Seven Corners an area in Fairfax, Virginia is now densely populated but once was a guard gate to Washington, D.C. At the time of the War between the States this area was an outpost known as Fort Buffalo. My great grandparents Jacob Moses Thorne and his wife Mary moved from New York to a farm "The Oaks", at 7 Corners in 1845.
The Thorne farm was located on the northern side of 7 corners and Fort Buffalo was across to the south of the cross roads. Like many families with large homes the Thornes took in boarders from time to time. It was a way to bring in extra income as well as an exchange of information from other parts of the States. Around 1900, the exact year has been lost in time, but does not affect the details of the story. An older gentleman arrived at the Thorne's farm seeking a room for the summer. Being a well-mannered man of later years, he was welcomed to the house and paid a month rent in advance for the room.
The Thornes soon learned that though this stranger (whom we well refer to as Ned) was extremely pleasant, he did not lend himself to much conversation. Though he did share stories of some of his travels in the West, but no discussion of the reasons for his visitation to Fairfax County. Each day he would leave the house at dawn with a shovel, a canteen and provisions for lunch. Being a working farm dinner was usually late in the evening and Ned usually had returned in time for a hot evening meal.
This went on for a good two and a half months when one evening at meal time Ned became quite talkative, informing the family that he would be leaving the next day. Ned went on to say that he was sure they had been wondering what was involved in his daily trips and he had appreciated them not prying into his affairs. Now that he was leaving he felt an obligation to share his secret with them.
At the offset of the Civil War, Ned was a young man of fourteen, and signed up with the Union Army as a bugle boy. As the war progressed he became stationed at Fort Buffalo. Late one night as the Army was preparing for an early morning march south, to what was expected to be a fierce battle, The Lieutenant called him aside. The Lieutenant was in charge of the payroll and was fearful of the next days conquencies should the battle go bad. Swearing Ned to secrecy he showed Ned the Company's payroll which was in gold coins. Whereupon ordered Ned to assist him with carrying the payroll to a nearby wooded area and burying it near a large tree. They made appropriate markings to be able to find the location after the battle.
As fate would have it the following days battle was covered with many deaths, including that of the Lieutenant. After the Battle armies moved quickly and before long, Ned found himself in the area of western Tennessee. Always thinking of the buried payroll, Ned hoped to return to the Fairfax area after the War to retrieve this wealth of gold. But, again, fate intervened and Ned's life took him further west and it was over thirty years before he could return in search of the gold. Since Seven corners was a major crossroads outside of Washington, things had changed tremendously. He had spent the summer searching but trees had been cut down and buildings had gone up. He felt disappointed but said he had lived a abundant life, filled with rich experiences and would return to the Tennessee area for the remainder of his life. The Thornes never heard anymore from Ned, nor of any stories of the payroll being found.
The above story is assumed to be true, though much of the details have been lost in time and to my knowledge this is the first time it has been placed in print.