Ashmun, Jehuda

Ashmun, Jehuda (1794–1828) colonial agent, author; born in Champlain, N.Y. A graduate of the University of Vermont (1816), he entered the Congregational ministry, then became involved in various educational and journalistic enterprises. In 1822, he shipped from Baltimore to Liberia with a boatload of returning African-American slaves. There he held off an attack by native chiefs and survived the fever that killed his wife. He stayed on and was appointed the American Colonization Society's agent (1824–28). He wrote The History of the American Colony in Liberia from December 1821 to 1823.