On 2 July 1839, Sengbe Pieh (later known in the United States as Joseph Cinqué) led 56 fellow Africans (52 adults and four children), slaves being transported aboard La Amistad, in a revolt against their captors.

Having found a rusty file, the group were able to release themselves from the shackle; and using cane knives, successfully commandeered the ship. Once free, they demanded to be returned to their homeland of Africa.

Manipulating the slaves’ unfamiliarity with navigational procedure, the crew tricked them and sailed the ship into United States waters, where they were ‘salvaged’ by the US Navy.

This story, popularised in 1997 by the Steven Spielberg film Amistad, became a landmark case regarding the abolishment of slavery in the US.

The legal status of the slaves spiralled into a much publicised court case, and eventually found its way into the Supreme Court of the United States.

At the time, the transport of slaves from Africa to the Americas was illegal, so the shipowners fraudulently claimed that the Africans had been born in Cuba.

The ultimate decision of the court was to decide if the Africans were to be considered property and to whom that property belonged: either the Naval officers who had taken custody of the ship, the Cuban buyers, or Spain as Queen Isabella II claimed; or if the circumstances of their capture and transportation meant they were free.

The advocacy of former US President John Quincy Adams was critical to the Africans’ defence. Eventually, the Court ordered the Africans to be freed and to be returned to Africa, if they wished (which they did).

This decision was taken despite the protests of US President Martin Van Buren, who worried about relations with Spain and implications for slavery within the US itself.

The Amistad mutineers would return home in 1842, to what is today Sierra Leone.

• 01/07/2009 14:12 - This Month in History - June 2009