title: Rebel Gold: One Man's Quest to Crack the Code Behind the Secret Treasure of the Confederacy
author:  Warren Getler 
description: Conspiracy connoisseurs tired of contemplating whether Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone will feast on this tale of the 19th-century doings of the Knights of the Golden Circle. According to treasure hunter Brewer (aided by Bloomberg News editor-at-large Getler), who attempts to unravel their secrets in hopes of finding millions of dollars of hidden gold, the KGC was a sinister group of influential Southerners intent on engineering the secession of Southern states. They supposedly conspired to split the 1860 Democratic convention so that a weak candidate would emerge, guaranteeing Lincoln's election and support for secession-a deep game indeed. Losing the Civil War sent them underground, where, the authors say, political theorist and KGC member Jesse James, whose death they faked, led them to amass a fortune primarily through the pedestrian crimes of bank and stagecoach robbery and, more creatively, by collecting a multimillion-dollar award from Mexican Emperor Maximilian as repayment for aiding Maximilian's tottering regime. They hid their treasure, preserving knowledge of its whereabouts through a series of devilishly complex symbols known only to initiates for the day the South would rise again. Brewer believes some of his relatives were "sentinels" charged with protecting the KGC's hidden treasure. As fanciful as the group's history sounds (and the authors admit it is heavily based on circumstantial evidence), Brewer is convincing that the code existed and that he deciphered some of it, and his treasure hunting meets with modest success. In the end, this is a curiosity that will strain many readers' credibility, but leave a lingering "Maybe." Photos, maps.<br />Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.
zlib_text: ** The 10 Greatest conspiracies of all time**
  
  **brad meltzer**
  
  With  
  **Keith ferrell**
  
  ![Image](Image00000.jpg)
  
  _For my history teacher Ellen Sherman, who taught me the power of asking the
  right questions_
  
  #  Contents
  
  ![Image](Image00001.jpg)
  
  [ Introduction ](text00000.html#filepos0000006754)
  
  [ #10  
  **John Wilkes Booth: Was Lincoln’s assassin apprehended?**
  ](text00000.html#filepos0000014296)
  
  _After murdering President Abraham Lincoln, did the most famous assassin in
  American history live for 40 more years?_
  
  [ #9  
  **Confederate Gold: Stolen Treasure or Hidden Wealth of a New Confederacy?**
  ](text00000.html#filepos0000051937)
  
  _Almost $20 million in gold and silver simply disappeared at the end of the
  Civil War. Who took the Confederate gold? Was it stolen—or was it hidden? And
  where is it now?_
  
  [ #8  
  **the Georgia Guidestones: America’s Stonehenge**
  ](text00000.html#filepos0000090816)
  
  _America has its own Stonehenge. Who built it? And what is it intended to
  guide us tow