05/22/2023
White (A House Built by Slaves), a professor of American Studies at Christopher Newport University, provides a finely grained biography of sea captain Appleton Oaksmith (1828–1887). A “seafarer, poet, jailbird, convict, escapee, exile, and expat, ” Oaksmith’s life “touched some of the most important moments in nineteenth-century American history,” writes White, such as first-wave feminism, the Atlantic slave trade, and Southern schemes to seize Cuba and Nicaragua. His parents, Seba Smith and Elizabeth Oakes Smith, were notable literary figures in New York City, and Elizabeth, who is as much the subject of the book as her son, was “a leader in the women’s rights movement.” A life at sea brought Oaksmith little financial success; accused of fitting out his ship as a slaver, in 1861 he was imprisoned in Fort Lafayette in New York Harbor. Oaksmith—who maintained his innocence—escaped and sailed to Cuba. He eventually returned to the U.S. and was elected to the North Carolina general assembly. Evocative and well researched, White’s narrative draws ample evidence from archival sources, including the journals Oaksmith kept at sea. It’s an immersive account of a man who was not always likable but whose turbulent life sheds light on the nooks and crannies of the Civil War era. (Aug.)
Acclaimed scholar Jonathan W. White has a way of throwing light on dark corners of American history. In his fascinating new book, Shipwrecked, White tells the wild story of an adventurer and sea captain who falls under the scrutiny of President Lincoln’s administration. This compelling tale takes us into a topsy-turvy realm of civil liberties in a nation torn by war and rapidly shifting politics.
Shipwrecked provides an excellent lens through which we are able to see the complexities of life during the Civil War era. White’s book shows how the Lincoln administration’s policies regarding the slave trade impacted individuals, and how even those who remained far from any battlefield could still have their lives substantially changed due to the circumstances created by America’s internal conflict. Shipwrecked is a great story about a flawed and controversial man that will engage anyone with an interest in Civil War history. But readers who are particularly fascinated with President Lincoln’s political policies, the conflict’s impact on social issues, maritime connections to the war, efforts to end the international slave trade, and the postwar relocation of Confederates in exile abroad will find this study especially insightful. There is virtually something for everyone in Shipwrecked.
Historian White’s biography of nineteenth-century mariner Appleton Oaksmith vividly chronicles a life of adventure. Oaksmith sailed to China at 16, witnessed the California Gold Rush, foiled a mutiny on his ship, escaped attack “by three thousand African warriors,” and was active in uprisings in Nicaragua and Cuba. During the Civil War, Oaksmith was convicted and imprisoned for modifying a whaling vessel for the transatlantic slave trade. He escaped and captained a Confederate blockade runner and fled to Cuba and then England. Returning to the U.S., he was pardoned by President Grant. As context for Oaksmith’s life, White immerses readers in his world, elucidating how New York and New England were “hubs for slave trading”; efforts to end the slave trade by Lincoln, Secretary of State Seward, and other officials; and post-Civil War politics and society. Oaksmith’s parents, Seba and Elizabeth, were abolitionists and progressives, with Elizabeth energetically advocating for women’s rights. Despite extensive research, White could not determine why Oaksmith rejected his family's values to participate in the slave trade. A distinctive, exciting, and provocative perspective on the Civil War era.
From obscurity, White has rescued Oaksmith, who led an adventurous life and figures as representative of several themes of the Civil War era. This is a fast-paced, deeply researched book centering on a charismatic rogue who, despite his Northern background, became a slave trader and blockade runner.
Jonathan W. White, a prizewinning Civil War historian, finds in Oaksmith’s spectacularly misguided life both a gripping yarn set far from the battlefields and a way to dramatize Lincoln’s determination to eliminate the African slave trade.... The astonishing stories in Shipwrecked ... [offer] a fresh perspective on the mess of pitched emotions and politics in a nation at war over slavery.
White’s book provides an enlightening peek behind the most dramatic headlines of the mid-nineteenth century. It is a must-read for enthusiasts and students of the Civil War, maritime and geopolitical history, the slave trade, and anybody who just enjoys a good yarn.
White here profiles a virtually unknown, 19th-century adventurer seaman named Appleton Oaksmith (1828–1887). During the Antebellum years, that Southerner witnessed or participated in the China trade, the California Gold Rush, Latin American filibustering expeditions, and the African slave trade, including vessel provision. Following Lincoln’s 1861 inauguration and the subsequent US crackdown on Northern involvement in such economic aspects of the trade’s previously unenforced prohibition, Oaksmith was jailed as a participant, escaped, became a Confederate blockade-runner, and lived in exile until pardoned by President Grant. Returning home to North Carolina, he become a legislator and anti-KKK advocate prior to his death at age 59. Recommended. General readers through faculty.
Appleton Oaksmith had a colorful life, which is amply told in these pages…. The author tells his story artfully and in a manner that—no doubt—undergraduate and graduate students alike will find intriguing.
Jonathan W. White offers an enthralling and deeply researched account of the astonishing career of Appleton Oaksmith, a Civil War era sea captain, slaver, and politician.
Oaksmith needed a biography and it’s first rate. Rarely does a book cover so many themes central to 1800s U.S. history with such style.
Jonathan White's account of Appleton Oaksmith is a page-turner. Told with the verbal panache of a skilled novelist, it is in fact a serious examination of some of the central issues of nineteenth-century US history. White is a very good writer, but he's also a very good historian. Go out and get yourself a copy of Shipwrecked, and then enjoy.
