In 1839 fifty-three African slaves staged a bloody mutiny on board the Amistad, a Spanish slaver from Cuba. But their success was short-lived as the vessel was intercepted by the American navy, towed to New London Connecticut, where the slaves were held for deportation. The Spanish authorities maintained that they were property of their country and should be returned to Cuba to be tried for murder, but the fledgling Abolitionist lobby forced a series of trials, igniting one of America's first civil rights battles.