The slave ship Antelope

On Thursday, June 29, 1820, at 3:00 P.M., nineteen years before the "Amistad" incident , 283 African slaves (two Africans were dead and 281 were in chains) were aboard a slave vessel named, "The Antelope," when they were recaptured by the United States Treasury cutter "Dallas," under the command of John Jackson. The seizure occurred between Amelia Island and the Florida Coast. After about 2,576 days of captivity and legal battle in the United States, 120 Africans died, 2 were missing, 39 were enslaved in the United States (the 37 included 34 men, one woman, and two boys), and 120 Africans of the Antelope, (there were 22 additional recaptured Africans that were sent with this group, bringing the number to 142), were released from custody by the United States Supreme Court, and sent to Liberia on July 18, 1827.

The sequence of events which led to this ordeal began on Sunday, December 19, 1819, when a 200 ton slave vessel called "Columbia," with a Venezualian registry, sailed from Baltimore, Maryland, with a crew of 30 to 40 men, mostly Americans, and headed for the West Coast of Africa.The vessel was armed with six guns and one eighteen-pound canon.

While at sea, the Columbia changed its name to "Arraganta," and began a piratical attack on several vessels, but found nothing of value to be stolen. When the Arraganta reached the West Coast of Africa, the vessel and its crew were arrested by British men-of-war, and taken to Freetown, Sierra Leone, where the crew and the vessel were detained for three weeks under house arrest. After their release, the crew were admonished to stay away from Africa, south of the equator. Those orders were given because it was from this region---from Liberia to Mozambique--that slave trading was most active.Those orders were,however, ignored.

As the Arraganta proceeded down the coast to the Congo region, it attacked the Brigantine Exchange, an American slave vessel, and took 25 African slaves from that vessel. On March 20, 1820, around Cabinda,(a town in present day Congo, Brazzaville) it attacked the Spanish slave vessel "Antelope," and seized 120 African slaves from that vessel. After purchasing other African slaves, the Arraganta name was changed to General Ramirez. The Ramirez sailed across the Atlantic with the Antelope, to Brazil, where the slavers expected to sell their human cargo in the cities of Pernambuco, Bahia, and Rio de Janeiro.

In Brazil, the Ramirez ran aground, and several of its crew members, including the captain and some Africans, either drowned or were taken prisoners. An American named John Smith then took command of the Antelope, with its remaining crew and prisoners and proceeded to the United States along the Florida coast, where the crew and the African slaves were apprehended by Captain John Jackson.

----John Quincy Adams: Secretary of State, (1817-1825); and President of the United States (1825-1829).

----Thomas Todd, Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court; passed away in the midst of the trial.

----Francis Scott Key, Attorney for the Africans, colonizationists, and author of U.S. national anthem.

----Charles Harris, former mayor of Savannah, and Chairman of the Finance Committee. He served as attorney for the Spanish slavers and for Spain.

----Thomas Pulaski Charlton, Mayor of Savannah; he served with Harris as attorney for the Spanish slavers and Spain.

----Richard Wylly Habersham, United States District Attorney, District of Georgia.

----John Morel, United States Marshal in charge of the Africans. He was a ruthless man, and a hater of Africans. He was once indicted for killing an African-American, and was suspected of stealing some of the African slaves. While the Africans were under his control, he hired them out to work on his plantation.

----John Macpherson Berrien Judge of for the Eastern Circuit; lawyer for Captain Jackson; and the man who argued for the Spanish when the case was taken to the Supreme Court. He was the grandson of a New Jersey Supreme Court Justice, and was elected Senator from Georgia, before the end of the case. In later years, he became the first Attorney General in the Andrew Jackson Administration.

Richard Henry Wilde, purchased the 37 Africans and enslaved them on his plantation in Florida. The plantation, which was jointly owned by Wilde and his friend Joseph M. White, grew cotton and sugar cane.

Sequence of Events After the Africans were Recaptured.

-----After the Africans were recaptured, Richard Wylly Haberstram, the District Attorney of Georgia, ordered United States Marshal John Morel, to house the Africans in Savannah, Georgia. He then wrote Secretary of State John Quincy Adams about the Africans, and Secretary Adams forwarded the letter to President James Monroe. The President ordered Haberstram to defend Africans against the claims of their captors.

-----On July 20, 1820, John Macpherson Berrien, attorney for John Jackson, filed a claim for salvage on the Africans and the vessel, on behalf of his client.

----On August 3, 1820, Charles Harris and Thomas Charlton filed claim for 150 African slaves on "The Antelope," for their Spanish captors. Around that same time James Morrison file a claim for 130 Africans for his Portuguese slavers and for Portugal

----Richard Habersham, acting for the United States, filed case, claimed that all the Africans were free men.

-----John Smith, the American captain of "The Antelope" was tried for piracy, and acquitted. William law served as his lawyer. John Smith subsequently filed claim for the Africans and the vessel.

----In February 1821, after almost seven months of captivity, the trial for the Africans and "The Antelope" began in United States District Court. William Davis, United States District Judge, presided. The decision was given on February 21, 1821. The claim of John Smith, the Captain of "The Antelope" was dismissed; he got nothing. John Jackson, the skipper of the "Dallas" was awarded salvage cost, amounting to $25.00 per African; seven Africans, who were determined to have been taken from the "Exchange," an American vessel, were awarded to the United States Government, to be returned to Liberia, West Africa; 142 Africans, who were determined to have been taken off the Portuguese vessel were awarded to the Portuguese Government and their slavers; and 63 Africans were awarded to the Spanish captors. By now 68 Africans had died, and one was missing, probably stolen by Marshal Morel.

---The United States Government appealed the case to the United States Sixth Circuit Court, which sat in Milledgeville, Georgia. The case was heard on May 8, 1821, before Associate Justice William Johnson. Judge Johnson ruled that the United States Government should be awarded 16 Africans; Portugal got 95 Africans, and Spain received 55 Africans. At this time, only 166 Africans remain. The rest were either dead or missing.

----The case was appealed to the United States Supreme Court on February 21, 1822, by the United States Government. However, President Monroe and his Attorney General delayed argument of the case for domestic-political reasons. The delay was due to several factors: the Missouri Compromise, which limited slavery in the United States, and divided the country, had just passed and was fresh in the memory of the American people; the case of the "La Jeune Eugenie," a French slave vessel that was captured by Captain Robert F. Stockton ( he was one of those who helped purchase land in Liberia) and returned to the United States for persecution, had just been settled by President Monroe; and the election of 1824, which pitted Secretary of State John Quincy Adams, against the colonizationist and Secretary of the Treasury William Crawford, was heating up.

----On February 26, 1825, after the election of John Quincy Adams to the United States presidency, the case was argued before the United States Supreme Court. The Africans were represented by Francis Scott Key and Attorney General William Wirt. John Macpherson Berrien and Charles Ingersoll represented Spain.

---Three separate decrees were handed down by the court in this case, because the lower courts were having problem distributing the Africans to the parties involved in the case. In the final ruling, 37 Africans were enslaved in the United States, and 120 Africans were returned to Liberia. The enslaved Africans included 34 men, two boys and one woman. Some of their slave names included: Sam, Ned, Bill, Dick, Tony, Jack, Richardson, Boatswain, Quacca, Peter, John, Sandy, McKinda, Jean-Pierre, Titus, Jim, George, McCase, Prince, Simon, and Tom. They were purchased by Richard Henry Wilde of Georgia.

The enslavement of the 37 Africans in the United States, would not have been consummated, if the John Quincy Adams, and the American Colonization Society had paid $11,700 to free the Africans or if President John Quincy Adams had not signed a congressional petition, which cancelled a court-ordered bond, that required that the enslaved Africans be removed out of the United States at a given date.

Table 1
Names of some of the Africans of the Antelope sent to Liberia in 1827*

Names	Age	Profession	Location
John Leone	37	Servant	Montserrado
Peter Bartlett	22	Farmer	New Georgia
Peter Habersham	39	Farmer	New Georgia
Boston Walburg	41	Farmer	New Georgia
Edward Berrien	38	Farmer	New Georgia
Jack Gool	29	Farmer	New Georgia
Peter Gool	20	Farmer	New Georgia
Primus Barton	40	Farmer	New Georgia
Joseph Smith	48	Farmer	New Georgia
Caesar Russwurm	46	Farmer	New Georgia
Samuel Paul	39	Farmer	New Georgia
Pepper Smith	29	Farmer	New Georgia
Alexander Bartlett	29	Farmer	New Georgia
James Young	38	Farmer	New Georgia
Peter Smith	21	Farmer	New Georgia
Monday Dozier	43	Farmer	New Georgia
July Habersham	40	Farmer	New Georgia
Smart Purvis	50	Farmer	New Georgia
George Marshall	35	Farmer	New Georgia
Moses Kinsley	37	Farmer	New Georgia
Jack Bond	37	Farmer	New Georgia
Charlotte Madison	50	Farmer	New Georgia
George Wallace	unknown	Farmer	New Georgia

Source: "African Repository", Volume 21. It should be noted that the names of these Africans were given to them during their seven-year enslavement in the United States. Two last names stand out among the Africans: Habersham and Berrien. The name Berrien came from Judge John Macpherson Berrien; and Habersham, which came from Richard Wylly Habersham, one of the attorneys for the Africans.

Recommended Reading.
"Cases in The Supreme Court."United States Supreme Court, United States Reports. V. 20-24, and V. 25-29, February 1822-February 1826, including index., Reel # 4, *Zan-B16, (in the New York Public Library)

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The Slave Ship Anteope: 120 Africans sent to Liberia, and 37 enslaved in the United States

List of Americans, Portuguese and Spanish nationals, who participated in "The Antelope" case: