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United States v. The Amistad
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===Rebellion at sea and capture=== {{See also|Slavery in Cuba}} [[File:Sengbe.jpg|thumb|left|upright|[[Joseph Cinqué|Sengbe Pieh]], leader of the ''La Amistad'' uprising, pictured as a Muslim (1839). Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library<ref name="beinecke">[http://beinecke.library.yale.edu/dl_crosscollex/brbldl_getrec.asp?fld=img&id=1313221 ''A true history of the African chief Jingua and his comrades : with a description of the Kingdom of Mandingo, and of the manners and customs of the inhabitants, an account of King Sharka, of Gallinas : a sketch of the slave trade and horrors of the middle passage, with the proceedings on board the "long, low, black schooner," Amistad.'' (Hartford, 1839)]</ref>]] On June 27, 1839, ''[[La Amistad]]'' ("Friendship"), a Spanish vessel, departed from the port of [[Havana]], [[Captaincy General of Cuba|Cuba]], for the [[Camagüey Province|Province of Puerto Principe]], also in Cuba. The masters of ''La Amistad'' were Captain Ramón Ferrer, José Ruiz, and Pedro Montes, all Spanish nationals. With Ferrer was Antonio, a man enslaved by Ferrer to serve him personally. Ruiz was transporting 49 Africans, who had been entrusted to him by the governor-general of Cuba. Montez held four additional Africans, also entrusted to him by the governor-general.<ref name="587-8">[https://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-supreme-court/40/518.html#587 ''US v. The Amistad''], pp. 587–588</ref> As the voyage normally took only four days, the crew had brought four days' worth of rations and had not anticipated the strong headwind that slowed the schooner. On July 2, 1839, one of the Africans, [[Joseph Cinqué]], freed himself and the other captives using a file that had been found and kept by a woman who, like them, had been on the ''[[Tecora]]'', the [[Portugal|Portuguese]] ship that had transported them illegally as slaves from West Africa to Cuba. The [[Mende people|Mende]] killed the ship's cook, Celestino, who had told them that they were to be killed and eaten by their captors. The Mende also killed Captain Ferrer, and the armed struggle resulted as well in the deaths of two Africans. Two sailors escaped in a lifeboat. The Mende spared the lives of the two Spaniards who could navigate the ship, José Ruiz and Pedro Montez, if they returned the ship east across the [[Atlantic Ocean]] to Africa. They also spared Antonio, a [[creole peoples|creole]],<ref>James Covey deposition to the court</ref> and used him as an interpreter with Ruiz and Montez.<ref>[http://docsouth.unc.edu/neh/barber/barber.html Barber, J.W. (1840). ''A History of the Amistad Captives: Being a Circumstantial Account of the Capture of the Spanish Schooner Amistad, by the Africans on Board; Their Voyage, and Capture near Long Island, New York; with Biographical Sketches of Each of the Surviving Africans also, An Account of the Trials Had on Their Case, before the District and Circuit Courts of the United States, for the District of Connecticut''], p. 7 [Electronic Edition. ]. (''Documenting the American South'', University of North Carolina)</ref> Ruiz and Montez deceived the Africans and steered ''La Amistad'' north along the [[East Coast of the United States]], where the ship was sighted repeatedly. They dropped anchor a half-mile off eastern [[Long Island]], [[New York (state)|New York]], on August 26, 1839, at [[Culloden Point]]. Some of the Africans went ashore to procure water and provisions from the hamlet of [[Montauk, New York|Montauk]]. The vessel was discovered by {{USRC|Washington|1837|6}}, a [[revenue cutter]] of the United States Revenue-Marine (later renamed the [[United States Revenue Cutter Service]] and one of the predecessors of the [[United States Coast Guard]]) while ''Washington'' was conducting [[hydrographic survey]] work for the [[United States Coast and Geodetic Survey|United States Coast Survey]]. [[Lieutenant (naval)|Lieutenant]] Thomas R. Gedney, commanding the cutter, saw some of the Africans on shore and, assisted by his officers and crew, took custody of ''La Amistad'' and the Africans.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.africanamericans.com/Amistad.htm |title=The U.S. Navy and the Amistad |access-date=May 20, 2007 |work=AfricanAmericans.com |publisher=Americans.net}}</ref> Taking them to the [[Long Island Sound]] port of [[New London, Connecticut]], Lieutenant Gedney presented officials with a written claim for his property rights under international [[admiralty law]] for salvage of the vessel, the cargo, and the Africans. Gedney allegedly chose to land in [[Connecticut]] because [[History of slavery in Connecticut#1848 slavery abolition|slavery was still technically legal there]], under the state's gradual abolition law, unlike in nearby New York State. He hoped to profit from sale of the Africans.<ref>[[David Brion Davis|Davis, David Brion]], ''[[Inhuman Bondage: The Rise and Fall of Slavery in the New World]]''. New York: Oxford University Press, 2006, p. 15</ref> Gedney transferred the captured Africans into the custody of the [[United States District Court for the District of Connecticut]], where legal proceedings began.<ref name="587-8"/>
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