The Great American History Blog: May 2012

Friday, May 18, 2012

The Pirate Jean Lafitte's Treasure

Most of the treasures hidden by the pirate Jean Lafitte are in Louisiana, although Florida and Texas claim their share as well.

- Lafitte buried treasure on Grand Isle at the southwest entrance of Barrataria Bay. The area around Lafitte village, twenty one miles south of Marrero, La Fourche Parish, founded by pirates and used by them for over one hundred years is also heavily endowed with treasure.

- Another legend asserts that Lafitte buried treasure near Starks, Calcasieu Parish, and also near Barbe House on Shell Beach Drive near Lake Charles, Calcasieu Parish.

- There are many tales of Lafitte burying different treasures up the Mermenteau and Calcasieu Rivers around Contraband Bayou. Another legend tells of gold and silver buried at White Lake north of Pecan Island, Vermilion Parish.

- Jefferson Island was one of Jean Lafitte's treasure storehouses. In 1923, Daynite, the straw boss for a work crew on a local estate, unearthed three boxes of gold coins dating from the 18th-19th centuries under what have subsequently been named the "Lafitte Oaks".

Link to: Legends of Pirate Gold

Gold, Murder and Monsters in the Superstition Mountains

Arizona’s Superstition Mountains are mysterious, forbidding, and dangerous. The Superstitions are said to have claimed over five hundred lives. What were these people looking for? Is it possible that these mountains hide a vast treasure? Is it possible that UFOs land here? Is it possible that in these mountains there is a door leading to the great underground city of the Lizard Men? Join us as we recount a fictional story of the Superstitions and then look at the real history of the legends that haunt these mountains in our new book: Gold, Murder and Monsters in the Superstition Mountains.

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The Death of Ambrose Madison: A Colonial Murder Mystery

In February 1732, thirty six year old Ambrose Madison, the grandfather of future U.S. President James Madison, brought his wife, Frances and his three children, to an estate called Mount Pleasant (now known as Montpelier). Six months later, Ambrose Madison was dead. In the early summer, Ambrose fell ill. Poisoning was suspected. Like most poisoning victims during this period, the poison did not kill him outright, but caused enough internal damage that he lingered near death for weeks, finally dying in late August. Madison left what was regarded at the time as a “considerable estate” including “ten negro men, five negro women, and fourteen children”, along with cattle, hogs, sheep, horses, twelve books and four silver tea spoons.

Did Ambrose Madison die of accidental poisoning or was he murdered? His death marked a milestone in the annals of Virginia crime for it occasioned the first known conviction of slaves for the use of poison against their master.

Link to: Murder in Colonial Virginia

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Friday, May 11, 2012

The Tomb of the Unknown Confederate Soldier

The tomb of the Unknown Confederate Soldier is located at the Beauvoir Confederate Cemetery located on the grounds of Beauvoir House in Biloxi, Mississippi. Beauvoir was the last home of Confederate President Jefferson Davis. Davis wrote The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government at Beauvoir.