Recaptive Africans and the
Settlement of Liberia
Depiction of Cape Montserade, Liberia
Jordan Straight, Ryan Bottomley, Blake Marlowe,
Professor Lee Willis III
Project Overview
 Introduction
 Before Colonization
 A trade in children: The Pons and
the Wildfire
 The execution of Nathaniel Gordon
Note: This research is part of a larger study
on the fate of recaptive Africans post-1808.
Introduction
 Act of 1807
 Bans further importation after Jan. 1, 1808
 Interstate trade legal until abolition
 Emergence of the Clandestine slave trade
 Approx. 60,000 people smuggled into the
South between 1808 and 1865
 Recaptive Africans
 Africans ‘rescued’ by the U.S. government
 What to do with recaptives?
Introduction Cont.
 The creation of Liberia
 American Colonization Society
 Land initially acquired to resettle free blacks
 Resettlement of recaptives in Liberia
 Over 5,000 recaptive Africans sent to Liberia
between 1830 and 1860
 Forging a nation
 Free blacks, recaptive
Africans, native Africans
Before Colonization
 The Clandestine Trade
 Post-1808, Texas and Florida become popular
avenues for slave smugglers
 Both sparsely populated Spanish territories in the
immediate years after the ban
 Enforcement of 1808 ban
 Jurisdiction over smuggling cases held by states
 Courts authorized to seize slave ships and dispose
of cargo as deemed fit
Before Colonization Cont.
 Sale of recaptives by the state
 Captured smugglers tried in nearest district court
(i.e. courts in the deep South)
 Recaptives sold at auction to the
benefit of the state and the agent
involved in the initial capture
 The Act of 1819
 Gave jurisdiction over the enforcement of the 1808
ban to the federal government
 Section 2 requires that all recaptive Africans be
excluded from the United States (i.e. sent to Liberia)
A trade in children:
The Pons and the Wildfire
 The Act of 1819 Cont.
 Established the Africa Naval Squadron
 A trade in children
 U.S. naval presence on the African coast led
smugglers to increasingly use children in
order to avoid capture
 “…facilitated ‘tight packing’ and enabled
more speedy departures for ships.”
-Paul Lovejoy
A trade in children:
The Pons and the Wildfire
 Capture of the Erie and Stormking, 1860
 Almost half of Africans on board of each ship
were children
 Capture of the Pons, 1845
 Large portion of Africans
on board were children
between the ages of 8 and 18
 Recaptive cargo later
delivered to Monrovia on
December 16, 1845
The Execution of Nathaniel Gordon
 Enforcement of 1808 ban
 Prior to the Gordon case, slave smugglers rarely
penalized beyond asset seizures and minor fines
 Capture of the Erie, 1860
 Slaver intercepted by the USS Mohican off of the
coast of the Congo River
 Ship confiscated with almost 900 Africans on
board, many of whom were women and children
 Recaptives sent to Monrovia for the Liberian
government to deal with, ship’s Captain
(Nathaniel Gordon) detained for trial
The Execution of Nathaniel Gordon
 The trial of Nathaniel Gordon
 Gordon sent to NewYork
to be tried alongside other
captured slavers
 Civil War era tensions over
slavery lead to a push for
harsh punishment
 The execution of Nathaniel Gordon
 Gordon convicted of piracy in 1861 and hanged on
February 7, 1862
 First and only slaver to be executed in the United States