Marking 161 years since Wilmington man led 21 slaves to freedom down Cape Fear River

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — Thursday marks 161 years since a Wilmington slave helped 21 other enslaved people escape to freedom down the Cape Fear River.

William Gould was a slave who worked at the Bellamy Mansion during the Civil War.

On September 21, 1862, a rainy and humid night, Gould led a large group of slaves — betting that the Yellow Fever outbreak in Wilmington would make it a safer time to escape — carefully down Orange Street and to the river.

When the men reached the docks, they found a small sailboat, jumped into it, and quietly rowed 28 miles downstream to the Atlantic Ocean and their freedom, where they were picked up by Union ships.

Gould recorded their amazing journey and his subsequent life in the Union Navy in a diary – its existence was unknown for decades until it was discovered in 1958.

Gould’s great grandson published the diary in 2003 as “Diary of a Contraband: The Civil War Passage of a Black Sailor.”

While Gould would briefly return to Wilmington, he eventually settled down with his wife, Cornelia, in Dedham, Massachusetts and had eight children. All six sons served in the military.

The Orange Street site where Gould led the daring escape is known today as Orange Street Landing and in 2005 was federally recognized as a National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom site.

(Photo: City of Wilmington)