In the 1820s, in the settlement of Little Pigeon Creek in Indiana, a lanky, dark-haired boy picked up an unusual book. For a child who had lost his mother at only nine, books were more than mere escapes. In the isolated frontier, they were the next best things to guide one through life. This particular volume was a stirring account of an American merchant captain who had been taken into slavery in Africa. Even for a voracious reader like the boy, the book was captivating. It was one of the texts that informed him of the evils of slavery, whose abolition would become the boy’s mission in adulthood.

The book’s author had commanded the ship Commerce, when it struck a reef in fog on the coast of North Africa. The shipwrecked crew stumbled ashore at the edge of the Western Sahara. At first, they thought that the worst was behind them. But they were wrong. Soon a band of Saharan tribesmen captured, bound and stripped them. Then they led them on foot and by camel across the desert. The captives had little food or water, and even less hope of ever seeing home again. Along the way, they were separated and sold into slavery.

The captain, James Riley, eventually survived to tell his tale. He convinced a Saharan trader to purchase him and his companions and bring them north. There Europeans paid a substantial ransom for their release. And so Riley and his crew found freedom. His story was among the first real-life accounts of how an American had fallen victim to slavery and lived at another’s mercy. The book, called Sufferings in Africa, became one of the most-read American captivity narratives of the nineteenth century. But Riley was hardly alone. Scores of other Americans had experienced a similar fate. Their ordeals shaped America’s relationship with distant north Africa. And in Riley’s case left an impression on a young reader who would one day confront slavery at home.

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This is Founding Encounters — a podcast about the lesser-known stories of the encounters between the Middle East and America in its earliest years. To mark the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, this show takes you through the harbors of Morocco, the narrow souks of Tunis, the tobacco fields of Virginia, the naval battles on distant seas, and much more.