Daughters of the Dust

During the antebellum period, the Union army freed some enslaved people in the South and issued orders to halt the trading of enslaved people immediately. Many Southern enslavers continued their practice in secret to avoid fines and punishment. Among them was Montgomery Baxter, who commissioned a large, fast boat nicknamed the Sorcerer and continued to transport enslaved people for many years. A Union army captain named James Worthington learned about the existence of the Sorcerer and was eventually able to intercept Baxter in a small cove off Dawtuh Island; Baxter was on his way back from Africa. When Baxter realized he’d been cornered, he began throwing enslaved people overboard, and the heavy shackles caused men, women, and children to sink rapidly and drown. In the ensuing chaos, Baxter escaped to Florida on the Sorcerer. Days later, bodies began washing up on the island. The local plantation boss ordered other enslaved people to bury them, but they refused to obey him. He was forced to recruit poor white people to do the work. They performed their duties carelessly, burying the enslaved people in a shallow mass grave on the site that is now the Wilkerson land.