Ephraim Bacon facts for kids

Ephraim Bacon IV (born around February 14, 1780 – died 1826) was an American church minister. He worked as a US government agent for an important trip to Africa in 1821. This trip was organized by the American Colonization Society. Their goal was to help free African-Americans move from the United States to Africa to start a new colony.

The expedition faced many problems. It was hard to buy land in Sierra Leone, and many people got sick with fever. Ephraim Bacon also became ill. He left the group on a British ship and went to Barbados. Later, he returned to the United States. Another US Navy officer, Robert F. Stockton, took over the negotiations. He successfully got land to start a colony that later became the country of Liberia.

The African Expedition

Ephraim Bacon was a church minister chosen to be a US government agent. He joined the second expedition by the American Colonization Society (ACS) to Africa. He traveled with Jonathan B Winn. This trip happened after the first expedition failed, and Ephraim's brother, Samuel Bacon, had died during that first journey.

The second expedition included 33 people. Most of them were free African-Americans. They sailed on a ship called the Nautilus. The ship left the United States on January 21, 1821. It arrived in the British colony of Sierra Leone on March 9.

The leaders of the expedition did not have a specific place in mind for the new colony. They stayed in Fourah Bay while they looked for land. The people living on Sherbro Island, where many from the first expedition had died, did not want to sell land to the ACS. Negotiations with King Ben of the Bassa territory also failed. The ACS did not want to pay the king $300 each year for 40 square miles (100 square kilometers) of land.

Bacon and another agent, Androus, rented a smaller ship called the Augusta. They used it to search for a good location in southern Sierra Leone. Bacon also wrote about his work to encourage more people to join the expedition. He called his report Abstract of a Journal of E. Bacon, Assistant Agent of the United States, to Africa. It was published in Washington D.C. in 1821. Bacon wrote about how religious the people of Sierra Leone were. He said they spent all day in church on Sundays.

Challenges and New Beginnings

While negotiations were still happening, the ACS sent Eli Ayres to help the expedition find land. When Ayres arrived, he found that Androus and Winn had died from fever. Bacon had also gotten sick and had left the colony. Bacon found a British ship that took him to Barbados. He got better there and later went back to the United States.

The colonists Bacon had left behind did not trust the ACS or its leaders. Even when Ayres tried to convince them, many refused to join him. They chose to stay in Sierra Leone.

The ACS then asked President James Monroe to have Robert F. Stockton take over the land negotiations. Stockton successfully got land at Cape Mesurado from King Peter of the Dey people. He used force and traded goods worth less than $300 for the land. This site grew into the colony of Liberia.