Skip to Main Content

Rebel Gold

One Man's Quest to Find the Hidden Treasure of the

LIST PRICE $14.99

About The Book

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.

About The Authors

Photograph © Juli Getler

Warren Getler is an investigative journalist based in Washington, D.C. Previously he has been a New York-based financial reporter for The Wall Street Journal and a London and Frankfurt correspondent of the International Herald Tribune.

Photograph © Linda Brewer

Bob Brewer is a U.S. Navy Vietnam War veteran who grew up in Hatfield, Arkansas. Since retiring from the Navy, he has returned to Arkansas to devote his time to investigating the mysteries of the Knights of the Golden Circle.

Product Details

  • Publisher: Simon & Schuster (June 18, 2008)
  • Length: 320 pages
  • ISBN13: 9781439108949

Browse Related Books

Raves and Reviews

Dan Burstein, editor of the national bestseller Secrets of the Code: The Unauthorized Guide to the Mysteries Behind The Da Vinci Code Rebel Gold is a great adventure story and a fascinating treasure-hunt tale, but it is much more than that. It is an improbable, fantastic, and yet ultimately eye-opening trek through unknown, unseen, and unremembered episodes of American history. Jesse James, Confederate gold, the Knights of the Golden Circle, Freemasons, Albert Pike, the Ku Klux Klan, mysterious maps, codes, and symbols, echoes of the Knights Templar: It would make a great case for Dan Brown's Robert Langdon character -- except Warren Getler and Bob Brewer got there first -- and in non-fiction!

Resources and Downloads

High Resolution Images