William B. Gould I
Encyclopedia
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
.
On September 21, 1862, a slave named William Benjamin Gould (WBG) escaped with seven other slaves by rowing a small boat 28 nautical miles (52 km) down the Cape Fear River
Cape Fear River
The Cape Fear River is a long blackwater river in east central North Carolina in the United States. It flows into the Atlantic Ocean near Cape Fear, from which it takes its name. The overall water quality of the river is continuously measured and monitored by and conducted by the , , and the...
and out into the Atlantic Ocean where the USS Cambridge
USS Cambridge (1860)
USS Cambridge was a heavy steamship purchased by the Union Navy at the start of the American Civil War.She was outfitted as a gunboat, with two powerful rifled guns, and assigned to the blockade of ports and waterways of the Confederate States of America.-Built in Massachusetts in 1861:Cambridge...
of the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron picked them up as contraband. Prior to the escape, Gould had been working as a plasterer at an antebellum
Antebellum architecture
Antebellum architecture is a term used to describe the characteristic neoclassical architectural style of the Southern United States, especially the Old South, from after the birth of the United States in the American Revolution, to the start of the American Civil War...
mansion (now named the Bellamy Mansion) in Wilmington, North Carolina
Wilmington, North Carolina
Wilmington is a port city in and is the county seat of New Hanover County, North Carolina, United States. The population is 106,476 according to the 2010 Census, making it the eighth most populous city in the state of North Carolina...
. He appears to have been owned by Nicholas Nixon, a peanut planter and slave owner in Wilmington.
After his escape, Gould joined the U.S. Navy and believed he was "defending the holiest of all causes, Liberty and Union." Beginning with his time on the Cambridge and continuing through his discharge at the end of the war he kept a diary of his day-to-day activities. According to John Hope Franklin
John Hope Franklin
John Hope Franklin was a United States historian and past president of Phi Beta Kappa, the Organization of American Historians, the American Historical Association, and the Southern Historical Association. Franklin is best known for his work From Slavery to Freedom, first published in 1947, and...
, WBG's Diary is one of three known diaries in existence written during the Civil War by former slaves. In the diary, WBG chronicles his trips to the northeastern United States, Holland, Belgium, Spain, Portugal, and England. The diary is distinguished not only by its details and eloquent tone, but also by its author's reflections on the conduct of the war, his own military engagements, race, race relations in the Navy, and what African Americans might expect after the war and during Reconstruction.
After he was discharged from the Navy at the Charlestown Navy Yard in Massachusetts, he married Cornelia Read in November 1865. Cornelia was a former slave who was then living on Nantucket and they corresponded throughout the war. The Goulds moved to Milton Street in Dedham, Massachusetts, and together they had two daughters and six sons. In Dedham, Gould "became a building contractor and community pillar."
Gould was extremely active in the Charles W. Carroll Post 144 of the Grand Army of the Republic
Grand Army of the Republic
The Grand Army of the Republic was a fraternal organization composed of veterans of the Union Army, US Navy, US Marines and US Revenue Cutter Service who served in the American Civil War. Founded in 1866 in Decatur, Illinois, it was dissolved in 1956 when its last member died...
(GAR). He "held virtually every position that it was possible to hold in the GAR from the time he joined
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
and one in the Spanish-American War
Spanish-American War
The Spanish–American War was a conflict in 1898 between Spain and the United States, effectively the result of American intervention in the ongoing Cuban War of Independence...
. A photo of the six sons and their father, all in military uniform, would appear in the NAACP's magazine, The Crisis
The Crisis
The Crisis is the official magazine of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People , and was founded in 1910 by W. E. B. Du Bois , Oswald Garrison Villard, J. Max Barber, Charles Edward Russell, Kelly Miller, W.S. Braithwaite, M. D. Maclean.The original title of the journal was...
, in December 1917. Gould's great-grandson would describe them as "a family of fighters."
He died on or about May 25, 1923, at the age of 85 and was interred at Brookdale Cemetery in Dedham. The Dedham Transcript reported his death under the headline "East Dedham Mourns Faithful Soldier and Always Loyal Citizen: Death Came Very Suddenly to William B. Gould, Veteran of the Civil War."
His great-grandson, William B. Gould IV, served as chair of the National Labor Relations Board
National Labor Relations Board
The National Labor Relations Board is an independent agency of the United States government charged with conducting elections for labor union representation and with investigating and remedying unfair labor practices. Unfair labor practices may involve union-related situations or instances of...
from 1994 to 1998 and edited his great-grandfather's diary into a book titled Diary of a Contraband: The Civil War Passage of a Black Sailor.
See also
- Wilmington, North Carolina, in the Civil WarWilmington, North Carolina, in the Civil WarWilmington, North Carolina, was a major Atlantic Ocean port city for the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War. A vital lifeline for the fledgling Confederacy to trading partners in Europe, Wilmington was one of the last ports to fall to the Union Army.Wilmington, located 30...
- USS Cambridge (1860)USS Cambridge (1860)USS Cambridge was a heavy steamship purchased by the Union Navy at the start of the American Civil War.She was outfitted as a gunboat, with two powerful rifled guns, and assigned to the blockade of ports and waterways of the Confederate States of America.-Built in Massachusetts in 1861:Cambridge...
- List of United States Navy ships
- American Civil WarAmerican Civil WarThe American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
- Union NavyUnion NavyThe Union Navy is the label applied to the United States Navy during the American Civil War, to contrast it from its direct opponent, the Confederate States Navy...
- Confederate States NavyConfederate States NavyThe Confederate States Navy was the naval branch of the Confederate States armed forces established by an act of the Confederate Congress on February 21, 1861. It was responsible for Confederate naval operations during the American Civil War...