James Copeland Catahoula Swamp Gold

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James Copeland Catahoula Swamp Gold

Lost Treasure MS • Hancock County County
Description
Outlaw James Copeland's 1857 confession of $30,000 in gold buried near Mobile and reburied in Catahoula Swamp — centerpiece of Gulf Coast treasure-hunting lore in southern Mississippi.
Historical Notes
James Copeland (1823–1857) led the 60-member Wages and Copeland Clan in hog theft, river piracy, counterfeiting, and murder across southern Mississippi and Alabama. Before his hanging in Perry County, he told Sheriff J.R.S. Pitts the gang buried $30,000 in gold near Mobile, later moving it to Catahoula Swamp in Hancock County. Barrels of gold coins from a robbery are also attributed to the gang near Catahoula Creek. Rumors of unclaimed Copeland caches persist along the Mississippi Gulf Coast from Texas to Florida.
Status / Verification legend — Legendary or approximate

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