George W. Price

George W. Price was a state representative and senator from New Hanover County, North Carolina.

This article is about the North Carolinian politician. For other uses, see George Price (disambiguation).

Prior to the Civil War, Price was enslaved[1] by George Benticott.[2] During a rainy night on September 21, 1862, Price escaped with seven other enslaved men[lower-alpha 1] by rowing a small boat 28 nautical miles (52 km) down the Cape Fear River.[4] Just as the dawn was breaking, they rushed out into the Atlantic Ocean near Fort Caswell.[4] There, the USS Cambridge of the Union blockade picked them up as contraband.[1] Though they had no way of knowing it, within an hour and a half of their rescue President Abraham Lincoln convened a meeting of his cabinet to finalize plans to issue the Emancipation Proclamation.[4]

Price enlisted into the United States Navy on board the Cambridge, but may have later deserted.[1][lower-alpha 2][5] He corresponded with Gould throughout the war.[4] After the war, Price grew to have considerable influence within the black community and was elected to the North Carolina House of Representatives from 1869-1870 and the North Carolina Senate from 1870 to 1872.[1]

Price was known as an orator, and frequently spoke at ceremonies around North Carolina.[1] In 1881, he led a black delegation to Washington D.C. where they protested the unfair distribution of federal jobs to President James A. Garfield.[1]

Notes
  1. They included William B. Gould, Joseph Hall, Andrew Hall, John Mackey, Charles Gile, John Mitchell, and William Chance.[3]
  2. Gould records in his diary that "George P---e" was one of three men who deserted.[2][5]

References
  1. Gould IV 2002, p. 29.
  2. Gould IV 2002, p. 350.
  3. Gould IV 2002, p. xix.
  4. Gould IV 2002, p. xi.
  5. Gould IV 2002, p. 113.

Works cited
  • Gould IV, William B. (2002). Diary of a Contraband: The Civil War Passage of a Black Sailor (paperback ed.). Stanford University Press. ISBN 0-8047-4708-3.
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