Nathaniel Gordon (February 6, 1826 – February 21, 1862) was an American slave trader who was the only person in the United States to be tried, convicted, and executed by the federal government for having "engaged in the slave trade", which was deemed an act of piracy when committed by American citizens under the Piracy Law of 1820. As such, Gordon was also the last person to be executed for piracy in the United States.

Early life

Gordon was born in Portland, Maine. He went into shipping and eventually owned his own ship. He had a wife named Elizabeth and a two-year-old son named Nathaniel at the time of his final voyage to Africa.

When Gordon was 12, his father was arrested for attempting to smuggle slaves into the United States. The law stated that he should be deemed a pirate and given a mandatory death sentence. However, there are no records of how the case was resolved, albeit it is known that Gordon's father was not executed.

In 1851, Gordon, captaining the Camargo, went on another expedition from Brazil to Africa. Gordon took on 500 Africans and set sail for Brazil. He had to take numerous measures to avoid naval patrol ships, but was still chased by a British man-of-war. After arriving in Brazil and dropping off the Africans, Gordon burned his ship to destroy evidence. The Africans were seized and some of his men were arrested and charged. Gordon himself escaped by dressing in women's clothes. of whom only 172 were grown men and 162 grown women. Gordon preferred to carry children because they would not rise up to free themselves. The day after loading, Erie sailed from the Congo River, only to be captured by the USS Mohican within hours. Commander Sylvanus William Godon had a prize crew take command of Erie and ordered them to first transport the freed slaves to Liberia, and then return to New York. Liberia was the American colony established in West Africa by the American Colonization Society for the settlement of free blacks from the United States. According to reports, during the 15-day passage to Liberia at least 29 captives died and their bodies were thrown overboard. In New York, the ship was to be auctioned off, and Nathaniel Gordon, first mate William Warren, and second mate David Hall would stand trial.

Commander Godon had four other of Gordon's crewmen placed on the USS Marion: Thomas Nelson, Samuel Sleeper, Thomas Savage, and John McCafferty. Marion sailed to Portsmouth, New Hampshire, where they were put on trial. In November 1860, the four crewmen were convicted of voluntarily serving on a slave ship but acquitted of engaging in the slave trade. They were each fined $1 and sentenced to 3.5 months in prison.

Trials

right|thumb|[[Presentment by a federal grand jury, charging Nathaniel Gordon before the US District Court for the Southern District of New York with the crime of slave trading, October 25, 1860]]

The United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, James I. Roosevelt, offered Gordon a $2,000 fine and two-year sentence in exchange for information about his financial backers. However, Gordon, confident that he wouldn't face any severe consequences, rejected the deal, believing it was not lenient enough. The case was repeatedly delayed due to the onset of the Civil War. By the time of Gordon's trial, a new district attorney, Edward Delafield Smith, had been appointed. Smith saw the Gordon case as a chance to become prominent and an opportunity to set an example for all future slave traders. He wanted Gordon executed.

  • The federal government did not have the authority to try Gordon, on the ground that Erie was not an American ship, because it had been sold to foreigners.
  • Gordon himself may not be an American, since his mother sometimes accompanied his father on his voyages, which meant he might've been born at sea.
  • Gordon had sailed so far into the Congo that he was in Portuguese waters and thus not under the jurisdiction of the federal government.
  • Gordon was just a passenger and ceased to be the captain of the Erie after two Spaniards came aboard.

The first three arguments were dismissed by the judge, while the fourth argument was contradicted by witnesses' testimony. The prosecution was led by Assistant United States District Attorney George Pierce Andrews. Gordon received the death sentence mandated under the law, with the execution date set for February 7, 1862.

</blockquote>In February 1862, Smith allowed William Warren and David Hall to plead guilty to lesser charges under the Slave Trade Act of 1800. Warren, who claimed he was not an American citizen, was sentenced to 8 months in prison, and Hall was sentenced to 9 months in prison. Since both men were broke, they were fined only $1. At sentencing, Judge Shipman told Hall that he was being treated very leniently and warned him "if caught engaged in it again, the punishment would be severe."

Appeals for pardon and execution

After Gordon's conviction, his supporters appealed to President Abraham Lincoln for a pardon. Over 11,000 people in New York signed a petition for requesting clemency for Gordon. Although Lincoln was well known among his contemporaries for issuing many pardons during his presidency, he refused to consider one for Gordon, even going so far as to refuse to meet with Gordon's supporters. Lincoln said at the time, "I believe I am kindly enough in nature, and can be moved to pity and to pardon the perpetrator of almost the worst crime that the mind of man can conceive or the arm of man can execute; but any man, who, for paltry gain and stimulated only by avarice, can rob Africa of her children to sell into interminable bondage, I never will pardon." Lincoln did give him a two-week stay of execution to "[make] the necessary preparation for the awful change which awaits him", setting the new execution date for February 21, 1862, on the grounds that Gordon had been misled into thinking he would not be executed.

Governor Edwin D. Morgan sent a telegram to Lincoln, requesting a last-minute reprieve. However, it went unanswered. He was sufficiently revived to be fit enough for execution. Gordon's last words, spoken to his executioner, were: "Make short work of it now, Bill. I'm ready."

See also

  • Capital punishment by the United States federal government
  • List of last executions in the United States by crime
  • List of white defendants executed for killing a black victim

References

Citations

Sources

Further reading

  • Thomas, Hugh (1997). The Slave Trade: The Story of the Atlantic Slave Trade: 1440-1870. New York: Simon and Schuster.
  • White, Jonathan W. (2023). Shipwrecked: A True Civil War Story of Mutinies, Jailbreaks, Blockade-Running, and the Slave Trade. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield, pp.&nbsp;131–144.
  • Annual reports and charter, constitution, by-laws, names of officers, committees, members, etc., etc. googlebooks Retrieved September 12, 2009
  • , Worcester Aegis and Transcript, December 7, 1861, p 1. (From Letters of the Civil War (website).)
  • The American slave-trade: an account of its origin, growth and suppression, account of the voyages and trial