Cannonball Cache

Stuartown, originally near Beaufort, was completely destroyed by the Spanish in 1686.

Cannonball cache

1. It has been called a ?annon ball safe·by every writer who has ever described it, but the descriptions make plain that it was probably a defused artillery shell. In any case, in 1900, a farmer about three miles outside of Smyrna in Cherokee County reportedly used a hollowed out cannon ball or an empty shell as a sort of piggy bank for the family savings. He kept the bank in plain view in his closet, reasoning that thieves would not trouble themselves to steal an old war souvenir that might blow up in their faces. Unfortunately, what thieves might not have dared to touch was an irresistible temptation to children.

One day when the adults were away, one of the children borrowed the cannon ball to amuse his friends. When the children grew tired of playing with the new toy, they did what all children do and left it where it was. As this was in plain view in the woods behind the house, the father well might have later retrieved his bank, but if that were the case I wouldn? be telling this story here. One of the children later went back and hid the ?annon ball·in a hole left where the stump of a tree had been removed. Weeks later, when the farmer learned what happened, the child couldn? remember where the hole was.

Captain Huck's loot

2. In May of 1780, Captain Christian Hauk (or Huck) was leading a gang of about 400 raiders on a plundering foray throughout York County. On May 29 the Tories had the effrontery to plunder the homes of the commanders of the local militia, Colonel William Bratton and Captain John McClure. At McClure? house, Hauk found Mrs. McClure, her son James, and her son-in-law Edward Martin all molding bullets. He seized the two men, robbed the house, and retired to the Williamson plantation four miles east of McConnells where he planned to hang the young men at day break.

During the night McClure and Bratton assembled a force of 260 volunteers to attack the Tory camp. Hauk and 40 of his men were killed in the surprise attack. The rest of the bandits threw down their arms and fled. Both the young men were rescued, but none of the plunder taken in Hauk? many robberies was recovered, leading to speculation that it was cached somewhere on the Williamson plantation. One theory is that Hauk had been using the plantation for five years as a place to cache stolen loot rather than turn it over to British regulars at his home base at Rocky Mount in Fairfield County.

A second route of a large band of Tory raiders occurred the same year at Hammond? Store northeast of Mountville in Laurens County. In this case, the patriots stumbled upon the Tory camp by accident and launched an immediate assault, killing or driving off the Tories. In the aftermath, with the vindictiveness that was commonplace during the Revolution, the Americans burned the store and all of the surrounding buildings. In doing this, they inadvertently obliterated all of the landmarks leading to the caches of valuables that the raiders had plundered from surrounding farms. None of this loot was ever recovered.

After the destruction of Huck? force, South Carolinians were emboldened enough to strike at the origin and home base of Huck? expedition ·Lt. Colonel Trumbull? headquarters at Rocky Mount just south of Great Falls on the Catawba River. This was a strong position, consisting of ?hree log houses perforated with loopholes surrounded by a ditch and an abatis.·The attack failed and the Americans withdrew to Landsford. When the British later made a hasty withdrawal from this position, the patriots moved in and burned the tiny fort to the ground to prevent its re-occupation at a later date. While Huck? raiders reportedly cached the best plunder at the Williamson plantation in York County, they must have turned something over to their British masters back at Rocky Mount; and it is not known how much, if any, of this loot was left behind when the British withdrew. There is no report of any recovery of property by Americans from either Huck? or Turnbull? forces.

Tory bandit loot

3. Perhaps the worst of the Tory bandits in terms of murder, kidnapping, and robbery ·and the least effective militarily ·was Bloody Bill Bates, who terrorized Greenville County for years before he was captured and shot ?hile attempting to escape.·During the Revolution ?ttempting to escape·was often a euphemism for ?ummarily executed without trial.·Therefore, it is unlikely that any attempt was made to extract information about the large amounts of plunder Bates had allegedly hidden near his hideout at ?raveler? Rest·near Greenville.

More Tory bandit loot

4. Most of the Tory raiders were adept at building and concealing manmade caves dug into the high banks of streams at the headwaters or in to hill sides near prominent landmarks. These caves served as both treasure depository and hideouts in time of emergency and were so well concealed as to be impossible to detect. After the war, the treasure stockpiled in these redoubts was easily forgotten in the mad scramble by all Tories ·bandit or not ·to obtain space on departing British ships.

The good citizens of Charleston hanged 12 prominent Tories in full view of the British fleet, and scores more were whipped, beaten, branded, or tarred and feathered. Safety, not treasure, was the primary concern of all former Tories. A tremendous amount of hidden plunder must have been abandoned, but to date there have been very few reports of Tory plunder being recovered in any of the original 13 colonies, perhaps because so few people are looking for it.

North Island in Winyah Bay is also said to be the site of a cache of plunder (gold and silver) hidden by Tory bandits before they fell under patriot guns. I have been unable to cross reference any action at North Island in any of my Revolutionary War source books, but the engagement may have been too small in scope to merit notice. Local research might prove fruitful in this case.

(none)

5. When experts at Christy? put an estimate of $100,000 to $150,000 on a 17th century South Carolina chair coming up for auction, they were just guessing. No chair like it had ever been auctioned before. However, the number of collectors of Southern furniture has mushroomed in recent years, and the auctioneer felt confident that this chair made by a Huguenot joiner working in coastal South Carolina between 1680 and 1700 would sell for a very good price. It did ·the final bid was $288,500. Dean Failey of Christy? commented, ?nce hidden in plain sight, furniture from the South today generates a tremendous amount of interest.·I don? know much about furniture, but $288,500 generates a lot of interest for me. If I lived in the South ·especially in coastal South Carolina ·I? be checking the attic and garage to see if I could generate a little interest myself.

Blacksburg

6. Blacksubrg, S.C., got its start as Stark? Trading Post. When the railroad arrived in 1886, the town took off. Digging in the fields outside of town produced numerous Cherokee artifacts. Both gold and silver have been mined in the nearby hills.

Bull's Bay

7. During the 1600s an unnamed pirate ship was an- chored off of Charleston for several weeks. During that period the pirates went unchallenged as they stopped, boarded, and looted every ship attempting to enter the harbor. Only when their hold was so full of plunder that the ship was in serious danger of going under, did the freebooters abandon this station.

The pirates sailed north to Bull? Bay where their greed caught up with them and their vessel literally burst apart at the seams. Local authorities found the pirates posing as shipwrecked sailors while taking refuge among the Indians. The shipjackers had apparently salvaged enough of their treasure to pay the huge ?ines·to said authorities which kept them from going to the executioner? dock. However, it? a good bet that a sizable portion of the plunder went down with the ship.

Please Note: It is the responsibility of the treasure hunter to gain permission before detecting.

SOURCES:

Alsberg, Henry G., American Guide, Hastings House, 1949.

?op 100 Treasures,·Arts and Antiques magazine, March, 1999.

Ward, Christopher, The War of the Revolution, MacMillan, 1952.

Terry, Thomas P., U.S. Treasure Atlas, Specialty Pub., 1985.

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