|
The ''Creole'' case was the result of an American slave revolt in November 1841 on board the ''Creole'', a ship involved in the United States coastwise slave trade. As 128 slaves gained freedom after the rebels ordered the ship sailed to Nassau, it has been termed the "most successful slave revolt in US history". Two persons died as a result of the revolt, a black slave and a white slave trader. The United Kingdom had abolished slavery effective 1834; its officials in the Bahamas ruled that most of the slaves on the ''Creole'' were freed after arrival there, if they chose to stay. Officials detained the 19 men who rebelled on ship until the Admiralty Court of Nassau held a special session in April 1842 to consider charges of piracy against them. The Court ruled that the men had been illegally held in slavery and had the right to use force to gain freedom; they were not seeking private gain. The 17 survivors were also released to freedom (two had died in the interim). When the ''Creole'' reached New Orleans in December 1841 with three women and two child slaves aboard, Southerners were outraged about the loss of property. Relations between the United States and Britain were strained for a time. The incident occurred during negotiations for the Webster-Ashburton Treaty of 1842 but was not directly addressed. The parties settled on seven crimes qualifying for extradition in the treaty; they did not include slave revolts. Eventually claims for losses of slaves from the ''Creole'' and two other US ships were covered, along with other claims dating to 1814, in a treaty of 1853 between the US and Britain, for which an arbitration commission awarded settlements in 1855 against each nation. ==The revolt== In the fall of 1841, the brig ''Creole,'' owned by Johnson and Eperson of Richmond, Virginia, was transporting 135 slaves for sale in New Orleans, the South's major market. It had left Richmond with 103 slaves and picked up another 32 at Hampton Roads, Virginia.〔 Most were owned by Johnson and Eperson, and 26 were owned by Thomas McCargo, a slave trader who was one of the passengers on board.〔 While the United States had prohibited the international slave trade effective in 1808, it permitted the domestic slave trade among those states that authorized slavery; many slave traders transported captives by the coastwise slave trade along the East Coast. The brig also carried tobacco, a crew of 10, the captain's wife, daughter and niece; four passengers, including slave traders; and eight black slave servants, for a total of 160 on board.〔(Jervey, Edward D. and Huber, C. Harold. "The ''Creole'' Affair" ), ''The Journal of Negro History'', Vol. 65, No. 3 (Summer 1980), pp. 196–211, accessed 8 April 2013〕 Madison Washington, a refugee slave who had been recaptured after returning from Canada to Virginia for his wife, was among those being shipped for sale in New Orleans.〔R. Edward Lee, "Madison Washington, Slave Mutineer," ''Blacfax,'' Winter/Spring 1998, Vol. 8 Issue 36, p. 8〕 The slaves were kept in the forward hold, and he gained the deck after one of the crew had lifted the grate.〔 On November 7, 1841, Washington and eighteen other male slaves rebelled; they overwhelmed the crew and killed John R. Hewell, one of the slave traders, with a knife. The crew and passengers had only one gun among them, which they never used.〔 The captain, who was wounded, and two mates had gone up into the rigging to escape the fighting. One of the slaves was badly wounded and later died. Some others of the crew were wounded but all survived. The slaves took William Merritt at his word that he would navigate for them. They first demanded that the ship be taken to Liberia, which the US had established as a free colony in West Africa. Merritt said that voyage was impossible as they did not have enough food or water. Another slave leader, Ben Blacksmith, said they should be taken to the British West Indies, as he knew the slaves from the ''Hermosa'' had gained freedom there the previous year.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Creole case」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|