William Benjamin Gould: A Brief Biography

William Benjamin Gould: A Brief Biography. Orange Street Landing on Cape Fear. William Benjamin Gould (1837-1923) was born on November 18, 1837. His father, Alexander Gould, was a white man born in England, and his mother, Elizabeth Moore, was an enslaved woman from Wilmington, North Carolina. Gould's owner was Nicholas Nixon, a peanut farmer and large slaveholder. Nixon's plantation was located about twelve miles north of town but he also owned a townhouse on Chestnut Street about four blocks northwest of this site. Gould lived in the urban slave quarter adjacent to the house. His master hired him out as a skilled plasterer and mason on projects such as the Bellamy Mansion (built 1859-1861), an antebellum residence located at Fifth Avenue and Market Street. Gould's initials were discovered inscribed in the plaster of the mansion. , Naval Experience , Gould documented his successful escape to freedom from the wharf at the foot of Orange Street (see panels 1 and 2). After being rescued by the Union blockader U.S.S. Cambridge, he joined the Union Navy. Five days after boarding the Cambridge, he began chronicling his naval experience in a diary that spans nearly three years. One of the battles with which the Cambridge exchanged gunfire took place at Fort Fisher (south of Wilmington), a major Confederate stronghold until Wilmington fell to Union troops in 1865. The fort is now a North Carolina State Historic Site. Gould served on the Cambridge until 1863. After a bout with measles, he transferred to the U.S.S. Niagara. During the war he also wrote articles for The Anglo-African, a black abolitionist newspaper. Gould received an honorable Navy discharge on September 29, 1865. , Military Family , In 1862, Gould married Cornelia Williams Read (1837-1906), who was bought out of slavery in Wilmington by her aunt's husband, Baptist minister James E. Crawford. After Gould's discharge, the couple settled in Dedham, Massachusetts where they raised eight children: Medora Williams, William Benjamin Jr., Frederick Crawford, Luetta Ball, Lawrence Wheeler, Herbert Richardson, and twins James Edward and Ernest Moore. Like Gould, their six sons also served in the military. Gould worked as a craftsman and contractor in plastering and brick masonry. He was also a founding member of the Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd, and was a longtime member of the Grand Army of the Republic, Charles W. Carroll Post 144. , William Benjamin Gould and the the other 21 slaves that escaped at the Orange Street landing on Cape Fear took advantage of their freedom first by serving in the U.S. Navy and then as citizens who made contributions to their communities. Gould's rare Civil War diary provides a unique glimpse into the daily life of a freedom-seeking African-American and preserves the legacy of the Underground Railroad. , [Captions] , . Top right: Tradition: All six sons of the diarist, (seated) served in the military. , . Center: Wilmington, Cape Fear River. , . Bottom left: William Benjamin Gould (1837-1923). , . Bottom right: Bellamy Mansion (built 1859-1861) located at Fifth Avenue and Market Street is currently the Bellamy Mansion Museum of History and Design Arts.