Nicholas Said (Muhammad Ali ibn Said)

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1833 – 1882

In 1860, Muhammad Ali ibn Said (1833-1882) known as (Nicholas Said) arrived in America as a free man. Muhammad was born in the Kingdom of Bornu, West Africa near Lake Chad to a well-educated merchant family. in 1863, Muhammad enlisted in the 55th Massachusetts colored regiment and became a Civil War hero. His Army records show that he died in Brownsville, Tennessee in 1882.

In 1860, Muhammad Ali ibn Said (1833-1882) known as (Nicholas Said) arrived in America as a free man. Muhammad was born in the Kingdom of Bornu, West Africa near Lake Chad to a well-educated merchant family. Said was captured by a group of Tuaregs, enslaved and sold at the age of 16. His first slave master was an African-Arab named Abdel Kader who took him to Tripoli and Fezzan. Abd-El-Kadir sold Muhammad to Abdy-Aga a Turkish officer. Muhammad went on Hajj with the Turkish officer father Haji Daoud Aga. They traveled thru Alexandria, Cairo, Khartoum, Abysinnia, Eritrea, and Somalia to Saudi Arabia. When they came back from Mecca Muhammad was sold, to Fuad Pasha, taken to Constantinople, and given to Fuad Pasha brother-in-law Rashid who then sold Muhammad to a Russian diplomat Prince Anatole Mentchikoff who brought him to Odessa, Russia. Alexander Menshikov, an aide to the Russian Czar, then to Nicholas Troubetzkoy with whom he traveled to many places during his years of slavery from Odessa, Russia, to the cities of St. Petersburg, Vienna, Dresden, Munich, Rome, Paris, Heidelburg, and London. Around 1857, Muhammad was set free from Prince Troubetzkoy and given 300 pounds sterling. Sometime in 1857, Muhammad arrived in Canada outside of Ottawa; Said came with De Sanddrost I.J. Rochussen who asks Said for a loan. Said had loaned him the 300 pounds and Rochussen disappeared leaving Muhammad penniless. Around 1858 Said arrived in Detroit. Shortly afterward, he found a teaching job and in 1863, Muhammad enlisted in the 55th Massachusetts colored regiment and became a Civil War hero. He served faithfully and bravely with his regiment as Corporal and then Sergeant in the South. Near the close of the war, he was assigned, at his own request, to the hospital department, to learn some knowledge of medicine. His Army records show that he died in Brownsville, Tennessee in 1882.

Sources

Books:

“The Autobiography of Nicholas Said: A Native of Bornou, Eastern Soudan, Central Africa,” Edited and Introduced by Precious Rasheeda Muhammad

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