Shadow of the Sentinel: One Man's Quest to Find the Hidden Treasure of the Confederacy

From Publishers Weekly
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.Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Booklist
Buried treasure! Secret societies! The South shall rise again! Yes, all the red-blooded elements of a boy's adventure story crowd this tale, except that, tall as it is, it purports to be true. While growing up in the 1950s, Brewer learned at his grandpa's knee that rebels cached gold in the Ouachita Mountains of Arkansas to finance round two of the Civil War. After a career in the navy, Brewer dedicated himself to pursuing the story, written up here by reporter Getler. This exceedingly recondite story involves Scottish Rite Freemasonry, codes, cabalistic carvings on trees, Jesse James, a furtive entity called Knights of the Golden Circle, and a helluva lot of speculation. Still, Brewer is convinced the Confederacy's hidden treasury is still out there waiting to be dug up; alas, he unwisely confided one location to a rogue who allegedly absconded with the multimillion-dollar rebel stash. But Brewer perseveres, secret maps in hand, searching in, aptly enough, Arizona's Superstition Mountains. A saga that inveigles more than it convinces. Gilbert Taylor
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved


Book Description
As a boy growing up in rural Arkansas, Bob Brewer often heard from his uncle and his great-uncle about a particular tree in the woods, the "Bible Tree," filled with strange carvings. Years later he would learn that this tree was carved with symbols associated with the Knights of the Golden Circle, a Civil War­era secret society that had buried gold coins and other treasure in various remote locations across the South and Southwest in hopes of someday funding a second War Between the States. These secret caches were guarded by sentinels, men whose responsibility it was to watch and protect these sites. To his astonishment, Bob discovered that both his uncle and his great-uncle had been twentieth-century sentinels, and that he had grown up near an important KGC treasure site. In Shadow of the Sentinel, Bob Brewer and investigative journalist Warren Getler tell the fascinating story of the Knights of the Golden Circle and the hidden caches the KGC established across the country. Brewer reveals how, with agonizing effort, he eventually deciphered the fiendishly complicated KGC codes and ciphers, which drew heavily on images associated with Freemasonry. (Many of the key KGC post­Civil War leaders were Scottish Rite Masons, who used the cover of that secret fraternity to conduct their activities.) Using his knowledge of KGC symbolism to crack coded maps, Brewer has located several KGC caches and has recovered gold coins, guns, and other treasure from some of them. Shadow of the Sentinel is the most comprehensive account yet of the activities of the KGC after the Civil War and, indeed, into the 1900s. Getler and Brewer suggest that the clandestine network of KGC operatives was far wider than previously thought, and that it included Jesse James, the former Confederate guerrilla whose stage and bank robberies helped to fill KGC treasure chests. This is a rousing and provocative adventure that weaves together one man's personal quest with an intriguing, little-known chapter in America's hidden history.


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Treasure hunter Brewer￯﾿ﾽs quest for Confederate gold, as told to veteran journalist Getler. Brewer grew up in rural Arkansas, where two uncles led him on expeditions into the woods, telling tales and pointing out strange markings in the landscape. Only later did he begin to realize that their stories outlined a conspiracy dating back before the Civil War. The Knights of the Golden Circle was a secret pro-slavery organization believed to have hidden a vast treasure intended to finance the rebirth of the Confederacy. Brewer and Getler trace the history of the KGC, which they claim engineered both Lincoln's election (to provide a pretext for secession) and assassination. Other historical highlights include Jesse James￯﾿ﾽs legendary career and Arizona￯﾿ﾽs "Lost Dutchman" mine, famous among treasure hunters. Much of the narrative appears to be based on Civil War propaganda or popular accounts of outlaw treasure—one of which argues that Jesse James was two different men, both of whom lived to the age of 100 after faking Jesse￯﾿ﾽs murder. As their most important evidence, they point to an allegedly widespread system of secret signs and maps based on Masonic ritual, Baconian ciphers, anagrams, etc. The interpretation of such esoterica is Brewer￯﾿ﾽs forte. Historical chapters alternate with tales of his treasure hunts, some successful, others not. On several occasions, Brewer reports being interrogated or approached by armed men he believes to have been sentinels posted by the KGC. Brewer￯﾿ﾽs wildest claims remain uncorroborated by discoveries of treasure. Readers who want to double-check the facts may find the extensive notes useful, but the plodding prose is unlikely to inspire anyone not alreadybitten by the gold bug. Paranoia or secret history? Brewer never makes case. Agents: Matt Bialer, Robert Gottlieb/Trident Media


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