Cape Fear Adventure/Cipher School - Rebel Rose Mystery Cache
Cape Fear Adventure/Cipher School - Rebel Rose
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(regular)
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Cache is not at the listed coordinates. The only thing
you will find there is a large sandbar and some
pelicans!!
A Cape Fear Adventure/Cipher School hybrid! Egad, you're going to
need deciphering skills AND a boat.
We recently acquired a beautiful old map which shows the battle of
Fort Fisher and the local topography in stunning detail.
As usual, the map was trapped in an ugly frame and also required
some restoration. Luckily, the restoration of ancient maps, charts,
and texts just happens to be one of my hobbies, so I set to work on
the task with my junior fray-apprentices by my side. Freeing the
map from the hideous gold frame was no problem for us, but our work
came to a screeching halt when we noticed that the map was not the
only thing encased in the frame. Concealed behind the map was a
small piece of old paper which appeared to have suffered the
insults of fire, water, and time. Upon closer inspection we could
see that there was something written on the paper.
Curiously, the writing had elements that were slightly familiar –
yet, as a whole, we were unable to read or recognize anything that
was written. On the back of the paper, a different, much bolder
hand had written only two words: REBEL ROSE. We all
squinched up our noses, looked at each other, and remarked in
unison, “That’s weird.”
After some lengthy research we learned about a celebrated
Confederate spy by the name of Rose O’Neal Greenhow. A leader in
Washington society, she was also one of the most unusual and
successful Confederate spies in the Civil War (Jefferson Davis
credited her with winning the battle of Manassas). Rebel Rose died
when the blockade runner upon which she traveled ran aground near
the mouth of the Cape Fear River. Fearing capture, Rose fled on a
small rowboat which was capsized by a wave. Weighed down by $2000
worth of gold intended for the Confederate treasury, Rose
drowned.
Yes, this was an interesting and sad history lesson for us. But
there was one detail of Rose’s life and career that really caught
our attention. Rose was known to have used a special cipher to
conceal the text of the dispatches that she carried. We looked
again at our mysterious little scrap of paper and wondered: Could
THIS be a message from Rose?
Additional Hints
(No hints available.)