
KIDNAPPED AT SEA
ANDREW SILLEN
The true story of David Henry White, a free Black teenage sailor enslaved on the high seas during the Civil War, whose life was falsely and intentionally appropriated to advance the Lost Cause trope of a contented slave, happy and safe in servility.
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KIDNAPPED AT SEA
The civil war voyage of David Henry White
David Henry White, a free Black teenage sailor from Lewes, Delaware, was kidnapped by Captain Raphael Semmes of the Confederate raider Alabama on October 9, 1862, from the Philadelphia-based packet ship Tonawanda. White remained captive on the Alabama for over 600 days, until he drowned during the Battle of Cherbourg on June 19, 1864.
In a bestselling postwar memoir, Semmes falsely described White as a contented slave who remained loyal to the Confederacy. In Kidnapped at Sea, archaeologist Andrew Sillen uses a forensic approach to describe White's enslavement and demise and illustrates how White's actual life belies the Lost Cause narrative his captors sought to construct. Kidnapped at Sea is the first book to focus on White's actual life, rather than relying on Semmes and other secondary sources. Until now, Semmes's appropriation of White's life has escaped scrutiny, thereby demonstrating the challenges faced by disempowered, illiterate people—and how well-crafted, racist fabrications have become part of Civil War memory.
Articles and Podcasts



Civil War Talk Radio
Podcast | 10/16/2024 | 1h
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/2107-andrew-sillen-kidnapped-at-sea-the-civil-war/id443517292?i=1000673506259

Shipwrecks and Sea Dogs
Article
https://shipwrecksandseadogs.com/blog/2024/10/19/kidnapped-at-sea-david-henry-white/


The Author’s Corner with Andrew Sillen
Article
https://currentpub.com/2024/10/11/the-authors-corner-with-andrew-sillen/
Praise for Kidnapped At Sea
In this fast-paced narrative, Andrew Sillen uncovers the astounding story of David White, a free Black teenager kidnapped from a US ship and forced to accompany the Confederate raider Alabama. Through a haunting account, Sillen restores White's humanity and in doing so provides a timely examination of the necessity for addressing historical crimes.
— Caroline E. Janney, author of Ends of War: The Unfinished Fight of Lee's Army after AppomattoxThis book represents the best in weaving a compelling narrative across generations, geographies, and genres by an archeologist who has effectively used the perspective of his discipline to connect a young Black man's short life to the horrors of piracy, slavery, and colonial conquest.
— Mamphela Ramphele, author of Dreams, Betrayal and Hope.This well-researched and captivating account of the Civil War Battle of Cherbourg commands the attention of Naval and Civil War scholars alike. The embedded story of the teenage sailor David Henry White is effectively used by the author for a revealing analysis of personal, professional, and moral strengths and flaws of all involved.
— David Brown, U.S. Maritime Service (Ret.)What Sillen has done with Kidnapped at Sea is truly monumental. David Henry White's soul is somewhere between here and heaven, grateful to Sillen for finding he facts, telling his story, and honoring his dignity.
— Teresa H. Clarke, Chairman & CEO Africa.comKidnapped at Sea is masterful and engrossing. The sharp focus on the 'invisible' David Henry White vividly conveys the plight of the enslaved. It makes the reader care far more than a conventional history. In its methodology, it is akin to the way Anne Frank's diary made the reader see and understand the Holocaust more than all of the recitals of facts and numbers. A stunning professional accomplishment.
— Roy FurmanIn this gripping story, Andrew Sillen rescues from Lost Cause mythology the story of David Henry White, a free black man kidnapped and enslaved on board the CSS Alabama for 600 days before his untimely death. In the process, Sillen offers an important reminder that the struggle for a 'new birth of freedom' was fought as much on the high seas as it was on the battlefield.
— Kevin M.Levin, author of Searching for Black Confederates: The Civil War's Most Persistent MythSillen’s Kidnapped at Sea adds new evidence-based arguments that anyone researching CSS Alabama must explore, but more importantly it returns humanity and agency back to David Henry White, an illiterate teenage freeman who found himself impressed into Confederate service until his death under the Stainless Banner.Alabama for 600 days before his untimely death.
— Neil P. Chatelain, Assistant Professor of History Lone Star College—North h|Harrris Campus