National Archives and Records Administration, Northeast Region, New York [Criminal Case Files, 1853-1875; Records of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York]

Convicted of slave trafficking, Nathaniel Gordon was the only person ever executed in the United States for trading in slaves. His ship, the Erie, was apprehended off the coast of Central Africa carrying eight hundred men, women, and children, ages six months to forty years, he had taken from Congo. They were destined for Cuba. The survivors were resettled in Liberia.