I like this read. Not sure about posting it or the link. I am going to post both. Mod feel free to correct anyway you see fit.
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Civil War loot in Arkansas
During the time America was in the middle of the Civil War, not all men fought on either side, some were out for the gain they could steal from abandoned homes. This is one such story of a man that was really on neither side, but got mixed up with both Confederate and Union soldiers and of course looters.
The man was Henry Williams who was an ordinary man that worked hard to make a living as at a livery stable in Pocahontas, Arkansas. In October of 1862, Col. Joseph Porter came to town with around 900 Confederate soldiers. There plan was to join up with General Marmaduke and head north into Missouri. Henry was not very fond of these confederate soldiers and decided to leave town. He took his horse and his mules and headed west out of town.
When he was around 15 miles out of town, he ran into three men with their own mules carrying a large load. The mules under the pressure had practically gone lame, and out of the kindness of his heart, Henry offered to carry a portion of their load upon his mules.
Henry soon learned these men were looters and had been traveling in front of the Confederate soldiers to warn citizens the soldiers were coming. As soon as the people would leave their homes the looters would go into the homes and take anything of value they could find.
Henry waited a few days and then returned to Pocahontas, Arkansas to see if the Confederate soldiers were moving onward. They did not leave until December 2. On December 4, Henry along with the looters warned the people of Sturkie that the soldiers were near by. Of course, once the people left, Henry and the others grabbed what they could from the homes. They then headed north out of town and stopped near by a spring around 4 miles out of town. They heard some soldiers coming their way and hid in a hollow that was close to 400 yards from the spring. At this time, Henry dressed in a Union Soldiers uniform that he had taken from a man he found lying dead on the road. Before the soldiers arrived, the men along with Henry buried their loot in a trench they had dug which was 2 feet deep. After the loot was safely hidden in sags and under the dirt, the soldier appeared. They were Confederate soldiers and they grabbed Henry and his fellow companions. Before they could even move, a group of Union soldiers arrived and captured all the Confederate soldiers, Henry in his Union soldier attire, and the looters.
Henry convinced the Union soldiers that he had been captured by the Confederate soldiers. All of the men except for Henry hung. Henry told the soldiers all the information he had about the whereabouts of the Confederate soldiers and their plans. Henry stayed with the Union army for the rest of the war.
Henry never made it back to the location of the buried loot but on his deathbed at the age of 77, he retold the story to Tom Hoots. To this day, no one has found the valuables that were stolen during the Civil War in Arkansas.
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