Shipwrecked: A True Civil War Story of Mutinies, Jailbreaks, Blockade-Running, and the Slave Trade

Shipwrecked: The Legend of Appleton Oaksmith tells the story of a swashbuckling sea captain whose life intersected with important moments of the mid-19th century, including the California Gold Rush, filibustering schemes in Nicaragua, Cuban liberation, and the Civil War and Reconstruction. It also depicts the Lincoln Administration's efforts to destroy the illegal trans-Atlantic slave trade.

Format: Hardback
Length: 336 pages
Publication date: 01 August 2023
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Shipwrecked: The Remarkable Stories of a Nation at War Over Slavery, written by Jonathan W. White, offers a fresh perspective on the complex web of emotions and politics during the mid-19th century, a time marked by significant events such as the California Gold Rush, filibustering schemes in Nicaragua, Cuban liberation, and the Civil War and Reconstruction. The book focuses on the life of Appleton Oaksmith, a swashbuckling sea captain whose life intersected with these pivotal moments. White delves into Oaksmith's adventures, which took him across the globe, and highlights the extraordinary lengths the Lincoln Administration went to destroy the illegal trans-Atlantic slave trade. Using Oaksmith's case as a lens, White takes readers into the murky underworld of New York City, where federal marshals plied the docks in lower Manhattan in search of evidence of slave trading. Once Oaksmith was suspected, federal authorities arrested and convicted him, but in 1862, he escaped from jail and became a Confederate blockade-runner in Havana. The Lincoln Administration attempted to have him kidnapped in violation of international law, but the attempt was foiled. Oaksmith spent the next decade in exile until he received a presidential pardon from Ulysses S. Grant, at which point he moved to North Carolina and became an anti-Klan politician. Through a remarkable, fast-paced story, this book will give readers a new perspective on slavery and shifting political alliances during the turbulent Civil War Era.

Weight: 612g
Dimension: 231 x 166 x 24 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781538175019