T1n> Confederate Stnt,* Treasury />,/ 311
for, and moderate sums were paid to various officers, whose vouchers he produces. Thus, it seems, he paid $1,500 to two of the Presi- dent's aids, and the same amount to my command. That is, he gave us who had preserved the treasure for thirty days the same amount he gave to each of the aids. I do not know who ordered this dis- tribution, but we were very glad to get it, as we were far from home and penniless. It gave us each twenty days' pay.
NEVER ACCOUNTED FOR.
In my opinion a good deal of the money was never accounted for, and there remains what sailors call a " Flemish account" of it.
[Some of the above is transcribed with the kind permission of the Messrs. Scribner from my "Recollections of a Naval Officer." Charles Scribner' s Sons, New York, 1883.]
THE MYSTERIOUS BOX.
Several years ago I read in the papers an account of a box being left with a widow lady who lived, in 1865, near the pontoon bridge across the Savannah river. It was to this effect: The lady stated that on May 3, 1865, a party of gentlemen on their way from Abbe- ville to Washington, Ga., stopped at her house, and were a long time in consultation in her parlor. These gentlemen were Mr. Davis and his Cabinet beyond a doubt. Upon leaving, they gave the lady a box, which, they stated, was too heavy to take with them. After they were gone the lady opened the box, and found it to be full of jewelry. Somewhat embarrassad with so valuable a gift, the lady sent for her minister (a Baptist) and told him the circumstances. By his advice, she buried the box in her garden secretly at night. A few days after, an officer rode up to the house, inquired about the box, and said he had been sent back for it. The lady delivered it up, and the man went off.
Now, I believe this story to be true in every respect, and I further- more believe that the box contained the jewelry which had been contributed by patriotic Confederate ladies. The idea had been sug- gested some time in 1864, but was never fully carried out. Never- theless, some ladies sacrificed their jewels, as I have reason to know.
As for the man who carried off the box, whether he was really sent back for it or was a despicable thief, will probably never be known,
