Lieutenant John Julius Guthrie and the Navy's African Slave Trade Patrol on the USS Saratoga

From the March 1, 2021,  Washington (NC) Daily News  "A local war hero you might not recognize" by Leesa Jones.

John Guthrie was born in Washington, N.C. on April 15, 1815, and found himself stationed aboard the USS Saratoga off the West Coast of Africa on April 21, 1861, while the  rest of the country was getting into war.

At the time, the U.S. Navy was very active in the suppression of the slave trade.  The Saratoga's commander, Alfred Taylor, and his executive officer, Lt. Guthrie, received a report that a large ship loaded with slaves was located up the Congo River, where they were stationed at the time.  The ship's name was the Nightingale, one of the most notorious of the slavers.

As second in command, Lt. Guthrie was selected to lead a boarding party upriver and capture the slave ship.  The mission was a success and 961 slaves were captured and later released in Liberia.   The Saratoga then headed back to the United States with her prize (the Nightingale) in tow.

The Nightingale was the last slave ship captured by the U.S. Navy.  The African Slave Trade Patrol was part of the suppression of the Atlantic Slave Trade between 1819 and the start of the Civil War.  A squadron of Navy ships was kept busy at this and Guthrie's USS Saratoga was one of the most famous of these ships.

--Old B-Runner