1860: The Clotilde arrived in Mobile, Alabama, marking the last known instance of a slave ship introducing captives into the United States directly from Africa.

1860: The Clotilde arrived in Mobile, Alabama, marking the last known instance of a slave ship introducing captives into the United States directly from Africa. This arrival occurred more than fifty years after the federal government had officially outlawed the transatlantic traffic. The captives on board were part of a high-risk, illegal venture organized on the eve of the American Civil War. The case highlights the persistence of illicit trafficking and the ongoing demand for forced labor in the Deep South until the very end of the slavery era.