The Latter Years of
Moorman White

 

Moorman White...Towards The End...

Moorman was the last patriarch of the Old Southern White aristocracy. He had become the Patriarch of the Old Southern White Aristocracy when it was passed down to him from the generations of prior English and Colonial American Whites that financed and helped build England's American Colonies, helped finance and fight for American Independence, and helped build several Southern states, including Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina. His own contribution to nation was settling and cultivating the rich soils of Northern Mississippi, Southeastern Arkansas, Southwestern Tennessee, and Northwestern Alabama... When the "War Between the States" appeared inevitable, he sent his two sons off to war in 1861 ...  ... and in a five week period of time during the Summer of 1864, Moorman White lost BOTH of his sons during the "March to the Sea Campaign"... He buried his sons in the family cemetery, and took in his son's widow and his own daughters (who also had been widowed) during the course of the war.  By war's end, what remained of his entire family -- daughters, daughters-in-law, and grandchildren -- were living with him... After Appomattox, his wealth (money) was reduced to worthless Confederate (Mississippi) paper currency, vast land holdings, his plantation home, and one deed for a gold mine in California ... a gambling debt paid to him, which Moorman later learned was worthless. With a Radical Republican Congress passing laws to punish the Old South and particularly the Old Southern Aristocracy, Moorman was faced with two options: ... leave his daughters with a large jar of still well-hidden Union $ 20.00 gold coins and work his "worthless" gold mine ... ... OR ... ... loose everything to the Yankee occupiers of Northern Mississippi and the Radical Republican Congress' taxes ... SIDE NOTE:  During the Civil War, it was a criminal offense for citizens of the Confederate States of America to withhold any "foreign" currency...  All citizens were urged to turn in ANY foreign currency in exchange for Confederate States currency. Withholding this jar of Union $ 20.00 gold coins meant risking imprisonment if it were discovered... He gave his daughters the jar of coins and told them to hold out as long as possible against the Yankees trying to steal their home and lands -- and left for California to work the mine... Moorman was 62 years old when he decided he would go for broke!!! Three months into his fruitless efforts to find gold in his mine -- all the while being laughed at by his local Californian "neighbors" who told him that his "gold mine" had been "played out" years ago! -- he received a letter from his daughter-in-law in Northern Mississippi telling him that the coins were almost gone and his home was going to be auctioned off to pay "reparation taxes" owed during the course of the war. He had one day left before he'd have to abandon his mine and return home, so he chose what he "felt" was the most promising shaft in the mine, stacked all of his remaining dynamite against the deepest part of the shaft, lit the fuse -- and RAN! When the blast debris & dust settled, before him sat the tip of one of the richest veins of gold know to exist at that time in California... He gathered enough up to go into the nearby town, re-file his ownership claims on his land ... AND ... without letting his "neighbors" know what he had discovered bought up all of the adjacent lands, sent some money home to cover the taxes owed, and finally with his claim to all of the land recorded and legally secured, hired a proper mining company to work his claim... ...which turned out to be vast as they drilled and mined that area in the years to come... During his absence, his daughters had sold off large tracts of outlining land to maintain their home and to pay the Yankee taxes being imposed on them... Moorman bought back the best of his former land holdings in Northern Mississippi, Arkansas, Tennessee, and Alabama, and built up whole new family-owned industries -- lumber, railroads, general stores, and brick kilns. But his chief asset -- the new financial basis of the White family's "new" wealth -- was his gold mine, which continued to spew out gold over the next several years and decades... Moorman made several round trips to California to inspect these mining interests. During what turned out to be his final trip to California, he stopped in Tombstone, Arizona, because he "felt tired" and wanted a good night's sleep. Moorman died in his sleep that evening in a Tombstone, Arizona, hotel...at the age of 85 years and a few week... Not knowing whom he was or the extent of the family's wealth, the town undertaker took the money found in Moorman's clothing and gave him a pauper's burial -- in Boot Hill Cemetery. When the family in Northern Mississippi finally received the telegram that he was dead, he'd been buried for a week or more. The family left Moorman where he was buried, and he rests there still to this day... ...in Boot Hill Cemetery; Tombstone, Arizona...