View source for James Leander Cathcart

{{short description|American diplomat}}
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'''James Leander Cathcart''' (1 June 1767 – 6 October 1843) was an American diplomat, [[Arab slave trade|slave]], and sailor of Irish descent. He is notable for his narrative as a slave in [[Algiers]], [[Ottoman Algeria]], for eleven years.

==Revolutionary War ==
Cathcart was born in Mount Murragh, [[County Westmeath]], [[Ireland]] and emigrated to the North American colonies at eight years of age, under the care of a relative, Captain John Cathcart. He joined the [[American Revolution]] and at the age of twelve served on a [[privateer]]. Three years later, as a midshipman on ''The Confederacy'', he was captured by the British and imprisoned on the [[Prison ship|prisoner ships]], ''The Good Hope'' and {{HMS|Jersey|1736|2}} from which he escaped in 1782. He became fluent in Spanish and French, which he learned from fellow prisoners during his three-year internment.

== Slave in Algiers ==
In 1785, [[Barbary pirates]] captured the American merchant ship ''The Maria Boston'', on its way to Cadiz carrying furs, lumber, and dried codfish. They took Cathcart and 20 other sailors as [[slaves]]. During the 11 years of his slavery in [[Algiers]], Cathcart managed by means of good fortune, cleverness, and bribery to improve his circumstances, eventually becoming chief clerk to the [[Dey]].<ref>Sears, Christine. [http://teachinghistory.org/best-practices/examples-of-historical-thinking/24298 The Barbary Pirates: Letter from Tripoli] [http://www.teachinghistory.org Teachinghistory.org] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180926205612/https://teachinghistory.org/history-content/ask-a-historian/24484 |date=26 September 2018 }}. Accessed 3 June 2011.</ref>  In that position, he acted as a mediator between the Dey and Joseph Donaldson Jr., an agent for Colonel [[David Humphreys (soldier)|David Humphreys]], the U.S. Minister to Portugal, which resulted in the [[Treaty of Tripoli|Treaty of Algiers of 1796]] and allowed his freedom.

Cathcart, for the first several years of his captivity, endured the same terrible living conditions as his fellow slaves. One of a few handpicked by the Dey, Cathcart's first duties were to work in the Dey's palace garden caring for the lions, tigers, and antelopes. Although his assigned duties were relatively light, his masters provided scant food and administered several beatings, called [[bastinado]]; in one instance, Cathcart lost several of his toenails.

As his fortunes and positions in [[Algiers]] improved, Cathcart acquired additional skills that he used later as a diplomat. He found opportunities to demonstrate his concern for his fellow prisoners. During his slavery, he became conversant in Arabic and Turkish. When Cathcart became clerk of the prison, he was able to buy several taverns, a house with servants, and more food for his fellow crew members. After the Treaty of Algiers freed them, Cathcart had the means to purchase a ship, which he sailed to Philadelphia in 1796 with 12 surviving members of the original crew.

== Personal==
On 5 June 1798, he married Philadelphia belle Jane Bancker Woodside, and they had twelve children.  His daughter JB Newkirk put together Cathcart's narrative and published it in 1899, 56 years after his death, under the title of ''The Captives, Eleven Years a Prisoner in Algiers''.

== Professional diplomatic career==
He returned to the [[Barbary Coast]] in December 1798, as special agent to [[William Eaton (soldier)|William Eaton]]. In 1802, he was appointed [[Consul (representative)|US Consul]] to [[Tunis]] and [[Tripoli, Libya|Tripoli]]. He participated in the negotiation of additional treaties with [[Algiers]], Tunis, and Tripoli. In 1806 he was appointed US Consul in [[Madeira]], serving that position until 1815.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Smith |first=Walter Burges |url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/011329581 |title=America's diplomats and consuls of 1776-1865: a geographic and biographic directory of the Foreign Service from the Declaration of Independence to the end of the Civil War |last2=Center for the Study of Foreign Affairs (U.S.) |date=1986–1987 |publisher=Center for the Study of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Service Institute, U.S. Dept. of State : For sale by the Supt. of Docs., U.S. G.P.O. |series=Occasional paper; no. 2 |location=Washington, D.C.}}</ref> He served the same position in [[Cádiz]] from 1815 to 1818,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Smith |first=Walter Burges |url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/011329581 |title=America's diplomats and consuls of 1776-1865: a geographic and biographic directory of the Foreign Service from the Declaration of Independence to the end of the Civil War |last2=Center for the Study of Foreign Affairs (U.S.) |date=1986–1987 |publisher=Center for the Study of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Service Institute, U.S. Dept. of State : For sale by the Supt. of Docs., U.S. G.P.O. |series=Occasional paper; no. 2 |location=Washington, D.C. |page=146}}</ref> where he operated a merchant business with [[Richard Worsam Meade I|Richard Worsam Meade]].<ref>{{cite AV media|last=Atzbach|first=Nicole|date=2016|title=Portraits in Conversation: Francisco de Goya and Vicente López y Portaña|type=lecture|url=https://youtube.com/watch?v=EE0uT5tOAEU&t=40m16s |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211219/EE0uT5tOAEU |archive-date=2021-12-19 |url-status=live|access-date=17 September 2018|time=40m16s|publisher=[[Meadows Museum]]}}{{cbignore}}</ref> Cathcart served in the diplomatic corps for the United States during the administrations of [[John Adams]], [[Thomas Jefferson]], and [[James Madison]].

==See also==
*[[List of slaves]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Sources==
* {{citation | contribution = James Leander Cathcart | title = Dictionary of American Biography | first = Base | last = Set | publisher = American Council of Learned Societies | year = 1928–36}}.
* {{citation|url=http://www.arlingtonoaks.com/History.htm |title=Arlington Oaks |contribution=History |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070715090718/http://www.arlingtonoaks.com/History.htm |archivedate=2007-07-15 }}.
* {{citation | url = http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/ah/1975/4/1975_4_52.shtml | last = Baker | first = Liva | contribution = Cathcart’s Travels | title = American Heritage Magazine | date = April 1975 | access-date = 2006-07-23 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20060507101753/http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/ah/1975/4/1975_4_52.shtml | archive-date = 2006-05-07 | url-status = dead}}.
* Revolutionary War Pension S12413

== Further reading ==
* Paul Baepler, ed. ''White Slaves. African Masters, An Anthology of American Barbary Captivity Narratives''. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1999.

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{{s-bef|before=[[William Eaton (soldier)|William Eaton]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[United States Consul General to the City of Tunis]]|years=1802&ndash;7}}
{{s-vac|unknown}}
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{{Slave narrative| state=expanded}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cathcart, James Leander}}
[[Category:1767 births]]
[[Category:1843 deaths]]
[[Category:Consuls for the United States]]
[[Category:Military personnel from County Westmeath]]
[[Category:18th-century Irish people]]
[[Category:Irish emigrants to the Thirteen Colonies]]
[[Category:Writers of slave narratives]]
[[Category:United States Navy personnel of the American Revolution]]
[[Category:Irish sailors in the United States Navy]]
[[Category:19th-century American diplomats]]
[[Category:18th-century slaves in the Ottoman Empire]]
[[Category:19th-century American memoirists]]
[[Category:Algerian slaves]]
[[Category:19th-century slaves in the Ottoman Empire]]