Explorers & agents · fl. 1821–1824
Eli Ayres
ACS agent and physician who negotiated for the Cape Mesurado ground and led the first settlement attempt.
Biography
Ayres was sent out after the Sherbro settlement collapsed under fever, with instructions to find defensible ground and a willing seller.
He co-signed the December 1821 contract, oversaw the first landing, and left the colony before the April 1822 crisis that Jehudi Ashmun would inherit.
Historical significance
The administrative counterpart to Stockton's coercion — the man who had to make the bargain work.
Timeline
- 1821Arrives on the coast
- Dec 1821Negotiates the cession
- 1822First settlement at Cape Mesurado
Related entries
References
- ACS Annual Reports, 1821–1823.
Suggested reading
- Staudenraus (1961). The African Colonization Movement.