Though it is obvious to us that slavery is unfair and immoral, it was, of course, not obvious to those who had practiced it as a tradition. Changing away from slavery in America was not done all at once, but involved various steps away from the practice. One of these steps was that in 1820 the federal government made illegal the importation of slaves from Africa. Slavery continued, but only from the stock already present (and exports of slaves continued to other places, notably to Cuba). But why should Southern slave owners pay any attention to federal rules? Indeed, as animosity towards the North grew, the prospect of flouting the law had attractions of rebellion as well as financial gain. There were successful but illegal imports, and the last one known was in 1858, on the ship the _Wanderer_. It is an almost forgotten episode, but Erik Calonius, a journalist, has brought back its history in _The Wanderer: The Last American Slave Ship and the Conspiracy that Set Its Sails_ (St. Martin's Press). It is an important story, and Calonius has told it vividly, casting light on the slave economy, relations with Britain, and the personalities of the radicals that took the South into war.
As the South's economy flagged, some were eager to improve it by resuming the importation of slaves from Africa. Many were "fire-eaters", the name for extremists who not only hated Yankee domination, but fired by horrific images of the anarchy and rape that would inevitably occur after emancipation of slaves, urged that the South boost its pride and maintain its customs, at least partially by celebrating its traditions of slavery. One of their number was Charles Lamar, a wealthy and well-connected Savannah businessman who openly declared his defiance of the Constitution and his intention to import slaves. His unsuccessful attempts to do so led him to become a partner with William C. Corrie, a like-minded South Carolinian, who arranged to buy the _Wanderer_, a swift 114 foot pleasure boat, and thereby gain entry into the prestigious New York Yacht Club. It was covertly fitted to hold hundreds of slaves and taken to Africa, where the captain entertained the officers of British Navy ships which were supposed to be keeping the slave trade down, before taking on his cargo and evading them. Aboard were 487 slaves, packed with the heartless minimum of space allotted to each. Eighty of the slaves died, and the rest made it to Jekyll Island, Georgia, for further profitable dispersion.
Charles Lamar was used to getting his way by whatever means. He predicted that he could bring the slaves in and suffer no legal consequences, and he was right. Not only were local officials sympathetic to his cause, Lamar used kidnapping, tampering with evidence, and intimidation of witnesses so that neither he nor anyone else in the case was found guilty of the importation. Lamar thought the success of the endeavor was a blow against the union, and he and his fellow fire-eaters were delighted at the prospect of Lincoln being elected president. Lamar said, "We shall have disunion, certain, if Lincoln is elected. I hope Lincoln is elected - I _want dissolution_ - and have, I think, contributed more than any man South for it." Indeed, he and his fellow fire-eaters became pamphleteers and crusaders to the many Southern farmers and merchants who were not slave-holders and who supported the Union. They brandished the scary image of freed slaves plundering the South, and so, shortly after the _Wanderer_'s successful voyage, secession had far more popular support. Calonius cites this as an example of radicals overwhelming the will of a weak, unfocused majority, while restraining himself from drawing contemporary examples. But having brought on the conflagration, the fire-eaters faded; none ascended to power in the Confederacy or in the reconstructed South. This is a troubling episode of American history, no less so for the revelations of how both North and South supported the slave trade in different ways. The lost history of the _Wanderer_ is recalled with exciting storytelling here, with all its implications for North and South and the war this particular slaving voyage helped to start.
