When I was young (64 or 65 years ago), I had an uncle who came tovisit. He was a long-haul truck driver and he stayed with us for close toa week (people used to do that back then - come to visit and stay morethan a couple of hours), during which time I showed him my coin"collection" (a couple of mercury dimes and a few buffalo nickels) which I had pulled from "circulation" (my Dad's trouser pockets while he was asleep).

My uncle then showed me a small footlocker that he had brought withhim which was full of confederate currency. He said he would pick upthe currency at various places when traveling "down South." He was pretty proud of it and I enjoyed looking at some of the curiousvignettes. He told us that the money had no value, but he collected thestuff anyway. I was fascinated by the fact that a footlocker full ofmoney could have little or no value (back then). I had always wonderedabout how he could have come by such a glorious stash of money.

But I was quite young and over the years I didn't give it much thought.Then, I read the book "Sahara" and, although the book dealt withConfederate Gold, I recalled the old footlocker full of Confederate currency. It wasn't until I saw a review of the book"Where did all the Southern Dough go?") in The E-Sylum that I had even considered what people would do about their country's money if they were facing defeat.

Your books (I have only read two of them so far) highlighted an issuethat I had never even considered previously. Your books have reallybrought the issue to life! You are very adept at portraying the humaninterests that were involved and the real-life drama that the individualsinvolved endured. The detail and imagery portrayed in your books keptme on the edge of my seat. I was unable to put either of the two booksdown and I read each book in a single sitting. That is why I asked when the movie was coming out! One doesn't have totake sides (on the North v. South issue) to appreciate and enjoy theheart-stopping action.

OK, so this is not as short as I had anticipated. I think it was ThomasJefferson who once said something along the lines: "I am sorry that thisletter is so long, but I did not have sufficient time to make it shorter."

My interest in your stories (to answer your question) stems from thefact that I have now been a coin collector (a few pieces of currency, butnothing to speak of) for over fifty years and I have come to enjoy thestories behind the coins as much or more than I enjoy the coinsthemselves. I believe that had I read something along the lines ofyour books when I was younger, I would have been a much betterstudent of history and a dedicated numismatist. And I certainly wouldhave tried to pry away some of my Uncle's stash while it was still intact(he passed forty years or so ago).

That is the long and short of it. Your books hit a nerve and Icannot wait to read more about the adventures of theConfederate Money Train!

To read the earlier E-Sylum articles, see:
NEW BOOK: THE CONFEDERATE TREASURE TRAIN(https://www.coinbooks.org/v23/esylum_v23n46a04.html)
CONFEDERATE MONEY AFTER THE CIVIL WAR(https://www.coinbooks.org/v24/esylum_v24n19a31.html)
NEW BOOK: MINTING PRINTING & COUNTERFEITING(https://www.coinbooks.org/v24/esylum_v24n21a03.html)
NEW BOOK: SUMPTUOUS SOUTHERN STORIES(https://www.coinbooks.org/v24/esylum_v24n41a03.html)