1. The antislavery journalist Elijah Parish Lovejoy (1802–1837) was killed by a proslavery mob during an assault on his press in Alton, Illinois.

2. The four leaders of the slave rebellion were Madison Washington, Ben Blacksmith (or Johnstone), Elijah Morris, and D. (or Doctor) Ruffin. The other fifteen mutineers were George Grandy (who died from a head wound received during the mutiny), Richard Butler, Phil Jones, Robert Lumpkin (or Lumpley), Peter Smallwood, Harner Smith, Walter Brown, Adam Carney (who was killed during the mutiny), Horace Beverly, America Addison Tyler, William Jenkins, Pompey Garrison, George Basden, and George Portlock.

3. William H. Merritt, a slave trader on board the Creole, was responsible for overseeing the slaves; see his deposition in the next selection below. Zephaniah C. Gifford was the first mate.

4. Jacques LeComte (also spelled Leconte) was the French helmsman.

5. The son of Virginia slave trader Thomas McCargo, who owned many of the slaves on board the Creole.

6. The U.S. Supreme Court decided that the Amistad rebels, who were Mende-speaking people from West Africa, could not be considered slaves because of the illegality of the international slave trade.

7. The novelist and playwright James Kirke Paulding (1778–1860) served as secretary of the navy from 1838 to 1841. During that time he submitted an annual report on the state of U.S. naval forces.