A Midnight Errand at Cotton Wood
The Son, the Buried Boxes, and a Florida Civil War Mystery
Accounts still differ on exactly what was hidden at Cotton Wood.
In May 1865, according to his own account published decades later, C. Wickliffe Yulee carried two boxes into a cow stable on his family’s plantation near Archer and buried them at midnight. He wrote that the boxes held the private papers and effects of Confederate President Jefferson Davis. Other accounts call it part of the Confederate treasury. The Confederacy was collapsing, Union forces were active in the area, and the question of what lay under that stable floor has never been fully settled.
The Yulees and Cotton Wood
Wickliffe was the son of David Levy Yulee, one of Florida’s first two U.S. Senators, elected in 1845, and president of the Florida Railroad, completed across the peninsula from Fernandina to Cedar Key in 1861. By Wickliffe’s account, his father was not at Cotton Wood that night. The task fell to the son, with one companion assisting, and the aim was to bury the boxes so that no trace of the work could be seen by morning.
A Wagon Train Reaches Florida
The story begins weeks earlier. On April 2, 1865, with Lee’s Petersburg lines broken, the Confederate government evacuated Richmond. According to a summary of Wayne Lewis’s research, gold and specie, along with funds belonging to Richmond banks, left by train for Danville. Estimates vary: about $700,000 in one summary, up to $1 million in another, and no more than about $500,000 in an estimate by Wesley Millett and Gerald White. Payments to troops along the route drained the fund, and by early May in Washington, Georgia, it had dwindled to about $43,000 in cash. Davis was captured near Irwinville, Georgia, on May 10, 1865.
One account says Davis had divided his party, and that a small detachment carrying baggage, government papers and some gold was sent toward Florida. A blog account without footnotes describes a train under Captain Micajah H. Clark that entered Florida on May 15. Both place the party at Cotton Wood around May 22.
The Burial
Wickliffe Yulee’s account, published in the Florida Historical Quarterly in 1909, more than four decades after the events, says officers from Davis’s escort left horses and effects at Cotton Wood. Mrs. Yulee learned from an aide to Davis that two boxes held the president’s private papers and effects. Wickliffe buried both at midnight in the cow stable. His account does not use the words treasure, gold or specie.
Other versions differ. Guide to Greater Gainesville says Wickliffe buried two chests and a trunk and that a separate trunk of government papers was buried in a horse stable. Neither detail appears in the 1909 account as retrieved for this review. These versions have not been reconciled.
Union Troops Arrive
Wickliffe wrote that a Black coachman informed Federal authorities and that a detachment of Colored Troops under an officer named Bryant came to Cotton Wood. Bryant’s report, as quoted in the 1909 article, says Mrs. Yulee told him the items were Davis’s private effects, to be delivered to Mrs. Davis, and that he found them in a storeroom, not even locked. Another account says David Levy Yulee had the items dug up and sent to a railroad agent at Waldo.
The dates differ. Wickliffe wrote that his father was arrested at Gainesville about the middle of May, then held at Fort Pulaski near Savannah. Another account says May 25, and the Waldo marker dates the seizure of Davis’s baggage to June 15, 1865. Whether money was involved is the least clear point. Some accounts mention $25,000 in gold, but Bryant’s report describes a trunk, a chest and personal effects, and the figure’s origin is unclear.
Where the Story Ends and Legends Begin
Around the documented core, legends grew. One local tradition says a guard from the wagon party buried his share at Cotton Wood and died before retrieving it, but no primary source for that story was found. Treasure tales of this kind are common in the literature of the Confederacy’s last weeks, and readers should weigh them against the records. The Cotton Wood episode has a named place, a participant’s published account and a quoted Union report. Those records describe boxes of Davis’s papers and effects. They do not by themselves establish that treasury funds were buried there.
Quick Facts
Who buried it
C. Wickliffe Yulee, with one companion, by his own account
Where
Cotton Wood Plantation near Archer, Alachua County, in a cow stable
When
May 1865, at midnight (dates differ by source)
What, per Wickliffe
Two boxes of Jefferson Davis’s private papers and effects
What, per other accounts
Two chests and a trunk, said to include part of the treasury (not reconciled)
Primary source
Florida Historical Quarterly, vol. 2, no. 2 (1909)
Union officer
An officer named Bryant, with Colored Troops
David Levy Yulee
Arrested in May 1865; held at Fort Pulaski
Disputed detail
Whether any money was buried or recovered
Did You Know?
- Wickliffe Yulee’s own account does not mention gold.
- Jefferson Davis was captured near Irwinville, Georgia, on May 10, 1865.
- Florida has historical markers for the story in both Archer and Waldo.
Vocabulary
Specie: money in the form of coins, usually gold or silver.
Primary source: a firsthand record from someone who took part in the events.
Legend: a story handed down that may mix fact with later additions.
Discussion Questions
1. Why is a participant’s own account valuable, and what are its limits when it was written decades later?
2. How can historians tell where a documented event ends and a legend begins?
Related Articles
- FLH-0097 — Florida During the Civil War
- FLH-0102 — Florida’s Blockade Runners
- FLH-0103 — Florida’s Unionists
- FLH-0107 — Gamble Plantation
Sources
Yulee, C. Wickliffe. “Senator David L. Yulee (Continued).” Florida Historical Quarterly 2, no. 2 (1909), via UCF STARS (read through a retrieval tool; page numbers to be confirmed)
Florida Division of Historical Resources. Historical markers at Waldo and Archer (seen in summary only). markers.flheritage.com
University of Florida Smathers Libraries. David Levy Yulee Papers finding aid.
Millett, Wesley, and Gerald White. History News Network article on the Confederate treasury.
Kuenzi, Hans. “The Search for the Lost Confederate Gold.” Cleveland Civil War Roundtable (supplementary)
“The Lost Confederate Treasure.” Guide to Greater Gainesville (supplementary)
Copyright © 2026 Wm. E. McMullen II. All rights reserved. Published by Florida Learning Hub.