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The U.S. Navy and the Amistad |
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On 26 August 1839, the officers of the U.S. brig Washington made a shocking discovery: they found a Spanish slave schooner lying at anchor near Montauk Point, New York, clearly in distress. The ship proved to be the Spanish schooner Amistad (meaning "friendship" in Spanish). The ship was carrying a cargo of some fifty slaves illegally brought from Africa to Cuba in the summer of 1839; they were en route from Havana, Cuba to Puerto Principe, Cuba, when the black captives rose and overpowered the white crew. The slaves killed the captain and one of the crew, sparing the lives of two Spanish passengers whom they thought could sail the vessel back to Africa. The Spaniards, however, tricked the Africans by sailing the vessel northward and westward by night in hopes that the Amistad would be intercepted. For two months, the vessel had sailed aimlessly until they ran low on food and water. After being discovered off Long Island, the Africans were arrested and taken to New Haven, Connecticut, where they were charged with piracy and murder. Their trial aroused great public interest and helped to galvanize the abolitionist movement in America. Abolitionists argued that the Africans were illegally brought to Cuba, and therefore were free men and women who were acting in self-defense when they rose and killed the captain and crew of the Spanish vessel. The two surviving Spanish passengers hoped their vessel and the illegal cargo of slaves would be returned to them by the court. Eventually the case was argued before the Supreme Court by former President John Quincy Adams. The Africans were acquitted of all charges and most decided to return to Africa as free men and women after the trial ended. The case was a defining moment in the struggle to abolish slavery in the United States. The American Missionary Association, which raised funds for the defense and repatriation of the Africans, continued its work by educating Freedmen after the Civil War and founding a number of black colleges, including Fisk, Hampton, Howard, and Talledega.
The Brig Washington The U.S. brig Washington was one of a number of vessels employed by the navy to survey and map the coasts and harbors of the United States for the Coast Survey. The Coast Survey (predecessor to today's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) was part of the Treasury Department, but employed officers of the U.S. Navy. A number of young, scientifically- minded naval officers were assigned to survey duty when their services were not needed for naval operations. The brig Washington, under the command of Lieutenant Thomas R. Gedney, U.S.N., was employed in the summer of 1839 in surveying and sounding operations off the eastern end of Long Island. While working between Gardiner's Island and Montauk Point in August, the ship's crew spotted and captured a suspicious vessel, the Amistad, lying at anchor off Culloden Point. Lieutenant Gedney took possession of the Amistad, taking her first to New London, and then turning her over to authorities in New Haven, Connecticut, the closest port with a U.S. District Marshal. The brig Washington was transferred to the Coast Survey on 23 April 1840, but was called back to naval service during the Mexican War. The vessel was stationed at New Orleans at the outbreak of the Civil War and was taken over by Louisiana authorities. No more is known of her subsequent service.
The Officers Lieutenant Thomas R. Gedney's naval career began months after the Treaty of Ghent ended the War of 1812. This was a time of slow promotion in the Navy, and it was ten years before Gedney was promoted to the rank of lieutenant, and sixteen more until he reached the rank of Commander. Thomas R. Gedney was a native of South Carolina. His personal views on slavery are not known. He died in 1857. Lieutenant Richard W. Meade, who led the armed party that first boarded the Amistad, had entered the Navy in 1826 and was a junior lieutenant on the "reserved list" when he was assigned to survey work on the brig Washington. Meade was born in Spain while his father was acting as a commercial agent for the U.S. Government. He lived there for ten years until he returned with his mother to their home in Pennsylvania. He was educated at private Catholic schools and attended St. Mary's College in Baltimore before he entered naval service.
Prize Money for Capture Under the maritime law of nations, the captors of vessels legally seized are entitled to a percentage of the value of the ship and goods. In the United States, this principal is upheld by the Constitution and enforced by the federal courts. Lieutenant Thomas R. Gedney and the other officers and crew members of the brig Washington filed a claim for the value of the captured schooner Amistad. Their claim was upheld by the Supreme Court, which granted them one-third of the value of the captured ship and cargo, with the other two-thirds going to the government. The Amistad was sold at auction in New London, Connecticut in September 1840. The ship and cargo sold for a total of about $6000; the Amistad by this time was in poor condition with her sails and rigging in tatters, and sold for only $245. Lieutenant Gedney, who as commanding officer was entitled to one-twentieth of the prize money, would receive approximately $400 for the capture of Amistad (his annual salary as a lieutenant commanding a vessel was $1800). The other officers and seamen received lesser sums in proportion to their respective ranks.
For additional reading see:
Hoyt, Edwin Palmer. The Amistad Affair. London; New York: Abelard-Schuman, 1970.
Jackson, Donald Dale. "Mutiny on the Amistad." Smithsonian: 28 (December 1997), 115-124.
Jones, Howard. "All We Want is to Make Us Free." American History 32, no.6 (Feb. 1988): 22-28, 78.
_____, Mutiny on the Amistad: The Saga of a Slave Revolt and Its Impact on American Abolition, Law, and Diplomacy. New York: Oxford University Press, 1986.
Owens, William A. Black Mutiny: The Revolt on the Schooner Amistad. Philadelphia: Pilgrims Press, 1968.
The Amistad Case ". . . each of them are natives of Africa and were born free, and ever since have been and still of right are and ought to be free and not slaves . . ."
-- S. Staples, R. Baldwin, and T. Sedgewick, Proctors for the Amistad Africans, January 7, 1840
Background
In February of 1839, Portuguese slave hunters abducted a large group of Africans from Sierra Leone and shipped them to Havana, Cuba, a center for the slave trade. This abduction violated all of the treaties then in existence. Fifty-three Africans were purchased by two Spanish planters and put aboard the Cuban schooner Amistad for shipment to a Caribbean plantation. On July 1, 1839, the Africans seized the ship, killed the captain and the cook, and ordered the planters to sail to Africa. On August 24, 1839, the Amistad was seized off Long Island, NY, by the U.S. brig Washington. The planters were freed and the Africans were imprisoned in New Haven, CT, on charges of murder. Although the murder charges were dismissed, the Africans continued to be held in confinement as the focus of the case turned to salvage claims and property rights. President Van Buren was in favor of extraditing the Africans to Cuba. However, abolitionists in the North opposed extradition and raised money to defend the Africans. Claims to the Africans by the planters, the government of Spain, and the captain of the brig led the case to trial in the Federal District Court in Connecticut. The court ruled that the case fell within Federal jurisdiction and that the claims to the Africans as property were not legitimate because they were illegally held as slaves. The case went to the Supreme Court in January 1841, and former President John Quincy Adams argued the defendants' case. Adams defended the right of the accused to fight to regain their freedom. The Supreme Court decided in favor of the Africans, and 35 of them were returned to their homeland. The others died at sea or in prison while awaiting trial.
The Documents
Libel of Thomas R. Gedney, Lieutenant, U.S. Brig Washington,
August 29, 1839
Answer of the Proctors for the Amistad Africans,
January 7, 1840
John Quincy Adams' request for papers relating to the lower court trials of the Amistad Africans,
January 23, 1841
Opinion of the Supreme Court in United States v. The Amistad,
March 9, 1841
Statement of the Supreme Court to Circuit Court,
March 9, 1841
Return to African Americans and the U. S. Navy
Additional Resources
Amistad America Inc.: Building the Freedom Schooner- http://www.amistadamerica.org/ This educational replica of the Amistad ship sets sail in 2000. Learn more about the project and its mission at this web site. The Amistad Case- http://www.nara.gov/education/teaching/amistad/ From the National Archives and Records Administration, this site lists the documents involved and gives the background on the case. Amistad Project Transcriptions- http://www.gettysburg.edu/homepage/search/gusource.html "The Historical Methods class is working on a project with the Gilder Lehrman Collection on the Amistad mutiny in 1839. As part of the project the students have transcribed documents, pertaining to the case. All originals, of the documents transcribed below, are part of the Gilder Lehrman Collection, on deposit at the Pierpont Morgan Library, New York City." The Amistad, 40 U.S. 518 (1841)- http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/amistad.html Full text of the decision is available online as well as an initial summary of the decision. Amistad- http://www.cultures.com/features/amistad/index.html This site gives a brief account of the Amistad event. Choose between an animated version or text version. Exploring Amistad: Race and the Boundaries of Antibellum Maritime America- http://amistad.mysticseaport.org/main/welcome.html Welcome to "Exploring Amistad." This site explores the Amistad Revolt of 1839-1842 and how we make history of it. |
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