Gilbert Horton was a free-born African American who was captured with the intent of being sold into slavery.
[2] When The Macedonian docked in Norfolk, Virginia, Horton traveled to Georgetown in Washington D.C., where he was arrested on the assumption that he was a runaway slave.
[2] In August 1826, a local business owner in Croton Falls, New York, named John Owen noticed an advertisement in The National Intelligencer[3] describing Horton.
[4] Through the efforts of Jay and Owen, Governor DeWitt Clinton wrote[5] a letter on behalf of Horton's freedom, to then President John Quincy Adams.
The work of Governor Clinton and Senator Henry Clay[6] ultimately secured Horton's release.