By Professor William B. Gould IV

The foot of Orange Street at the Cape Fear River, where WBG began his escape. This scene of Wilmington in 1865 shows the corner of South Front and Orange Streets. It is here, at the foot of Orange Street at the Cape Fear River, that William B. Gould and seven other runaway slaves take a boat on September 21, 1862 and set off down the River for the Atlantic Ocean To view a close-up of the street, click here. ("Wilmington's Front Street, 1865," Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, March 1865, Courtesy of New Hanover Public Library)