Solomon Northup, a free man of color from New York, was lured to Washington, D.C. in 1841 and kidnapped into slavery. Brought to New Orleans, he was sold to spend 12 years as a slave in Central Louisiana, arriving on the Red River in Alexandria. After 2 years in Rapides, he was sold to Edwin Epps, a small planter on Bayou Boeuf in Avoyelles near the present Bunkie area, where he labored as a slave for 10 years. Sam Bass, an itinerant carpenter and native of Canada who came to work at the Epps place, helped send a letter to New York about his whereabouts. In December 1852, Attorney Henry Northup of New York came to free Northup with the help of the Avoyelles Sheriff. In January 1853, he was released with the help of Marksville Attorney John Waddill and Judge Ralph Cushman in the Avoyelles Parish Courthouse. Northup then left Marksville via the Red River and eventually returned to New York, where he wrote his famous slave narrative, "Twelve Years a Slave."