Archive

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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.


Prison records

 

Agnes

 

Mary Thomas

 

Mathilde McBean


...

 

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