Down Highway 49, past Monarch, near Browns Creek Baptist Church, sits a swamp and plenty of pasture land. The highway once served as a former stagecoach route that connected Union to Charlotte. After the Civil War ended, the Union army entered the Upstate, pulling wagons and distributing food to the local population. A German man lived in this area and was known to have gold. The man reportedly hid his treasure in a well on the property when he heard the army would be coming through. Instead of giving up mules and chickens, the Union army killed the man but never found his gold.
Go Upstate wrote an article on March 6, 1998, detailing that the gold could have been buried on Gene Harmon’s farm, but gave no additional details. You can research the article with a quick Google search.
Tales of missing Civil War treasure are not new. Many mysteries are still told throughout communities like this one. A county over from Union is Chester, which is also rumored to have a missing treasure that had never been accounted for when Varina Davis, the wife of Jefferson Davis, fled through the area in 1865 on the Confederate money train. West Chester reportedly sits on its treasure at the former Woods Plantation.
The missing treasure hidden by a German man in this part of the country is undoubtedly feasible when connecting other stories. But this tale is a mystery and intriguing since it’s not well-known. If the gold is buried on land somewhere along this stretch of road between Lockhart and Union, it may forever remain the best-kept secret that may never be found.
Written By: John G. Clark Jr
Image By: John G. Clark Jr