutths of a mile wide, and tapers to sandy spits at both ends. The central portion is covered with slashpine, there are huge sand dunes as high as 30 feet, several large lagoons, ponds, and swamps.

"Probably the most intriguing and least known story connected with Horn Island is the legend of the buried gold of Archduke Maximilian von Hapsburg, and the Archduchess Carlotta.

"Carlotta and Maximilian had been rulers in Mexico less than a year when the Civil War ended and the battle-tempered Union veterans started to turn their attention to this Mexican problem.

"Juarez, whom the French troops of Maximilian had driven from the presidency, was still holding out in the mountains. He received the approving nod of the United States, whereupon Napoleon III promptly withdrew his army and support from Maximilian, his puppet in Mexico.

"In this crisis, Cariotta, accompanied by General Juan Almonte, a loyal Field Marshall of Maximilian, set out to return to France to appeal to Napoleon III, but their ship was wrecked off the shore of Horn Island. This ship also carried atreasure of French gold which Maximilian and Carlotta were anxious to get out of Mexico. Before the ship sank, this treasure was saved and secretly buried by General Almonte on Horn Island where Carlotta went insane and General Almonte died on March 23, 1869."

If nothing more, this would certainly be a good site forthe searchers of Maximilian's treasure to investigate.