The Slave-Trader's Letter-Book
Charles Lamar, the Wanderer, and Other Tales of the African Slave Trade
by Jim Jordan
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Pub Date Jan 15 2018 | Archive Date Nov 01 2017
Description
In 1858 Savannah businessman Charles Lamar, in violation of U.S. law, organized the shipment of hundreds of Africans on the luxury yacht Wanderer to Jekyll Island, Georgia. The four hundred survivors of the Middle Passage were sold into bondage. This was the first successful documented slave landing in the United States in about four decades and shocked a nation already on the path to civil war.
In 1886 the North American Review published excerpts from thirty of Lamar’s letters from the 1850s, reportedly taken from his letter book, which describe his criminal activities. However, the authenticity of the letters was in doubt until very recently. In 2009, researcher Jim Jordan found a cache of private papers belonging to Charles Lamar’s father, stored for decades in an attic in New Jersey. Among the documents was Charles Lamar’s letter book, confirming him as the author. The Lamar documents, including the Slave-Trader’s Letter Book, are now at the Georgia Historical Society and are available for research.
This book has two parts. The first recounts the flamboyant and reckless life of Lamar himself, including Lamar’s involvement in southern secession, the slave trade, and a plot to overthrow the government of Cuba. A portrait emerges at odds with Lamar’s previous image as a savvy entrepreneur and principled rebel. Instead, we see a man who was often broke and whose volatility sabotaged him at every turn. His involvement in the slave trade was driven more by financial desperation than southern defiance. The second part presents the “Slave-Trader’s Letter-Book.” Together with annotations, these seventy long-lost letters shed light on the lead-up to the Civil War from the remarkable perspective of a troubled, and troubling, figure.
Advance Praise
“Jim Jordan has given us a fascinating look at
little-known yet divisive events that occurred during the years leading
up to the Civil War, particularly the illegal, transatlantic African
slave trade. He brings them to life through the provocative and often
outrageous words of a man involved in those activities. Mr. Jordan’s
thorough research provides a compelling and comprehensive account of the
infamous Wanderer expeditions and the men behind them.”
—John Duncan, professor emeritus, Armstrong University
"This intriguing and educational book is in two parts. The first, a
thorough and well-researched biography of one of antebellum Georgia’s
most famous scoundrels; the second, a professionally edited and
annotated printing of Charles Augustus Lafayette Lamar’s long-lost and
recently rediscovered letter-book. Both parts are well worth the read by
scholars and the general public. Charles Lamar was the instigator of
the infamous voyage of the Wanderer. He was a hero to southern
secessionists and a criminal to northern abolitionists. That makes this
book important to all those interested in the antebellum and Civil War
history of Georgia."
—Lawrence S. Rowland, coeditor of The Civil War in South Carolina
Available Editions
| EDITION | Other Format |
| ISBN | 9780820351964 |
| PRICE | $32.95 (USD) |
| PAGES | 352 |
Links
Featured Reviews
Zine S, Reviewer
The author does and excellent job of presenting an academic text in a very readable, and enjoyable fashion. As a student of U.S. southern history, this is a must read. The aspect of states desire to reopen slave trade in the 1850's and 60's is often overlooked.
Educator 127278
I have to admit that up to reading this volume - which I received in exchange for this hopefully unbiased review from Netgalley & the publisher; University of Georgia Press, my knowledge of slavery in the US Southern states was based on British attitudes and a large portion of fiction read during my younger days.
The book cannot be a comfortable read because it deals with the horrors, misery and death of Africans who through no fault of their own were abducted and sold into slavery by unscrupulous traders to other unscrupulous business men with a distorted view of their own supposedly natural privileges of a bygone era.
The writing of the author is exemplary and his treatment of the material and the subject appears totally reliable and true to the original papers.
I cannot feel sympathy for the protagonists but the author does allow the opportunity for the reader to comprehend in part the reasons, motives and rationale behind the slavers' actions. Greed certainly, a perverted sense of their own exclusive rights, also the drive to prove their belief in their superiority added to their untrammelled belief that the were not doing wrong.
The book also highlights their own unscrupulous treatment of their partners in these crimes. If you want to get a glimpse of the "Southern Gentlemen" of mid nineteenth century America this is a must read.
I have given the five stars for the very competent handling by the author of this fascinating research.
Patricia F, Reviewer
As a history buff and researcher, this title appealed to me right away. I am from the Brunswick/Jekyll Island area and my family has been there since before we were a country.
Lamar is a reckless and troubled man. Having his livelihood pretty much handed to him by his father, he proceeds to run every business he touches into the ground.
The book give the reader quite a bit of information that even I haven't seen before. These letters are a valuable piece of history not only for Georgia but for the entire country. I would hope that this information would be widely spread in our schools.
I would highly recommend this book to anyone searching for answers about our beginnings and what almost tore our country apart.
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