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.[3]
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. During the winter of 1862–63, the cloud lifted, and in most respects his perceptions became quite clear and correct; and in April, 1863, he rejoined his family, who were residing in Newport, Rhode Island, and there he remained until his death, April 20, 1864, aged 57 years.
According to a history of U.S. Attorneys, "Assaulted by thieves in 1855, Thomas Slidell never fully recovered and died in 1860."[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.[1]
He left a widow (formerly Miss Callender), and a son who was an officer in the U.S. Army.
