ARCHIVE
On the fith day of the rebellion and in the middle of a declared State of exception, the Danish govenor Garde ordered a drumhead court martial to prosecute leaders of the insurrection. With no prosecutor and defence lawyer, with no specification of the crime they had committed and with no clarity on witnesses or explanations, twelve men were sentenced to death and shot immidiately. Six in Christiansted and six in Fredriksted.
403 were arrested on St Croix in October 1878, 336 were released and 40 brought to trial.
The trial was happening in a unfair, unjust system, where other laws than those in Denmark applied to Virgin Islands and the farm workers. Those on trial were questioned in English and the laws and court’s records were written in Danish.
Documents
From the colonial administration and contemporary observers.
The documents consist of prison records, trial records, commission reports, news clippings and more. The documents that are originally in Danish are being translated by the FIREBURN FILES PROJECT.
Trial records
Commission of 25. October 1978
Judge Rosenstand's overview
...
News clippings
The Herald
St. Croix
...
PERSON DATABASE
Persons involved in the Fireburn 1878
This database covers people who were on trial. Others, for instance farm labores, planters, shopkeepers, priests, gendarmes, editors etc. may have been involved in Fireburn. Along building this archive we will try to establish an expanded database in order to understand and document the event and how it affected the island.
On trial
Court Martial
Commission Court
Others
..
ORAL HISTORY
Collective and individual accounts
In the US Virgin Islands, Fireburn is often told through oral family or community histories, lyrics in songs and re-enactments, and families have ancestors, who were involved.
Community histories
Example 1
Example 2
Example 3
Personal accounts
Example 1
Example 2
Example 3
PERFORMANCES
Collective and individual accounts
In the US Virgin Islands, Fireburn is often told through oral family or community histories, lyrics in songs and re-enactments, and families have ancestors, who were involved.
Community histories
Example 1
Example 2
Example 3
Personal accounts
Example 1
Example 2
Example 3