Ephraim Bacon IV (–January 10, 1861) was an American church minister who served as US government agent on the second

American Colonization Society The American Colonization Society (ACS), initially the Society for the Colonization of Free People of Color of America, was an American organization founded in 1816 by Robert Finley to encourage and support the repatriation of freeborn peop ...

expedition to Africa in 1821. The expedition struggled to purchase land in Sierra Leone to found a colony and many of the colonists died from fever. Bacon was affected by the disease and fled the expedition on a British ship to Barbados, later returning to the United States. US Navy officer

Robert F. Stockton Robert Field Stockton (August 20, 1795 – October 7, 1866) was a United States Navy commodore, notable in the capture of California during the Mexican–American War. He was a naval innovator and an early advocate for a propeller-driven, steam- ...

was sent to take over negotiations and eventually secured land to found a colony that would become

Liberia Liberia, officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to Liberia–Sierra Leone border, its northwest, Guinea to Guinea–Liberia border, its north, Ivory Coast to Ivory Coast–Lib ...

African expedition

Ephraim Bacon was a church minister. He was commissioned as a US government agent for the second

(ACS) expedition to Africa, together with Jonathan B Winn. The expedition followed the failure of the first party, on which Ephraim's brother Samuel Bacon had died whilst serving as government agent. The ACS agents on the second expedition were Christian Wiltberger and Joseph R Andrus. Bacon was accompanied on the expedition by his wife. The expedition consisted of 33 emigrants, mostly free African-Americans, who sailed on board the brig ''Nautilus'' under Captain

. The ''Nautlius'' left the United States on 21 January 1821 and arrived at the British colony of Sierra Leone on 9 March. The expedition's leaders had no specific location in mind for establishing a colony and stayed in

Fourah Bay Fourah Bay is a neighbourhood in Freetown, Sierra Leone. It is located in the East end of Freetown. Ethnicity and religion Fourah Bay is an overwhelmingly Muslim majority neighborhood. The Oku people, an ethnic group predominantly of Yoruba desce ...

whilst looking for a site. The inhabitants of Sherbro Island, where many of the first expedition had perished, refused to sell land to the ACS. Negotiations with King Ben of the Bassa territory also proved unsuccessful as the ACS refused to pay an ongoing fee to the king of $300 per year for the of land. Bacon and Andrus chartered a schooner, the ''Augusta'', to search southern Sierra Leone for a site. Bacon attempted to encourage more emigrants to the expedition by compiling an account of his work, entitled ''Abstract of a Journal of E. Bacon, Assistant Agent of the United States, to Africa'', which was published in Washington DC in 1821. Bacon noted the religious fervour of the Sierra Leoneans, describing how they spent all day in church on Sundays.

Flight to Barbados

With negotiations ongoing the ACS sent

Eli Ayres Eli Ayers (May 9, 1778 – April 25, 1822) was a physician and the first colonial agent of the American Colonization Society in what later became Liberia. He was born in 1778 in Shiloh, New Jersey, and married Elizabeth West in 1812. He prac ...

to help the expedition secure land. Upon his arrival he found that Andrus and Winn had died of fever and Bacon, who had also been afflicted, had fled the colony. Bacon had found a British vessel which provided him passage to

Barbados Barbados, officially the Republic of Barbados, is an island country in the Atlantic Ocean. It is part of the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies and the easternmost island of the Caribbean region. It lies on the boundary of the South American ...

; he later recovered and returned to the United States. The colonists Bacon had abandoned were distrustful of the ACS and its officers; even after threatened by Ayres many refused to join him and remained as residents of Sierra Leone. The ACS persuaded President

James Monroe James Monroe ( ; April 28, 1758July 4, 1831) was an American Founding Father of the United States, Founding Father who served as the fifth president of the United States from 1817 to 1825. He was the last Founding Father to serve as presiden ...

to have Stockton take over negotiations. Stockton secured land at

Cape Mesurado Cape Mesurado, also called Cape Montserrado, is a headland on the coast of Liberia near the capital Monrovia and the mouth of the Saint Paul River. It was named Cape Mesurado by Portuguese sailors in the 1560s. It is the promontory on which Afri ...

from King Peter of the Dey at gunpoint, in exchange for goods worth less than $300. This site grew into the colony of

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bacon, Ephraim American emigrants to Sierra Leone American Christian religious leaders People of the American colonization movement 1780 births 1861 deaths