"The UnXplained" Secrets of the Civil War

1 00:00:02,450 --> 00:00:04,700 Supernatural beings 2 00:00:04,910 --> 00:00:07,500 haunting blood-stained battlefields. 3 00:00:07,700 --> 00:00:13,500 Mysterious spies infiltrating the inner sanctum of power. 4 00:00:13,700 --> 00:00:18,160 And treasure hunters seeking a legendary fortune 5 00:00:18,290 --> 00:00:20,370 in gold. 6 00:00:20,580 --> 00:00:23,410 From 1861 to 1865, 7 00:00:23,580 --> 00:00:26,370 the United States of America found itself 8 00:00:26,540 --> 00:00:28,330 in a deadly conflict 9 00:00:28,540 --> 00:00:33,200 a four-year struggle that forged heroes, freed millions, 10 00:00:33,370 --> 00:00:37,620 and would forever be known as the civil war. 11 00:00:37,790 --> 00:00:42,330 While history often focuses on the polarizing politics 12 00:00:42,450 --> 00:00:46,620 and the bloody battles of this tumultuous era, 13 00:00:46,830 --> 00:00:49,500 there are also many fascinating and shocking stories 14 00:00:49,660 --> 00:00:53,620 to be found of the people and places that played a role 15 00:00:53,830 --> 00:00:56,450 in the war between the states. 16 00:00:56,660 --> 00:01:03,040 From rumors of lost treasure and haunted battlefields, 17 00:01:03,200 --> 00:01:08,950 to mysterious premonitions and secret societies, 18 00:01:09,120 --> 00:01:12,660 could these intriguing tales shed new light 19 00:01:12,790 --> 00:01:15,410 on america's darkest days? 20 00:01:16,450 --> 00:01:19,250 Well, that is what we'll try and find out. 21 00:01:21,000 --> 00:01:27,074 Watch Online Movies and Series for FREE www.osdb.link/lm 22 00:01:37,040 --> 00:01:40,660 This historic landmark was built in 1829 23 00:01:40,830 --> 00:01:44,846 to protect Charleston harbor against naval attacks. 24 00:01:44,870 --> 00:01:47,950 Every year, hundreds of thousands of people visit 25 00:01:48,120 --> 00:01:49,830 this old sea fort to walk in the footsteps 26 00:01:50,040 --> 00:01:53,700 of some truly remarkable American history. 27 00:01:53,870 --> 00:01:56,830 Because on April 12, 1861, 28 00:01:57,040 --> 00:02:00,660 it was here that the first shots were fired 29 00:02:00,870 --> 00:02:04,080 during the American civil war. 30 00:02:06,410 --> 00:02:10,250 The civil war is perhaps the most important thing 31 00:02:10,370 --> 00:02:14,000 that ever happened in the history of this country. 32 00:02:14,200 --> 00:02:17,330 It's often referred to as "the brothers' war," 33 00:02:17,500 --> 00:02:22,870 not just because you had Americans from the south 34 00:02:23,040 --> 00:02:25,370 fighting Americans from the north, 35 00:02:25,540 --> 00:02:28,830 but within families, there was division. 36 00:02:29,040 --> 00:02:31,250 You had sons growing up 37 00:02:31,450 --> 00:02:33,540 in the same household with the same parents, 38 00:02:33,700 --> 00:02:35,500 and one takes the side of the north, 39 00:02:35,620 --> 00:02:37,910 and the other takes the side of the south. 40 00:02:38,120 --> 00:02:42,160 There were between two and three million men who were serving. 41 00:02:42,370 --> 00:02:44,000 The expectation was 42 00:02:44,200 --> 00:02:45,676 that it would only be for a few months. 43 00:02:45,700 --> 00:02:50,790 But the war actually lasted from April of 1861 44 00:02:51,000 --> 00:02:54,000 to April 1865. 45 00:02:54,200 --> 00:02:57,500 During the conflict, the confederate states of america 46 00:02:57,700 --> 00:03:00,910 attempted to dominate the United States military 47 00:03:01,040 --> 00:03:02,330 on the field of battle. 48 00:03:02,540 --> 00:03:06,160 By the time that the war ends in 1865, 49 00:03:06,330 --> 00:03:09,660 over 600,000 Americans have lost their lives 50 00:03:09,790 --> 00:03:12,870 as a result of combat during the American civil war. 51 00:03:13,040 --> 00:03:15,000 That is a total number that is greater 52 00:03:15,120 --> 00:03:17,500 than any other conflict we have ever fought. 53 00:03:17,660 --> 00:03:21,910 So, more Americans die fighting the American civil war 54 00:03:22,080 --> 00:03:25,080 than die fighting the second world war. 55 00:03:25,250 --> 00:03:27,160 We should be comforted by the idea 56 00:03:27,370 --> 00:03:29,080 that we're so far away from this conflict 57 00:03:29,250 --> 00:03:31,450 and that nothing to equal the terror 58 00:03:31,620 --> 00:03:33,290 of the American civil war has happened 59 00:03:33,410 --> 00:03:35,290 to the American people since. 60 00:03:36,620 --> 00:03:39,450 The civil war saw over 10,000 battles 61 00:03:39,660 --> 00:03:43,160 and military engagements fought in 19 states, 62 00:03:43,330 --> 00:03:45,410 between the union army of the north 63 00:03:45,620 --> 00:03:48,040 and the confederate army of the south. 64 00:03:48,200 --> 00:03:50,250 And today, the most visited 65 00:03:50,410 --> 00:03:54,160 of these former battlegrounds is in rural Pennsylvania 66 00:03:54,370 --> 00:03:57,580 at the site of the conflict's bloodiest battle. 67 00:04:00,910 --> 00:04:03,000 1863. 68 00:04:03,200 --> 00:04:06,660 For the first three days of July, intense fighting 69 00:04:06,830 --> 00:04:09,160 would leave 51,000 Americans wounded, 70 00:04:09,330 --> 00:04:11,410 captured, missing or killed 71 00:04:11,540 --> 00:04:14,290 at the battle of gettysburg. 72 00:04:16,410 --> 00:04:18,330 The battlefield here at gettysburg 73 00:04:18,540 --> 00:04:22,000 looks very much like it did in 1863. 74 00:04:23,580 --> 00:04:28,040 Here we are on the face of little round top. 75 00:04:28,200 --> 00:04:31,250 This was a scene of mass confusion. 76 00:04:31,370 --> 00:04:33,620 The Ridge in the distance is seminary Ridge. 77 00:04:33,790 --> 00:04:38,660 The attacking confederates came across these rocks. 78 00:04:38,830 --> 00:04:41,450 This was bloody, hand-to-hand fighting, 79 00:04:41,620 --> 00:04:44,370 confederates coming up the cliff. 80 00:04:44,540 --> 00:04:49,790 It was just an amazing scene of bullets, 81 00:04:49,950 --> 00:04:53,330 cannonballs, exploding shells. 82 00:04:54,330 --> 00:04:58,330 The horror here was astounding. 83 00:05:01,080 --> 00:05:04,250 My great-great grandfather was in the extreme right flank 84 00:05:04,410 --> 00:05:06,660 of the confederate attack here, 85 00:05:06,830 --> 00:05:08,950 and he had served through the war. 86 00:05:09,080 --> 00:05:14,160 The fact that I have stood here where my ancestors fought 87 00:05:14,330 --> 00:05:17,160 and seen the battle in my mind's eye 88 00:05:17,330 --> 00:05:20,040 that was undescribable to me. 89 00:05:21,200 --> 00:05:24,290 It's really a part of who I am spiritually. 90 00:05:25,830 --> 00:05:27,500 Gettysburg is not only a place 91 00:05:27,660 --> 00:05:30,160 of spiritual reflection, but for many, 92 00:05:30,330 --> 00:05:33,700 it's also a place filled with restless spirits. 93 00:05:34,700 --> 00:05:38,386 Many have wondered, is gettysburg haunted 94 00:05:38,410 --> 00:05:41,790 by the tens of thousands of soldiers that died here? 95 00:05:42,830 --> 00:05:45,950 This is definitely not only hallowed ground, 96 00:05:46,120 --> 00:05:48,080 but haunted ground. 97 00:05:49,450 --> 00:05:54,000 People actually see spectral soldiers. 98 00:05:54,200 --> 00:05:56,750 They hear musket fire. 99 00:05:56,870 --> 00:06:00,660 They hear phantom artillery fire to this day. 100 00:06:02,410 --> 00:06:05,370 There are so many accounts by so many people 101 00:06:05,540 --> 00:06:07,450 of their experiences here, 102 00:06:07,580 --> 00:06:10,660 that it simply cannot be discounted. 103 00:06:10,830 --> 00:06:13,410 I was a park ranger at gettysburg 104 00:06:13,540 --> 00:06:15,620 for six years in the '70s. 105 00:06:15,790 --> 00:06:18,790 Having studied this for 40, 50 years, 106 00:06:18,950 --> 00:06:20,500 I would have to say, without a doubt, 107 00:06:20,700 --> 00:06:23,000 gettysburg is one of the most haunted places 108 00:06:23,160 --> 00:06:24,660 probably in the world. 109 00:06:24,870 --> 00:06:29,370 What happened in gettysburg stayed in gettysburg. 110 00:06:29,540 --> 00:06:32,910 The ghosts of the soldiers who died... they're here. 111 00:06:33,080 --> 00:06:36,500 And most everybody feels it in one way or another. 112 00:06:39,290 --> 00:06:41,410 According to Mark nesbitt, 113 00:06:41,540 --> 00:06:44,700 the highest concentration of otherworldly reports come 114 00:06:44,870 --> 00:06:48,910 from an area on the battlefield that is called "devil's den." 115 00:06:49,120 --> 00:06:51,500 Right now, we're in devil's den, 116 00:06:51,620 --> 00:06:53,410 one of the more recognizable places 117 00:06:53,540 --> 00:06:56,080 on the battlefield of gettysburg. 118 00:06:56,200 --> 00:06:58,500 The fighting here gradually grew 119 00:06:58,700 --> 00:07:00,660 into some of the most savage fighting 120 00:07:00,870 --> 00:07:04,160 of the battle, and hence, of the American civil war. 121 00:07:04,370 --> 00:07:08,040 From 4:00 P.M. on July 2 122 00:07:08,200 --> 00:07:11,330 to 4:00 P.M. on July 3, 1863, 123 00:07:11,500 --> 00:07:16,056 at gettysburg was the bloodiest 24 hours 124 00:07:16,080 --> 00:07:17,870 in American history. 125 00:07:18,040 --> 00:07:23,700 These granite boulders formed tunnels and passageways 126 00:07:23,870 --> 00:07:26,580 through these great rocks in devil's den. 127 00:07:26,700 --> 00:07:28,660 Soldiers had to fight through these. 128 00:07:28,830 --> 00:07:31,790 This area is very much like a maze. 129 00:07:31,910 --> 00:07:36,080 There are great cracks in these boulders. 130 00:07:36,200 --> 00:07:39,250 Wounded men fell into them, 131 00:07:39,370 --> 00:07:43,250 and then, after the battle, when the burials were going on, 132 00:07:43,370 --> 00:07:46,330 there's no place to dig a grave, 133 00:07:46,540 --> 00:07:49,660 so, sadly, a number of these men were just tossed 134 00:07:49,830 --> 00:07:52,540 into these crevices between the giant rocks. 135 00:07:52,700 --> 00:07:54,950 And so it's no surprise 136 00:07:55,120 --> 00:07:58,910 that this is one of the most haunted spots in america. 137 00:08:01,830 --> 00:08:03,870 Perhaps the most frightening story I ever heard 138 00:08:04,040 --> 00:08:06,830 about gettysburg took place here in devil's den. 139 00:08:07,040 --> 00:08:09,750 Two women were up on these rocks. 140 00:08:09,870 --> 00:08:14,330 And they were hopping across one of these cracks. 141 00:08:14,540 --> 00:08:16,910 And one woman stepped over, and all of a sudden, 142 00:08:17,120 --> 00:08:18,700 her leg got caught. 143 00:08:18,870 --> 00:08:21,830 And she looked down, and there was a hand 144 00:08:22,000 --> 00:08:26,160 that had come up and grabbed her leg. 145 00:08:26,330 --> 00:08:29,000 And she screamed and pulled away. 146 00:08:29,120 --> 00:08:31,410 And when they went over to look down in the crevice, 147 00:08:31,580 --> 00:08:33,700 no one was there. 148 00:08:34,750 --> 00:08:37,160 Why is there such a high concentration 149 00:08:37,330 --> 00:08:40,660 of haunting reports at devil's den? 150 00:08:40,830 --> 00:08:42,886 Some believe it could trace back 151 00:08:42,910 --> 00:08:46,200 to the most chilling photograph ever taken at gettysburg. 152 00:08:47,910 --> 00:08:49,950 The home of the rebel sharpshooter photograph 153 00:08:50,120 --> 00:08:53,250 was taken at devil's den. 154 00:08:53,410 --> 00:08:54,770 It's one of the most famous photos 155 00:08:54,910 --> 00:08:56,540 from the whole of the civil war. 156 00:08:56,700 --> 00:08:59,790 You see this dead body, and you see a rifle. 157 00:09:00,000 --> 00:09:02,386 And it is a powerful, powerful photo. 158 00:09:02,410 --> 00:09:03,910 It's also staged. 159 00:09:04,080 --> 00:09:06,500 The photographer, Alexander gardner, 160 00:09:06,620 --> 00:09:08,450 moved the body, he had positioned the head, 161 00:09:08,620 --> 00:09:10,056 so the face was a little bit more toward the camera, 162 00:09:10,080 --> 00:09:12,330 he had set the rifle in a certain place, 163 00:09:12,540 --> 00:09:14,660 because he was trying to tell a story. 164 00:09:14,830 --> 00:09:18,790 That fallen sharpshooter haunts gettysburg. 165 00:09:18,950 --> 00:09:21,870 I can't recall any other time 166 00:09:22,040 --> 00:09:24,910 when, soldiers were... Were actually posed. 167 00:09:26,040 --> 00:09:30,120 Here's a young man, obviously young, killed. 168 00:09:30,250 --> 00:09:33,410 They're desecrating his memory. 169 00:09:33,580 --> 00:09:38,040 So, if there is a perturbed spirit at devil's den, 170 00:09:38,250 --> 00:09:42,330 no doubt it's this young man 171 00:09:42,500 --> 00:09:45,830 who was dragged back and forth and posed 172 00:09:46,040 --> 00:09:49,750 just to make a photographer some money. 173 00:09:51,200 --> 00:09:54,000 Could the desecration of this unidentified soldier 174 00:09:54,160 --> 00:09:57,790 be connected to paranormal activity reported in gettysburg? 175 00:09:58,700 --> 00:10:01,200 It's an intriguing thought. 176 00:10:02,200 --> 00:10:04,500 But there are other civil war mysteries 177 00:10:04,620 --> 00:10:06,580 that may be much easier to unravel, 178 00:10:07,040 --> 00:10:12,790 like the legends of lost gold just waiting to be found. 179 00:10:21,080 --> 00:10:26,000 Treasure hunter Brian cerniglia scours farms, fields 180 00:10:26,160 --> 00:10:28,660 and former battlegrounds of the American civil war 181 00:10:28,870 --> 00:10:33,700 searching for lost pieces of 19th-century history. 182 00:10:33,870 --> 00:10:36,000 Here we have a six-pound cannonball. 183 00:10:36,160 --> 00:10:37,830 Brian and others have managed 184 00:10:38,040 --> 00:10:41,410 to find all kinds of historic civil war artifacts, 185 00:10:41,620 --> 00:10:43,830 from simple buttons and buckles 186 00:10:44,040 --> 00:10:47,080 to objects of remarkable value. 187 00:10:48,540 --> 00:10:52,790 I've been hunting for civil war relics almost my entire life. 188 00:10:52,950 --> 00:10:55,950 The passion for history and the search 189 00:10:56,120 --> 00:10:58,870 for the unknown constantly drives me 190 00:10:59,040 --> 00:11:02,040 to pick up a metal detector and get out and explore. 191 00:11:02,200 --> 00:11:04,540 We stumble across quite a bit of relics 192 00:11:04,700 --> 00:11:06,540 from the civil war era. 193 00:11:06,700 --> 00:11:10,830 Of course, the favorite of everybody is the coins. 194 00:11:11,000 --> 00:11:13,000 So, here's just a small example 195 00:11:13,200 --> 00:11:16,660 of all the different types of coins that can be found 196 00:11:16,870 --> 00:11:20,250 when you're out treasure-hunting for civil war relics. 197 00:11:20,410 --> 00:11:23,250 And this coin is actually made out of silver. 198 00:11:23,410 --> 00:11:26,870 Large coins like this were how the soldiers got paid. 199 00:11:27,000 --> 00:11:28,500 This could have been in the pocket 200 00:11:28,700 --> 00:11:30,790 of a civil war soldier. 201 00:11:32,160 --> 00:11:33,950 The prospect of finding a stash 202 00:11:34,120 --> 00:11:36,870 of civil war coins is every treasure hunter's dream, 203 00:11:37,040 --> 00:11:40,750 but just how much silver and gold might still be out there, 204 00:11:40,910 --> 00:11:43,000 waiting to be found? 205 00:11:44,250 --> 00:11:46,750 There are real mysteries of civil war treasure, 206 00:11:46,870 --> 00:11:48,290 because we know quite a lot 207 00:11:48,410 --> 00:11:50,410 of gold and silver was used during the war. 208 00:11:51,450 --> 00:11:54,330 Quite a lot of payrolls were going out during the civil war. 209 00:11:54,500 --> 00:11:57,040 And a lot of it went missing. 210 00:11:57,160 --> 00:12:01,870 A great example of that at the end of the civil war 211 00:12:02,040 --> 00:12:04,790 is when it's clear that the union is coming to Richmond. 212 00:12:04,950 --> 00:12:07,120 It was really the end for the south. 213 00:12:07,290 --> 00:12:10,410 The confederate government leaves Richmond, 214 00:12:10,620 --> 00:12:12,160 and they call it "evacuation day." 215 00:12:12,370 --> 00:12:15,080 Confederate president Jefferson Davis left Richmond 216 00:12:15,200 --> 00:12:17,870 with a train that had the entirety 217 00:12:18,040 --> 00:12:20,750 of what was remaining of the confederate treasury, 218 00:12:20,910 --> 00:12:22,620 millions in gold and silver. 219 00:12:22,750 --> 00:12:25,830 And six weeks later, when he's captured, 220 00:12:26,000 --> 00:12:28,000 he's got essentially a few dollars in his pocket, 221 00:12:28,200 --> 00:12:31,790 and in between, we don't know what happened to all that money. 222 00:12:32,000 --> 00:12:33,870 And that's not the only case 223 00:12:34,040 --> 00:12:36,120 during the entire American civil war 224 00:12:36,250 --> 00:12:38,500 where large dollar amounts went missing. 225 00:12:38,660 --> 00:12:40,016 And we don't know where that money went. 226 00:12:40,040 --> 00:12:42,700 The tales of missing fortunes 227 00:12:42,870 --> 00:12:45,290 have motivated many history sleuths 228 00:12:45,410 --> 00:12:49,870 to try and piece clues together to find lost loot. 229 00:12:51,500 --> 00:12:53,700 One of the most sought-after hidden fortunes is said 230 00:12:53,870 --> 00:12:56,000 to have belonged to a confederate colonel 231 00:12:56,160 --> 00:13:01,830 named John singleton mosby, also known as "the gray ghost." 232 00:13:02,040 --> 00:13:05,000 John singleton mosby 233 00:13:05,200 --> 00:13:07,160 is a really interesting character in the war. 234 00:13:07,330 --> 00:13:09,120 He's with the 43rd Virginia cavalry, 235 00:13:09,290 --> 00:13:13,040 but his unit, which comes to be called "mosby's rangers," 236 00:13:13,200 --> 00:13:17,290 their specialty was to just pop up, you know, ten miles 237 00:13:17,450 --> 00:13:19,830 behind the lines where no one was expecting it. 238 00:13:20,000 --> 00:13:22,540 They'd grab sentries, or they would steal things. 239 00:13:22,700 --> 00:13:25,040 And so he almost becomes like a boogeyman. 240 00:13:26,200 --> 00:13:27,830 John mosby... he was known 241 00:13:28,040 --> 00:13:30,620 as "the gray ghost," because the ghost would appear, 242 00:13:30,790 --> 00:13:32,410 and the ghost would vanish. 243 00:13:32,620 --> 00:13:35,660 He would strike railroad lines 244 00:13:35,870 --> 00:13:37,660 that were carrying supplies to the army. 245 00:13:37,830 --> 00:13:40,580 He would attack messengers and couriers 246 00:13:40,750 --> 00:13:42,910 so that communication would be broken up. 247 00:13:43,080 --> 00:13:45,676 And then, if they needed to hide, 248 00:13:45,700 --> 00:13:48,120 mosby's men would disappear 249 00:13:48,290 --> 00:13:51,870 in that part of Virginia, to the blue Ridge mountains. 250 00:13:52,080 --> 00:13:54,240 Once you were in the mountain, the enemy was not going 251 00:13:54,330 --> 00:13:55,330 to follow you there. 252 00:13:56,290 --> 00:13:59,120 Mosby was also rumored to have cleverly made a stash 253 00:13:59,290 --> 00:14:01,250 of gold, silver and jewels disappear 254 00:14:01,410 --> 00:14:05,410 from a federal building in Fairfax, Virginia. 255 00:14:06,870 --> 00:14:11,160 It is said that on march 9, 1863, 256 00:14:11,370 --> 00:14:14,870 the gray ghost snuck behind enemy lines 257 00:14:15,000 --> 00:14:17,700 and robbed the Fairfax courthouse, 258 00:14:17,870 --> 00:14:20,830 making off with a fortune that, if found today, 259 00:14:21,000 --> 00:14:24,580 would be worth six million dollars. 260 00:14:27,330 --> 00:14:30,910 Mosby's men go right to Fairfax courthouse. 261 00:14:31,120 --> 00:14:34,330 Mosby sends parties out to capture horses 262 00:14:34,450 --> 00:14:37,000 and officers associated with the union army. 263 00:14:37,160 --> 00:14:40,040 But then he discovers something. 264 00:14:40,200 --> 00:14:46,200 $350,000 dollars' worth of loot there, 265 00:14:46,370 --> 00:14:49,040 stored in Fairfax county at the courthouse. 266 00:14:49,200 --> 00:14:53,040 So, the story goes, he decides to Bury it. 267 00:14:53,200 --> 00:14:57,040 And so, in the darkness, somewhere in Virginia 268 00:14:57,200 --> 00:15:02,000 between Fairfax courthouse and centreville, 269 00:15:02,160 --> 00:15:05,620 there mosby buries the loot. 270 00:15:06,660 --> 00:15:10,080 Mosby found $350,000 dollars' worth of gold, 271 00:15:10,250 --> 00:15:12,410 silver and family heirlooms 272 00:15:12,540 --> 00:15:14,330 that had been taken by the union soldiers 273 00:15:14,500 --> 00:15:15,660 from southern homes. 274 00:15:15,830 --> 00:15:17,950 And as they left, the legend states 275 00:15:18,120 --> 00:15:22,000 that mosby buried the gold and silver 276 00:15:22,200 --> 00:15:24,540 between two pine trees that he marked with an "x" 277 00:15:24,750 --> 00:15:26,330 with his knife. 278 00:15:26,540 --> 00:15:29,160 And only he and his sergeant knew the location. 279 00:15:29,330 --> 00:15:32,950 Mosby's treasure was never recovered, 280 00:15:33,120 --> 00:15:35,540 but there is a story that, on his deathbed, 281 00:15:35,750 --> 00:15:38,200 he said something to the effect of, 282 00:15:38,370 --> 00:15:41,750 "there's a fortune in the hills of Virginia," 283 00:15:41,870 --> 00:15:44,410 to suggest that maybe it had been left behind. 284 00:15:44,580 --> 00:15:46,080 So people ever since 285 00:15:46,250 --> 00:15:48,660 have been looking for trees with xs carved in them, 286 00:15:48,830 --> 00:15:52,080 trying to find mosby's treasure. 287 00:15:52,290 --> 00:15:55,120 Could the gray ghost's fabled lost treasure 288 00:15:55,290 --> 00:15:58,450 really be hiding in a Virginia forest? 289 00:15:58,620 --> 00:16:02,250 While it could be easy to dismiss the story as pure myth, 290 00:16:02,410 --> 00:16:06,250 remarkably, a very real civil war treasure 291 00:16:06,410 --> 00:16:09,500 has recently been discovered. 292 00:16:09,700 --> 00:16:12,660 In the summer of 2023, on his property, 293 00:16:12,830 --> 00:16:14,330 a farmer in Kentucky 294 00:16:14,450 --> 00:16:16,950 made a pretty interesting discovery. 295 00:16:17,120 --> 00:16:19,080 This man looks down in the dirt 296 00:16:19,250 --> 00:16:21,620 of the recently plowed field and sees some gold coins. 297 00:16:21,750 --> 00:16:23,660 By the time he's done rooting around 298 00:16:23,830 --> 00:16:25,620 in the recently plowed field, 299 00:16:25,790 --> 00:16:27,950 he's pulled out over 800 coins, 300 00:16:28,120 --> 00:16:31,500 over 700 of which are gold. 301 00:16:31,700 --> 00:16:33,620 These coins are all minted 302 00:16:33,750 --> 00:16:35,080 in the years before the civil war 303 00:16:35,250 --> 00:16:39,660 and during the civil war, up until 1863. 304 00:16:39,870 --> 00:16:43,346 And here we are in 2023, 305 00:16:43,370 --> 00:16:47,250 and a man has just found this mother lode of coins 306 00:16:47,370 --> 00:16:50,040 that date to the era of the civil war. 307 00:16:50,160 --> 00:16:52,080 It's a significant find. 308 00:16:52,200 --> 00:16:54,290 The massive cache of riches 309 00:16:54,410 --> 00:16:57,790 is estimated to be worth more than two million dollars, 310 00:16:57,950 --> 00:17:01,330 and is a priceless incentive to relic hunters 311 00:17:01,540 --> 00:17:06,040 to continue their search for treasures of the civil war. 312 00:17:07,000 --> 00:17:09,160 Growing up and exploring Virginia, 313 00:17:09,330 --> 00:17:11,370 I find myself retracing the paths, 314 00:17:11,540 --> 00:17:13,790 the steps those soldiers would have taken, 315 00:17:13,950 --> 00:17:17,080 searching for any trinkets or treasures 316 00:17:17,250 --> 00:17:19,250 they may have dropped along the way. 317 00:17:19,410 --> 00:17:22,250 I was out detecting one day and stumbled upon 318 00:17:22,410 --> 00:17:25,370 this small pocketknife, which doesn't look like much, 319 00:17:25,540 --> 00:17:30,000 but given the context and the story of general mosby 320 00:17:30,160 --> 00:17:32,160 marking the treasure with his knife, 321 00:17:32,370 --> 00:17:34,450 I thought to myself, "maybe, just maybe, 322 00:17:34,620 --> 00:17:36,040 this could be the knife." 323 00:17:36,160 --> 00:17:39,080 Unfortunately, the knife was all that was there, 324 00:17:39,200 --> 00:17:43,080 but it gives me the thought that possibly, maybe, 325 00:17:43,250 --> 00:17:45,250 treasure could be buried nearby. 326 00:17:45,450 --> 00:17:48,330 There is always the possibility 327 00:17:48,540 --> 00:17:51,830 that John mosby's treasure is still out there, 328 00:17:52,000 --> 00:17:54,620 and that I could be the one to find it. 329 00:17:57,120 --> 00:17:59,450 Will the gray ghost's treasure ever be found? 330 00:18:01,200 --> 00:18:03,080 I guess it depends on whether anyone can locate 331 00:18:03,200 --> 00:18:06,290 those two pine trees, if even they're still standing. 332 00:18:07,370 --> 00:18:10,160 But sometimes the most intriguing secrets 333 00:18:10,370 --> 00:18:12,620 are hiding in plain sight. 334 00:18:12,750 --> 00:18:15,660 For instance, there's the story 335 00:18:15,870 --> 00:18:18,056 of a prominent southern socialite 336 00:18:18,080 --> 00:18:22,636 who controlled a spy ring inside the headquarters 337 00:18:22,660 --> 00:18:24,660 of the confederate states of america. 338 00:18:31,620 --> 00:18:33,910 Evidence of this southern city's strategic importance 339 00:18:34,040 --> 00:18:36,450 during the civil war can still be found. 340 00:18:36,580 --> 00:18:38,726 There is the tredegar iron works, 341 00:18:38,750 --> 00:18:40,000 where over half the cannons 342 00:18:40,200 --> 00:18:42,160 used by the southern states were made; 343 00:18:42,290 --> 00:18:44,000 the chimborazo hospital, 344 00:18:44,200 --> 00:18:47,386 which treated over 76,000 injured soldiers; 345 00:18:47,410 --> 00:18:50,386 and the white house of the confederacy, 346 00:18:50,410 --> 00:18:53,080 the south's base of operations. 347 00:18:54,620 --> 00:18:57,160 In 1861, Richmond becomes the capital of the confederacy, 348 00:18:57,290 --> 00:18:58,810 and then basically, all the government 349 00:18:58,910 --> 00:19:00,160 is gonna flood to it 350 00:19:00,290 --> 00:19:02,056 and massively increase the population. 351 00:19:02,080 --> 00:19:05,250 So, Richmond becomes the center of confederate legislation, 352 00:19:05,410 --> 00:19:09,120 but also the center of moving food and weapons 353 00:19:09,290 --> 00:19:12,200 and war materials to all the theaters of war. 354 00:19:12,410 --> 00:19:14,330 It will have confederate government departments, 355 00:19:14,500 --> 00:19:16,500 so a war department, a Navy department, 356 00:19:16,620 --> 00:19:19,080 all the stuff that comes with trying to run a government 357 00:19:19,290 --> 00:19:21,790 is grafted onto Richmond. 358 00:19:24,250 --> 00:19:26,500 In addition to president Jefferson Davis, 359 00:19:26,620 --> 00:19:27,830 other key figures 360 00:19:28,040 --> 00:19:29,700 like vice president Alexander Stephens 361 00:19:29,870 --> 00:19:31,580 and general Robert e. Lee, 362 00:19:31,750 --> 00:19:34,450 the supreme commander of the confederate army, 363 00:19:34,620 --> 00:19:37,790 all made Richmond their home. 364 00:19:39,000 --> 00:19:41,080 As local residents of status and wealth 365 00:19:41,200 --> 00:19:42,620 began to socialize with the men 366 00:19:42,790 --> 00:19:44,750 who were tasked with saving the south, 367 00:19:44,910 --> 00:19:49,500 an unlikely spy was secretly plotting to defeat them. 368 00:19:51,160 --> 00:19:54,830 Her name was Elizabeth Van lew. 369 00:19:55,830 --> 00:19:58,330 Elizabeth Van lew was from a wealthy family. 370 00:19:58,540 --> 00:20:01,250 She was born and raised in Richmond, Virginia. 371 00:20:01,410 --> 00:20:03,330 Throughout the 1840s and 1850s, 372 00:20:03,540 --> 00:20:07,000 she's vocally advocating for abolition of slavery, 373 00:20:07,200 --> 00:20:09,200 which is a fairly dangerous thing to do 374 00:20:09,370 --> 00:20:13,040 in Richmond, Virginia, of the 1840s and 1850s. 375 00:20:13,200 --> 00:20:16,040 When war came, Elizabeth Van lew ended up 376 00:20:16,200 --> 00:20:17,910 leading an espionage network 377 00:20:18,080 --> 00:20:20,330 to collect military information 378 00:20:20,540 --> 00:20:22,250 information that would be of value 379 00:20:22,410 --> 00:20:26,160 and transmit it successfully to the United States army. 380 00:20:26,370 --> 00:20:29,700 So, the Van lew spy ring is the story of 381 00:20:29,870 --> 00:20:33,200 the most successful spy network of the civil war. 382 00:20:34,250 --> 00:20:37,580 The consequences for spying were severe. 383 00:20:37,750 --> 00:20:39,910 You could be sentenced to death if you were found 384 00:20:40,080 --> 00:20:42,450 to be guilty of spying in Richmond. 385 00:20:42,620 --> 00:20:45,450 But she helped to get information out 386 00:20:45,620 --> 00:20:48,660 about the confederate government and the confederate military 387 00:20:48,830 --> 00:20:51,200 at a time when the U.S. really needed 388 00:20:51,370 --> 00:20:54,330 valuable, actionable intelligence. 389 00:20:54,500 --> 00:20:55,820 So it says a lot about the people 390 00:20:55,870 --> 00:20:57,410 who were willing to do this 391 00:20:57,580 --> 00:21:00,500 because they were willing to gamble with their lives. 392 00:21:00,620 --> 00:21:02,500 With the ever-present threat 393 00:21:02,620 --> 00:21:04,540 of being caught and punished by death, 394 00:21:04,750 --> 00:21:07,450 how did an established southern belle 395 00:21:07,660 --> 00:21:11,330 become the most successful spymaster of the civil war? 396 00:21:12,330 --> 00:21:14,170 Well, some believe it was because she employed 397 00:21:14,330 --> 00:21:18,200 secret agents that could easily hide in plain sight 398 00:21:18,370 --> 00:21:21,000 among Richmond's confederate leadership. 399 00:21:22,000 --> 00:21:26,870 Van lew recruited African Americans as spies. 400 00:21:28,040 --> 00:21:31,556 Van lew understood southern culture 401 00:21:31,580 --> 00:21:33,410 because she was a part of it. 402 00:21:33,540 --> 00:21:38,160 She understood how they thought, how they viewed black people. 403 00:21:38,330 --> 00:21:40,386 And so, she understood 404 00:21:40,410 --> 00:21:44,200 that if she sent black people out to spy, 405 00:21:44,370 --> 00:21:46,950 that they could be very successful, 406 00:21:47,120 --> 00:21:49,200 because no one would ever expect 407 00:21:49,370 --> 00:21:52,000 that they had the intelligence or the courage 408 00:21:52,120 --> 00:21:54,950 to carry any of her plans out. 409 00:21:55,080 --> 00:21:59,250 And she realized that if she was going to be successful, 410 00:21:59,450 --> 00:22:01,660 if she was going to aid the union, 411 00:22:01,790 --> 00:22:03,910 she would have to use black people 412 00:22:04,080 --> 00:22:05,620 to help her in that endeavor. 413 00:22:05,790 --> 00:22:08,660 And she brought them into this whole thing. 414 00:22:10,080 --> 00:22:11,620 But we're still trying to find out 415 00:22:11,790 --> 00:22:14,830 the extent to which African Americans were involved 416 00:22:15,040 --> 00:22:18,500 in intelligence gathering during the civil war. 417 00:22:18,660 --> 00:22:23,500 We can't always put a name to these people, 418 00:22:23,660 --> 00:22:26,410 because their operations were clandestine. 419 00:22:27,950 --> 00:22:30,176 The identities of Elizabeth Van lew's spies 420 00:22:30,200 --> 00:22:31,910 remain largely a mystery. 421 00:22:32,040 --> 00:22:34,660 But remarkably, there is evidence to suggest 422 00:22:34,830 --> 00:22:37,500 that she was able to place an African American spy 423 00:22:37,660 --> 00:22:39,830 inside the most important confederate residence 424 00:22:40,000 --> 00:22:41,620 in all of Richmond, 425 00:22:41,750 --> 00:22:45,580 the home of the confederate president himself, 426 00:22:45,750 --> 00:22:47,410 Jefferson Davis. 427 00:22:48,750 --> 00:22:53,580 In 1911, Harper's monthly magazine published a story, 428 00:22:53,700 --> 00:22:57,660 and that story detailed that Elizabeth Van lew 429 00:22:57,870 --> 00:23:00,160 had been a spy in Richmond during the civil war 430 00:23:00,370 --> 00:23:02,410 on behalf of the United States. 431 00:23:02,580 --> 00:23:05,040 And it said that an African American woman 432 00:23:05,200 --> 00:23:07,620 had been placed in the home of Jefferson Davis as a spy. 433 00:23:07,830 --> 00:23:12,040 It named that woman as Mary Elizabeth bowser. 434 00:23:12,200 --> 00:23:16,700 And that story from 1911 has been kind of repeated 435 00:23:16,870 --> 00:23:22,000 and re-repeated and embellished for a hundred-plus years. 436 00:23:23,580 --> 00:23:27,040 The person that we certainly celebrate more than anyone else 437 00:23:27,200 --> 00:23:30,080 is Mary Elizabeth bowser. 438 00:23:30,250 --> 00:23:33,410 She was a young woman who grew up 439 00:23:33,540 --> 00:23:36,040 in the Van lew household. 440 00:23:37,200 --> 00:23:39,500 Historians have grappled in recent years 441 00:23:39,700 --> 00:23:43,410 with her true identity, because she used 442 00:23:43,580 --> 00:23:45,950 a variety of aliases during her life. 443 00:23:46,120 --> 00:23:47,830 And it makes sense, 444 00:23:48,000 --> 00:23:50,830 because if she's engaging in espionage, 445 00:23:51,040 --> 00:23:54,660 she doesn't want anyone to know her true identity. 446 00:23:54,830 --> 00:23:58,370 So, it's been very difficult, as a consequence, 447 00:23:58,580 --> 00:24:01,540 for historians to really trace her life. 448 00:24:02,580 --> 00:24:04,000 Historians would love to know 449 00:24:04,200 --> 00:24:07,950 if she was actually in the confederate white house, 450 00:24:08,080 --> 00:24:12,160 and what she actually discovered while there 451 00:24:12,370 --> 00:24:14,830 and how that might have impacted the war, 452 00:24:15,040 --> 00:24:18,040 but we just don't have that information. 453 00:24:20,790 --> 00:24:23,700 Did an African American spy named Mary Elizabeth bowser 454 00:24:23,910 --> 00:24:27,330 really infiltrate the confederate white house? 455 00:24:27,500 --> 00:24:30,386 While the mystery lives on, 456 00:24:30,410 --> 00:24:32,870 we do know that Elizabeth Van lew's spy ring 457 00:24:33,040 --> 00:24:35,410 proved hugely successful. 458 00:24:35,580 --> 00:24:38,200 In fact, her clandestine operations 459 00:24:38,370 --> 00:24:39,660 even garnered praise 460 00:24:39,830 --> 00:24:41,910 from the commander of the union army, 461 00:24:42,080 --> 00:24:44,370 general ulysses s. Grant. 462 00:24:44,580 --> 00:24:46,790 Ulysses Grant said about Elizabeth Van lew, 463 00:24:46,950 --> 00:24:48,990 "you provided me with the most valuable information 464 00:24:49,040 --> 00:24:51,040 I received from Richmond during the war." 465 00:24:51,200 --> 00:24:52,950 That's pretty high praise. 466 00:24:53,120 --> 00:24:56,500 Similarly, George sharpe, head of military intelligence, 467 00:24:56,700 --> 00:24:59,580 said that Elizabeth Van lew was all that was left 468 00:24:59,750 --> 00:25:02,500 of the power of the U.S. government in Richmond. 469 00:25:02,660 --> 00:25:05,500 So, the people that are most positioned 470 00:25:05,660 --> 00:25:08,000 to say whether or not this was valuable 471 00:25:08,160 --> 00:25:12,080 unequivocally said how valuable the Richmond spy network was. 472 00:25:13,080 --> 00:25:15,540 The courage shown by Elizabeth Van lew 473 00:25:15,750 --> 00:25:17,500 and the African Americans 474 00:25:17,620 --> 00:25:20,330 who participated in the Richmond spy ring 475 00:25:20,450 --> 00:25:22,830 must have outweighed the fear 476 00:25:23,000 --> 00:25:25,370 they felt conducting such a dangerous mission. 477 00:25:25,910 --> 00:25:28,450 But there's another mystery 478 00:25:28,620 --> 00:25:30,500 that's frightening for a very different reason. 479 00:25:30,700 --> 00:25:33,870 It involves a grotesque monster said to roam 480 00:25:34,040 --> 00:25:36,250 one of the civil war's bloodiest battlefields. 481 00:25:44,700 --> 00:25:47,410 Overlooking the winding Tennessee river, 482 00:25:47,540 --> 00:25:50,540 this picturesque site spans 9,000 acres 483 00:25:50,700 --> 00:25:53,500 across the border of Tennessee and Georgia. 484 00:25:55,200 --> 00:25:59,830 In 1863, this was the site of the second bloodiest battle 485 00:26:00,000 --> 00:26:02,040 of the civil war after gettysburg. 486 00:26:03,450 --> 00:26:06,450 It's the battle of chickamauga. 487 00:26:06,620 --> 00:26:09,750 The battle of chickamauga took place in Tennessee 488 00:26:09,910 --> 00:26:12,200 a few months after the battle of gettysburg. 489 00:26:12,410 --> 00:26:14,040 And the carnage was awful. 490 00:26:15,200 --> 00:26:16,620 Confederate general John Gordon 491 00:26:16,750 --> 00:26:18,830 would write in his book about the battle 492 00:26:19,040 --> 00:26:21,540 that he had heard that the word "chickamauga" 493 00:26:21,660 --> 00:26:24,160 translates to "river of blood." 494 00:26:24,330 --> 00:26:26,330 He got the translation wrong, 495 00:26:26,500 --> 00:26:28,250 but he got the spirit of it right. 496 00:26:28,410 --> 00:26:30,830 It was the river of death. 497 00:26:33,450 --> 00:26:35,750 More than 100,000 soldiers 498 00:26:35,870 --> 00:26:38,330 met at the battle of chickamauga, 499 00:26:38,500 --> 00:26:42,660 and 34,000 were either killed or injured. 500 00:26:42,870 --> 00:26:45,370 In addition to this river of death, 501 00:26:45,580 --> 00:26:47,580 according to local legend, 502 00:26:47,750 --> 00:26:49,886 soldiers on the chickamauga battlefield 503 00:26:49,910 --> 00:26:53,500 saw an even more disturbing sight, 504 00:26:53,700 --> 00:26:57,450 a terrifying creature picking through the corpses 505 00:26:57,620 --> 00:27:01,700 that has come to be known as old green eyes. 506 00:27:01,870 --> 00:27:05,790 Old green eyes is a very difficult story to pinpoint 507 00:27:05,950 --> 00:27:09,330 because there are so many variations of the legend. 508 00:27:10,370 --> 00:27:13,660 One of the prevailing theories is that he is possibly a demon 509 00:27:13,870 --> 00:27:16,290 that has come to feed on that negativity. 510 00:27:16,410 --> 00:27:19,000 And so, in chickamauga, with such a large loss of life 511 00:27:19,120 --> 00:27:21,660 that was protracted over several days, 512 00:27:21,870 --> 00:27:23,310 that may have attracted the interest 513 00:27:23,370 --> 00:27:25,000 of something that's malevolent. 514 00:27:25,120 --> 00:27:29,830 Old green eyes has been described as a predatory cat. 515 00:27:30,040 --> 00:27:33,620 He's been described as a small goblin-like creature. 516 00:27:34,750 --> 00:27:36,910 He's also been described as a soldier 517 00:27:37,080 --> 00:27:39,330 who possibly lost his head to a cannonball 518 00:27:39,540 --> 00:27:41,750 during the battle 519 00:27:44,790 --> 00:27:47,450 and he is out searching for it. 520 00:27:48,620 --> 00:27:51,700 The one thing that's consistent is they always described him 521 00:27:51,870 --> 00:27:53,750 as having glowing green eyes. 522 00:27:55,000 --> 00:27:57,200 The legend is that soldiers 523 00:27:57,370 --> 00:28:01,290 would see this indistinct shape out in front of them. 524 00:28:01,450 --> 00:28:03,080 As it got closer, they would see 525 00:28:03,250 --> 00:28:06,290 these piercing green eyes staring at them. 526 00:28:06,450 --> 00:28:10,660 But of course, we're not 100% sure about any of this. 527 00:28:12,000 --> 00:28:15,290 Is old green eyes a real thing? 528 00:28:15,500 --> 00:28:17,870 Is this a hallucination? 529 00:28:18,040 --> 00:28:20,700 That I don't know. That's-that's the mystery. 530 00:28:20,830 --> 00:28:24,950 But we do know that the savagery was real 531 00:28:25,160 --> 00:28:27,540 and it was an awful thing to witness. 532 00:28:27,700 --> 00:28:30,040 The men, they didn't have a term 533 00:28:30,200 --> 00:28:32,620 called post-traumatic stress syndrome, 534 00:28:32,750 --> 00:28:35,580 but no doubt, they all went home with it. 535 00:28:35,750 --> 00:28:38,120 Is the legend of old green eyes 536 00:28:38,290 --> 00:28:40,580 based on a real flesh-and-blood monster, 537 00:28:40,750 --> 00:28:45,330 or is it a story meant to describe the madness of war? 538 00:28:46,870 --> 00:28:50,330 Clues might be found in indigenous folklore 539 00:28:50,500 --> 00:28:52,580 that is surprisingly similar 540 00:28:52,750 --> 00:28:55,910 to the stories of the horrific creature. 541 00:28:56,910 --> 00:28:58,846 In native American lore, there are several places 542 00:28:58,870 --> 00:29:01,290 where there are mounds that they believe are protected 543 00:29:01,500 --> 00:29:03,750 by entities and spirits, 544 00:29:03,870 --> 00:29:06,830 much like what old green eyes would be described as. 545 00:29:07,870 --> 00:29:09,630 In the middle of the chickamauga battlefield 546 00:29:09,790 --> 00:29:11,250 stands snodgrass hill, 547 00:29:11,370 --> 00:29:15,000 and it's about 900 foot tall at elevation. 548 00:29:15,200 --> 00:29:18,660 It is possible that that mound had some spiritual significance 549 00:29:18,830 --> 00:29:21,450 to native Americans who lived in that area, 550 00:29:21,620 --> 00:29:23,160 because during the battle, 551 00:29:23,330 --> 00:29:26,330 it was where green eyes is seen the most. 552 00:29:26,540 --> 00:29:28,830 Strange stories of creatures, monsters and ghosts 553 00:29:29,000 --> 00:29:31,410 have been around for millennia, 554 00:29:31,540 --> 00:29:33,000 and they cross all cultures. 555 00:29:33,120 --> 00:29:35,330 So it's quite possible that native Americans 556 00:29:35,540 --> 00:29:38,200 had some belief in something in this region, 557 00:29:38,370 --> 00:29:39,870 and that after the battle, 558 00:29:40,040 --> 00:29:42,540 they sort of got mixed and merged together. 559 00:29:42,700 --> 00:29:45,370 We're trying to put a name on something we don't understand. 560 00:29:46,540 --> 00:29:49,330 While it's hard to pinpoint the true origin of this legend, 561 00:29:49,540 --> 00:29:51,790 and it's easy to dismiss the idea of a monster 562 00:29:51,950 --> 00:29:54,370 with glowing green eyes, 563 00:29:54,540 --> 00:30:00,500 to this day, locals claim they've seen the beast. 564 00:30:00,700 --> 00:30:03,830 One of the earlier ones that I researched 565 00:30:04,040 --> 00:30:07,120 was about a young man who was on his way to pick up a date. 566 00:30:07,250 --> 00:30:10,330 He lived in Tennessee and he was driving down 567 00:30:10,450 --> 00:30:12,160 into Georgia to pick her up. 568 00:30:12,330 --> 00:30:15,160 And on the way through, it was a foggy night. 569 00:30:15,330 --> 00:30:17,580 And in the distance, he noticed an oncoming car 570 00:30:17,700 --> 00:30:19,160 had green headlights. 571 00:30:19,370 --> 00:30:20,870 And as he got closer, 572 00:30:21,040 --> 00:30:22,846 he noticed that they weren't headlights at all, 573 00:30:22,870 --> 00:30:24,700 but glowing green eyes, 574 00:30:24,870 --> 00:30:26,830 and they appeared to be running towards him. 575 00:30:27,040 --> 00:30:28,750 This, of course, startles him, 576 00:30:28,910 --> 00:30:31,000 and he wrecks his car off to the side of the road. 577 00:30:31,200 --> 00:30:34,080 It's a very strange occurrence. Very odd. 578 00:30:36,200 --> 00:30:38,500 Every legend is real to some extent. 579 00:30:38,660 --> 00:30:43,160 So if people are seeing things and then giving it that label, 580 00:30:43,370 --> 00:30:46,160 like old green eyes, that was real to them. 581 00:30:46,290 --> 00:30:49,250 A story can't endure and stick around 582 00:30:49,410 --> 00:30:51,136 if it's not getting reinforced by other people 583 00:30:51,160 --> 00:30:52,830 having an experience. 584 00:30:53,040 --> 00:30:56,410 So, in that regard, yeah, it's absolutely real. 585 00:30:57,410 --> 00:31:02,040 Did the terrible carnage on the chickamauga battlefield 586 00:31:02,200 --> 00:31:05,160 attract the attention of a bloodthirsty monster? 587 00:31:05,370 --> 00:31:08,370 Or was the legend of old green eyes 588 00:31:09,540 --> 00:31:12,250 created to try to make sense of the horrors of war? 589 00:31:13,200 --> 00:31:16,540 Whatever the case, there's another 590 00:31:16,660 --> 00:31:18,870 chilling civil war mystery, 591 00:31:19,080 --> 00:31:23,306 one of deadly premonitions, not from a battlefield 592 00:31:23,330 --> 00:31:27,120 but from the mind of Abraham Lincoln himself. 593 00:31:36,200 --> 00:31:39,620 In the oval-shaped parlor known as the red room, 594 00:31:39,790 --> 00:31:42,660 where america's first ladies traditionally held receptions 595 00:31:42,790 --> 00:31:45,330 for visiting dignitaries, 596 00:31:45,540 --> 00:31:48,830 president Abraham Lincoln's wife Mary Todd Lincoln 597 00:31:49,000 --> 00:31:52,580 welcomes guests for an unusual event. 598 00:31:52,750 --> 00:31:55,000 The group is holding a séance 599 00:31:55,200 --> 00:31:58,250 to contact the lincolns' dead son. 600 00:31:59,200 --> 00:32:01,660 In February 1862, the lincolns lost 601 00:32:01,870 --> 00:32:04,160 their favorite son, Willie Lincoln, 602 00:32:04,330 --> 00:32:07,580 and that was a very dark time for the Lincoln family. 603 00:32:07,700 --> 00:32:09,910 And Abraham and Mary Lincoln 604 00:32:10,080 --> 00:32:13,330 fell into an extraordinarily deep grief. 605 00:32:13,500 --> 00:32:17,000 They had lost another son earlier in their lives, 606 00:32:17,160 --> 00:32:19,410 but this one really hit hard. 607 00:32:20,370 --> 00:32:22,290 During the Lincoln presidency, 608 00:32:22,450 --> 00:32:26,000 Mary Todd Lincoln was holding séances in the white house. 609 00:32:26,160 --> 00:32:30,000 She was so distraught, so she would bring in mediums 610 00:32:30,200 --> 00:32:33,040 to try to communicate with his spirit. 611 00:32:33,200 --> 00:32:35,516 And we know President Lincoln attended at least one of them, 612 00:32:35,540 --> 00:32:36,700 because he paid a bit 613 00:32:36,870 --> 00:32:38,390 of a political price in the newspapers 614 00:32:38,540 --> 00:32:40,500 that said, "what's this president doing 615 00:32:40,620 --> 00:32:42,830 consulting with mediums and psychics" 616 00:32:43,000 --> 00:32:44,450 and things like that. 617 00:32:46,450 --> 00:32:49,040 Despite the flak President Lincoln received, 618 00:32:49,200 --> 00:32:51,250 the notion of spiritualism, 619 00:32:51,370 --> 00:32:53,910 the belief that the dead could communicate 620 00:32:54,080 --> 00:32:56,750 with the living via psychic mediums, 621 00:32:56,910 --> 00:33:00,080 was actually on the rise during the civil war, 622 00:33:00,250 --> 00:33:04,016 and Lincoln himself was no exception. 623 00:33:04,040 --> 00:33:05,500 During the civil war, 624 00:33:05,660 --> 00:33:07,500 this is an, a time period when people 625 00:33:07,660 --> 00:33:10,950 all over the world believe in this "spiritualist idea" 626 00:33:11,080 --> 00:33:13,000 of communicating with the dead. 627 00:33:13,120 --> 00:33:16,000 And over the course of the civil war, 628 00:33:16,160 --> 00:33:19,830 there are intense casualties on the battlefield. 629 00:33:20,040 --> 00:33:22,830 So, people are having séances 630 00:33:22,950 --> 00:33:24,540 to speak to their long-lost dead. 631 00:33:26,290 --> 00:33:27,676 I think President Lincoln was probably more 632 00:33:27,700 --> 00:33:29,410 spiritually in tune than most, 633 00:33:29,540 --> 00:33:33,410 especially considering the pressure he was under. 634 00:33:35,200 --> 00:33:37,620 His son died while he was in the white house. 635 00:33:37,790 --> 00:33:41,000 His nation's at war with itself. 636 00:33:41,200 --> 00:33:43,620 Tens of thousands of people dying on both sides, 637 00:33:43,750 --> 00:33:47,200 you're desperately trying to hold this country together. 638 00:33:47,370 --> 00:33:49,160 It's now your charge, you're the president. 639 00:33:49,370 --> 00:33:51,500 And, of course, he paid the ultimate price 640 00:33:51,660 --> 00:33:53,250 for the office. 641 00:33:59,660 --> 00:34:01,160 Just five days 642 00:34:01,370 --> 00:34:03,790 after the south's surrender ends the civil war, 643 00:34:03,950 --> 00:34:06,080 president Abraham Lincoln and his wife 644 00:34:06,250 --> 00:34:08,200 attend a play at Ford's theatre. 645 00:34:08,370 --> 00:34:10,080 And as the show is about to begin, 646 00:34:10,250 --> 00:34:11,540 a gunshot rings out. 647 00:34:13,160 --> 00:34:17,040 Lincoln slumps forward in his seat, mortally wounded 648 00:34:17,200 --> 00:34:21,160 by an assassin named John wilkes booth. 649 00:34:22,750 --> 00:34:25,790 John wilkes booth was a confederate sympathizer 650 00:34:25,950 --> 00:34:27,700 and a very famous actor. 651 00:34:27,870 --> 00:34:29,620 That night, he went in, 652 00:34:29,790 --> 00:34:33,830 secretly went outside the president's box, 653 00:34:34,040 --> 00:34:37,040 opened the door, he had a derringer, 654 00:34:37,200 --> 00:34:40,160 rushed in and shot the president in the head. 655 00:34:41,910 --> 00:34:43,910 When John wilkes booth assassinates Lincoln, 656 00:34:44,040 --> 00:34:47,450 he jumps down, he catches his leg in a bunting, 657 00:34:47,580 --> 00:34:49,500 but he yells "sic semper tyrannis," 658 00:34:49,620 --> 00:34:52,290 which means "thus always to tyrants." 659 00:34:52,450 --> 00:34:53,750 So, it's personal for him. 660 00:34:53,950 --> 00:34:56,620 He hates Abraham Lincoln. 661 00:34:56,830 --> 00:34:58,620 And there were people who thought of Lincoln 662 00:34:58,790 --> 00:35:00,200 as a tyrant. 663 00:35:01,540 --> 00:35:04,176 While Lincoln's assassination is well-known, 664 00:35:04,200 --> 00:35:06,080 in the wake of this tragic event, 665 00:35:06,250 --> 00:35:10,500 Lincoln's biographer and friend ward hill lamon 666 00:35:10,660 --> 00:35:14,120 claims that Lincoln had told him of a terrible dream he had 667 00:35:14,290 --> 00:35:17,500 just three days before his murder. 668 00:35:19,830 --> 00:35:23,580 Ward hill lamon was Lincoln's self-appointed bodyguard. 669 00:35:23,750 --> 00:35:25,750 They were very close to one another. 670 00:35:25,910 --> 00:35:31,830 In 1872, lamon published a biography of Lincoln. 671 00:35:31,950 --> 00:35:34,000 And according to lamon, 672 00:35:34,200 --> 00:35:37,200 Lincoln had a dream that he was in the white house, 673 00:35:37,370 --> 00:35:40,660 and Lincoln heard all sorts of weeping and wailing. 674 00:35:40,870 --> 00:35:42,330 And in his dream, 675 00:35:42,540 --> 00:35:44,226 he made his way through the white house 676 00:35:44,250 --> 00:35:47,080 and went downstairs into the east room, 677 00:35:47,200 --> 00:35:50,040 and when he got there, he saw a catafalque 678 00:35:50,200 --> 00:35:53,660 with a corpse on it being guarded by a soldier. 679 00:35:54,700 --> 00:35:56,460 And Lincoln went up to the soldier and said, 680 00:35:56,580 --> 00:35:58,660 "who is dead in the white house?" 681 00:35:58,790 --> 00:36:01,160 And the soldier replied, "the president. 682 00:36:01,370 --> 00:36:03,830 He's been shot by an assassin." 683 00:36:03,950 --> 00:36:05,750 And according to lamon, 684 00:36:05,870 --> 00:36:09,500 Lincoln told this story to Mary and to several other people, 685 00:36:09,660 --> 00:36:12,120 and that Lincoln looked very disturbed 686 00:36:12,290 --> 00:36:13,700 by the dream he had had. 687 00:36:14,700 --> 00:36:17,120 Did president Abraham Lincoln 688 00:36:17,250 --> 00:36:20,290 have a premonition of his own death? 689 00:36:20,450 --> 00:36:24,000 It's a question that has intrigued historians 690 00:36:24,200 --> 00:36:26,500 for over 150 years. 691 00:36:26,700 --> 00:36:28,300 Did Lincoln actually have a premonition, 692 00:36:28,370 --> 00:36:33,200 or was this simply what the exhausted and stressed mind 693 00:36:33,370 --> 00:36:36,120 produced in moments of unconscious sleep? 694 00:36:36,290 --> 00:36:38,950 By the time you get to April 1865, 695 00:36:39,120 --> 00:36:41,370 Lincoln's exhaustion is total. 696 00:36:41,540 --> 00:36:43,660 Think of all of the deaths on the battlefield 697 00:36:43,870 --> 00:36:45,950 that must have just sort of bounced around 698 00:36:46,120 --> 00:36:47,676 in his consciousness 699 00:36:47,700 --> 00:36:50,660 before he drifted off to sleep each night. 700 00:36:50,790 --> 00:36:52,660 And a troubled person, 701 00:36:52,830 --> 00:36:56,000 their troubles will be reflected in their dreams. 702 00:36:57,040 --> 00:36:59,450 I don't know if Lincoln was psychic or clairvoyant, 703 00:36:59,580 --> 00:37:03,120 but the night Lincoln went to Ford's theatre, 704 00:37:03,290 --> 00:37:05,346 there was a-a story about how 705 00:37:05,370 --> 00:37:08,080 he always said good night to one of his guards. 706 00:37:08,500 --> 00:37:09,870 It was always "good night." 707 00:37:10,040 --> 00:37:12,750 But that night, he said "goodbye." 708 00:37:12,910 --> 00:37:15,726 And maybe he knew. Did he know it would be that night? 709 00:37:15,750 --> 00:37:19,500 When we can't get answers, mysteries are born. 710 00:37:27,870 --> 00:37:30,870 Members of a mysterious secret society wait 711 00:37:31,080 --> 00:37:34,000 for Abraham Lincoln to pass through the city by train. 712 00:37:35,040 --> 00:37:38,910 Their goal is to murder the newly-elected president 713 00:37:39,040 --> 00:37:42,370 before he ascends to the highest office in the land. 714 00:37:42,540 --> 00:37:45,580 While this secret plot was ultimately discovered 715 00:37:45,750 --> 00:37:49,580 and prevented by legendary detective Allan pinkerton, 716 00:37:49,790 --> 00:37:52,580 it revealed the existence of a shadowy organization 717 00:37:52,750 --> 00:37:56,910 known as the knights of the golden circle. 718 00:37:58,790 --> 00:38:01,000 The knights of the golden circle was a secret society 719 00:38:01,200 --> 00:38:03,410 that was born in the mid-1850s 720 00:38:03,580 --> 00:38:05,950 by a man named George bickley. 721 00:38:06,950 --> 00:38:10,160 The knights of the golden circle was a secret society 722 00:38:10,370 --> 00:38:12,410 with 25,000 or 50,000 members. 723 00:38:12,540 --> 00:38:15,830 The knights' secrecy was composed of rituals, 724 00:38:16,000 --> 00:38:17,870 but the rituals were kept oral. 725 00:38:18,080 --> 00:38:21,830 So what they were saying was really never disclosed. 726 00:38:22,040 --> 00:38:25,660 There was passwords needed to get into knights meetings. 727 00:38:25,870 --> 00:38:28,870 And because of the secrecy, it's very hard to decipher 728 00:38:29,040 --> 00:38:31,040 what the knights actually did and didn't do. 729 00:38:31,200 --> 00:38:34,160 The knights of the golden circle wanted to create a new world, 730 00:38:34,370 --> 00:38:36,660 a new country designated the "golden circle," 731 00:38:36,830 --> 00:38:40,290 and that is the southern states stretching all the way 732 00:38:40,410 --> 00:38:43,040 around Mexico and circling the Caribbean, 733 00:38:43,200 --> 00:38:47,370 where slavery would be enshrined as a part of the constitution. 734 00:38:47,540 --> 00:38:49,500 And so Lincoln became an annoyance 735 00:38:49,660 --> 00:38:51,330 that they had to deal with. 736 00:38:52,370 --> 00:38:55,790 The knights of the golden circle operated largely in the north, 737 00:38:55,950 --> 00:38:59,290 and they were seen as a secret traitorous society 738 00:38:59,450 --> 00:39:02,160 that may have wanted to overthrow the union from within. 739 00:39:02,370 --> 00:39:05,700 When Lincoln was assassinated in 1865, 740 00:39:05,870 --> 00:39:07,330 Americans at the time 741 00:39:07,450 --> 00:39:09,660 believed that the knights of the golden circle 742 00:39:09,870 --> 00:39:12,950 may have been behind the assassination conspiracy. 743 00:39:14,000 --> 00:39:15,840 While we know the knights of the golden circle 744 00:39:16,000 --> 00:39:20,500 plotted to kill Abraham Lincoln in 1861, many have wondered, 745 00:39:20,700 --> 00:39:24,200 was the assassination of Lincoln in 1865 746 00:39:24,370 --> 00:39:27,750 also the work of this secret society? 747 00:39:29,750 --> 00:39:31,790 There was an 1865 wood print 748 00:39:31,950 --> 00:39:36,790 that says, "theory, practice, effect." 749 00:39:36,950 --> 00:39:39,660 And under the "theory," it shows George bickley, 750 00:39:39,870 --> 00:39:42,160 who was the head of the knights of the golden circle. 751 00:39:42,330 --> 00:39:44,910 Under "practice," it shows booth 752 00:39:45,080 --> 00:39:49,330 as having been the one that assassinated Lincoln 753 00:39:49,450 --> 00:39:52,410 and the "effect" was Lincoln's assassination. 754 00:39:52,580 --> 00:39:55,500 So I believe that the wood panel alleges 755 00:39:55,700 --> 00:39:57,370 some connection between 756 00:39:57,540 --> 00:40:00,660 the knights, booth and the Lincoln assassination. 757 00:40:00,870 --> 00:40:03,910 So, that's one of the mysteries involved here. 758 00:40:04,040 --> 00:40:05,950 Was that really true? 759 00:40:07,000 --> 00:40:09,330 Was a secret society the hidden hand 760 00:40:09,540 --> 00:40:11,580 behind one of the most infamous assassinations 761 00:40:11,700 --> 00:40:13,450 in American history? 762 00:40:13,580 --> 00:40:15,540 We may never know. 763 00:40:16,540 --> 00:40:19,330 But like so many stories from the civil war, 764 00:40:19,540 --> 00:40:23,290 solving each mystery may be as complicated 765 00:40:23,450 --> 00:40:26,830 as the history of the United States itself. 766 00:40:28,830 --> 00:40:31,830 The civil war continues to capture our imagination 767 00:40:32,040 --> 00:40:35,000 because the conflict remains incredibly important 768 00:40:35,160 --> 00:40:38,540 to the overall broader narrative of the American experience. 769 00:40:38,750 --> 00:40:40,830 And there are still going to be mysteries 770 00:40:41,000 --> 00:40:44,750 that need to be solved because, in many respects, 771 00:40:44,910 --> 00:40:46,580 we are still living in the shadow 772 00:40:46,700 --> 00:40:48,910 of the American civil war. 773 00:40:49,040 --> 00:40:50,540 There's so much 774 00:40:50,700 --> 00:40:53,870 still that we don't know that we're trying to unpack 775 00:40:54,000 --> 00:40:56,000 about the civil war. 776 00:40:56,160 --> 00:40:58,160 There will always be questions. 777 00:40:58,370 --> 00:41:01,580 We will never know all of the answers, 778 00:41:01,700 --> 00:41:04,830 but we have to get as close to the truth as we can. 779 00:41:06,500 --> 00:41:10,330 The idea that a secret society with radical plans 780 00:41:10,450 --> 00:41:12,000 may be responsible 781 00:41:12,160 --> 00:41:15,500 for the tragic assassination of President Lincoln 782 00:41:15,660 --> 00:41:18,250 just goes to show us that, even today, 783 00:41:18,410 --> 00:41:22,450 160 years after the last shots were fired, 784 00:41:22,620 --> 00:41:25,620 there are still many mysteries yet to be solved 785 00:41:25,790 --> 00:41:28,500 about the American civil war. 786 00:41:28,660 --> 00:41:32,120 Whether it's spy rings or premonitions 787 00:41:32,290 --> 00:41:34,790 or even monstrous creatures, 788 00:41:34,950 --> 00:41:37,700 historians, researchers and treasure hunters 789 00:41:37,870 --> 00:41:41,540 will continue to explore the fascinating stories 790 00:41:41,700 --> 00:41:45,410 of millions of Americans who experienced 791 00:41:45,580 --> 00:41:48,830 the bloodiest days to ever occur on U.S. soil. 792 00:41:49,040 --> 00:41:53,330 These tales continue to be a source of curiosity 793 00:41:53,500 --> 00:41:57,620 and fascination, and may forever remain 794 00:41:58,540 --> 00:42:00,620 unexplained. 794 00:42:01,305 --> 00:43:01,324 Watch Online Movies and Series for FREE www.osdb.link/lm