Execution of Nathaniel Gordon, American Slave Trader, 1862
February 21, 1862, courtyard of the Tombs prison in the Five Points neighborhood of Manhattan. Nathaniel Gordon (February 6, 1826 - February 21, 1862) was the only slave trader in the U.S. to be tried, convicted, and execute for being engaged in the Slave Trade, under the Piracy Law of 1820. From a vivid description from HarperE??s Weekly, the boat was overloaded with E??897 negroes, men, women, and children, ranging from the age of six months to forty years. They were half children, one-fourth men, and one-fourth women, and so crowded when on the main deck that one could scarcely put his foot down without stepping on them. The stench from the hold was fearful, and the filth and dirt upon their persons indescribably offensive.E?n The Erie was captured by the USS Mohican 50 miles from port on August 8, 1860. The slaves were taken to Liberia, the American colony established in West Africa by the American Colonization Society for the settlement of free blacks from the United States. Gordon was convicted on November 9, 1861 in the circuit court in New York City and was sentenced to death by hanging
