About half a million.
I will here remark that neither the
Secretary of the Treasury, nor the
Treasurer were with the treasure.
The
senior officer of the Treasury present was a cashier, and he informed me, to the best of my recollection, that there was about $500,000 in
gold,
silver, and bullion.
I saw the boxes containing it, many times in the weary thirty days I had it under my protection, but I never saw the coin.
Sometime in the evening the
President, his Cabinet and other officials left the depot for
Danville.
The train was well packed.
General Breckenridge,
Secretary of War, however, did not start with the
President.
He remained with me at the depot until I got off, which was not until somewhere near midnight. The General went out of the city on horseback.
Our train being heavily loaded and crowded with passengers—even the roofs and platform-steps occupied—went very slowly.
How we got by Amelia Courthouse without falling in with
Sheridan's men,
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has been a mystery to me to this day. We were unconscious of our danger, however, and took matters philosophically.
Monday, April 3d, in the afternoon, we arrived at
Danville, where we found the
President and his Cabinet, save
General Breckenridge, who came in on Wednesday.
On Monday night
Admiral Semmes arrived with the officers and men of the James River squadron.
His was the last train out of
Richmond.
We did not unpack the treasure from the cars at
Danville.
Some, I believe, was taken for the use of the government, and, I suspect, was paid out to
General Johnston's men after the surrender, but the main portion of the money remained with me. The midshipmen bivouacked near the train.
