Shipwrecked: A True Civil War Story of Mutinies, Jailbreaks, Blockade-Running, and the Slave Trade

By Jonathan W. White

“The astonishing stories in Shipwrecked … [offer] a fresh perspective on the mess of pitched emotions and politics in a nation at war over slavery.” – New York Times

Historian Jonathan W. White tells the riveting story of Appleton Oaksmith, a sea captain whose life intersected with some of the most important moments and individuals of the mid-19th century. White takes readers into the murky underworld of New York City, where federal marshals plied lower Manhattan in search of evidence of slave trading. Oaksmith was arrested and convicted, but he escaped from jail and became a Confederate blockade-runner in Havana, spending the next decade in exile until he received a presidential pardon from U.S. Grant. Through a fast-paced story, this book will give readers a new perspective on slavery and shifting political alliances during the turbulent Civil War Era.

Hardcover: 336 pages
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers (August 2023)