THE TRUE STORY OF DAVID HENRY WHITE, A FREE BLACK TEENAGE SAILOR ENSLAVED ON THE HIGH SEAS DURING THE CIVIL WAR, WHOSE LIFE STORY WAS FALSELY AND INTENTIONALLY APPROPRIATED TO ADVANCE THE LOST CAUSE TROPE OF A CONTENTED SLAVE, HAPPY AND SAFE IN SERVILITY.
David Henry White, a free Black teenage sailor from Lewes, Delaware, was kidnapped by Captain Raphael Semmes of the Confederate raider Alabama on October 9, 1862, from the Philadelphia-based packet ship Tonawanda. White remained captive on the Alabama for over 600 days, until he drowned during the Battle of Cherbourg on June 19, 1864.
In a best-selling postwar memoir, Semmes falsely described White as a contented slave who remained loyal to the Confederacy. In Kidnapped at Sea, archaeologist Andrew Sillen uses a forensic approach to describe Whiteâs enslavement and demise and illustrates how Whiteâs actual life belies the Lost Cause narrative his captors sought to construct.
Kidnapped at Sea is the first book to focus on Whiteâs actual life, rather than relying on Semmes and other secondary sources. Until now, Semmesâs appropriation of Whiteâs life has escaped scrutiny, thereby demonstrating the challenges faced by disempowered, illiterate peopleâand how well-crafted, racist fabrications have become part of Civil War memory.
âIn this fast-paced narrative, Andrew Sillen uncovers the astounding story of David Henry White, a free Black teenager kidnapped from a US ship and forced to accompany the Confederate raider Alabama. Through a haunting account, Sillen restores Whiteâs humanity and, in doing so, provides a timely examination of the necessity for addressing historical crimes.ââCaroline E. Janney, author of Ends of War: The Unfinished Fight of Leeâs Army after Appomattox