Papers related to the Amistad mutiny [Decimalized .01-.59]
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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC05636 Author/Creator: Place Written: s.l. Type: Header Record Date: 1829-1853 Pagination: 59 items Order a Copy
This collection contains the papers of William S. Holabird, who served as United States District Attorney for the state of Connecticut during the Amistad trial. These materials include a letter of Judge Andrew T. Judson which suggests executive interference in the proceedings (#5), depositions of the Spanish minister (#7-9), testimony of witnesses (#10-14), and important letters of Secretary of State John Forsyth instructing Holabird on the Amistad case (#17-23). Also includes Holabird's commission as United States District Attorney (#16). Contains political or legal letters for the period 1829-1837 and 1853 (#24-41). Finally, items numbered 42-59 are the original Spanish language bills of lading for the non-slave cargo aboard the Amistad.
In the summer of 1839, Lieutenant Thomas R. Gedney's vessel found the slave ship Amistad near Long Island, New York, manned by Africans. Gedney took the ship and its men to Connecticut, and attempted to claim the vessel and men for salvage. The case went through many appeals in several levels of courts until the Supreme Court finally ruled that the men aboard Amistad should be delivered to the President of the United States to be sent to Africa.
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