Thomas Slidell

[1] He was the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Louisiana from 1837 to 1838; his brother John had held the post from 1829 to 1833.

[2] Following the Creole mutiny, Slidell Benjamin, and F. B. Conrad were hired by insurance companies to defend them against the claims of slave traders' who lost the money when the human cargo commandeered the ship and escaped to the Bahamas.

Having resigned his position on the bench, he went to Europe in 1856, for the purpose of recruiting his health, which had been impaired for a year or two, in consequence of his excessive professional labor.

While abroad, mental disease developed itself, he was brought back to this country to become a patient of the Butler Hospital, in Providence, Rhode Island.

"[4] A news report of 1887 claimed that while he was presenting his ballot on Election Day, he was punched in the head by a Know-Nothing-Party-affiliated "ruffian" wearing brass knuckles.