Death of Capt Ferrer the Captain of the Amistad July 1839

Sale 2105 - Lot 40

Price Realized: $ 4,560

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Estimate: $ 6,500 - $ 8,500

RARE WOODCUT OF THE AMISTAD UPRISING Death of Capt. Ferrer, the Captain of the Amistad, July, 1839. Engraved woodcut broadside with hand-tinting, 9 5/8x19 1/2 inches; a few archival repairs to the edges and the reverse; paper evenly toned, creases where folded. [New Haven: E. L. & J. W. Barber, 1840]

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Additional Details

This large woodcut formed the folding frontispiece for John W. Barber's "History of the Amistad Captives," the first substantive published account of the Amistad case.
In July 1839, captive West Africans rebelled and took over the Spanish slaveship Amistad. They ordered the owners to sail to Africa but, instead, the Amistad was taken on a meandering course, and was finally stopped by a U.S. Navy brig. The Africans were charged with the murder of the captain and jailed in New Haven, Connecticut. Abolitionists came to their support and ex-President John Quincy Adams represented them in court. After a long legal battle, the Supreme Court freed the "mutineers" in 1841. The following year they returned to Africa.