The U.S. Supreme Court declared Joseph Cinquez and
his fellow mutineers free. In August 1839, in the most
famous slave ship revolt in history, Cinquez, the
son of an African king, and his Mendi followers had killed
the captain and taken over the Spanish slaver the Amistad.
The rebels were captured off Long Island, where they had
been discovered floating in a "mysterious long black schooner"
with tattered sails before trying to sail the Amistad back
to Africa.
