Washington is prominently featured in a newsletter article about the Confederate gold allegedly stolen at Chennault, Georgia, on the night of May 24, 1865. The article appears in the December issue of “The Surratt Courier” newsletter which is published monthly by the Surratt Society (an affiliate of the Surratt House Museum) and the Maryland- National Capital Park and Planning Commission in Clinton, Maryland. The newsletter has both national and international circulation.

The newsletter article titled “The Missing Confederate Gold: Raid at Chennault, Georgia, May 24, 1865,” was written by Dr. Mark Waters and details the events of the $450,000 ($9 million in today’s value) silver and gold coin of several Richmond, Virginia, banks that traveled with the Confederate treasury to Washington in April and May of 1865.

Legend has it that the robbery took place near the Chennault plantation in Lincoln County, but Waters’ research suggests that it may have been in the yard of the Mrs. S. D. Moss house on Graball Road about three miles from the Savannah River. Slightly over $251,000 was reportedly stolen with a portion of that being later recovered. However, $179,000 ($3.6 million in today’s value) is still missing.

Reprints of the article are available free at the Chamber of Commerce and the Washington Historical Museum as is Waters’ 2007 article, “Confederate Treasury – the Final Disposition,” which details the 34-day sojourn of the Confederate treasury and the bank’s assets from Richmond, Virginia, to Washington, Georgia.