MAJOR NATHAN SMITH BOYNTON
The coordinates should put you in front of a small bronze plaque attached to a huge chunk of granite. The plaque is a memorial to Nathan S. Boynton, founder of The Order of the Maccabees. The gold-domed building in front of you was one of the Mason-like fraternal organization's "temples."
A Port Huron native, Boynton invented a lot of things along with the Maccabees, ranging from firefighting equipment to the city of Boynton Beach, Fla.
His greatest achievements, though, may have been during the Civil War as a member of the Eighth Michigan Calvary. He rose through the ranks from private to major. As a lieutenant with a detachment of 100 men, he cut off the retreat and accepted the surrender of Confederate John Morgan after his devastating raid through Kentucky, Indiana and Ohio. He served under Burnside in the campaign of East Tennessee and was in one of the first units that marched into Atlanta alongside General Sherman.
He died in Port Huron at 11:30 p.m. on Saturday, May 27, 1911. His last words were: "I am tired. I am ready to go."
Are you ready to go find the cache?
If you're facing Major Boynton's plaque, there is a street on your right, Huron Avenue. Follow it about four blocks north to Pine Grove Park and find the memorial to the Grand Army of the Republic, created and dedicated with Boynton's help. (It's the one with the soldier on top at the southeast corner of the park.) Around the memorial are three cannons that Boynton brought to Port Huron after the Civil War. Check out the big one that faces west. It is a 4.2-inch Parrott rifle, also known as a 30-pounder. It is a rifled tube of cast iron, with a wrought iron sleeve formed around its breech to hold the otherwise frangible cast iron together. It was used in the long siege of Vicksburg and was one of the reasons we still have a United States of America. (The North won, in part, because it could afford to buy a lot more cannons than the south.)
Fortunately for you, I have brought some help for you in handling the gun. Gunners from the Michigan Light Artillery, 7th Battery, led by Capt. Charles H. Lanphere and mustered out of Coldwater, will help you find the range to your target.
The gun crew elevates their Parrott rifle a hair above 17 degrees and aims it 320.459 degrees true. With a couple of pounds of fresh powder, the crew fires off a 15-pound, lead-saboted cast iron shell. Our spotter, who has snuck behind the lines, reports back that there was no splash this time, so that means we have walked our barrage onto the Confederate position, half a dozen paces beyond 4,600 yards. He also reports that the rebels appeared to have secreted their treasure near the crater left by the exploding shell, and have abandoned their positions. They're good shooters, these Union boys.
Go retrieve the rebel spoils.