This volume is an account of the development and destruction of slavery in St Thomas, St John and St Croix, the Caribbean islands which today comprise the US Virgin Islands. The book sees slavery as fundamental to the entire fabric of colonial society, and pays particular attention to the social and political life of the whites and freedmen in interaction with the slaves.
The Danish West Indies - the islands of St. Thomas, St. John, and St. Croix - were a traditional Caribbean colony, characterized by sugar production, trade, and shipping. The colony was under the Danish flag from 1671 until 1917, since which time the islands have been known as the United States Virgin Islands. The archival sources for the history of the three islands are first and foremost in the Danish National Archives. These records are exceptionally comprehensive and their research potential is enormously rich, as the Danes have been meticulous in documenting almost everything that happened in the colony and in preserving the records. The Danish archival sources are therefore unique historical resources today. This book is a thorough guide to the vast Danish West Indian material in Denmark.
Robert Amandus Johnson chronicled this period of the history of Saint Croix from 1770-1776 and the remarkable relationship of the Island to the emerging American Nation. It relates, what is believed to be, the first foreign recognition of the American "Stars and Stripes." This occurred in Christiansted, St Croix in June 1776, prior to Congressional approval of the Declaration of Independence. This early "Stars and Stripes" was being flown from the American Brig "Nancy." The American Revolutionary Financier, Robert Morris had chartered the Brig "Nancy," on behalf of Congress, to acquire critically needed gunpowder in the Danish West Indies. Mr. Johnson resides in St Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands, his adopted home since first arriving as an Ensign in the U.S Navy in 1959.
An account of a uniquely located county's involvement in the Civil War - unique because of its connections to Canada and access to the ocean.The "Home Front" chapter outlines the politics, attitudes toward the war, recruitment successes and failures, effects on home life, and relations with Canada. Army regiments containing 50 or more county soldiers are briefly followed through the war.Soldiers' wartime experiences, from mundane to tragic to glorious, are recounted.Navy life and operations are outlined, and effects of the war on coastal seafaring.Whenever possible, county participants' names are connected to the battles and other experiences of the war.An appendix lists some 4,700 names of soldiers and sailors - more than 10% of the county's population - and their assignments and fates.In light of the information offered herein, the reader is invited to consider (as does the author) the eternal questions of the meaning of this great conflict and what lessons it may carry for our present and future.The book includes 45 photographs over four chapters, 6 tables, and an extensive appendix of soldiers listed by town of origin and including their age, regiment, rank and fate.
Life in the Left Lane is a short and lively nonfiction book about what its really like for expatriates to live in a tropical island paradise. Written by a journalist who has lived in the islands for more than thirty-five years, it is an honest, affectionate and humorous report on all aspects of the adventure, from adjusting to island time to making a living, building a dream house and coping with hurricanes. Her vivid descriptions of carnival, the Creole language, gardening and island food, and her insightful observations about minority status, politics, religion and crime, are enlightening reading for anyone curious about life in the Caribbean. The author writes about the islands in general, but specifically her island of St. Croix in the United States Virgin Islands, where driving in the left lane in cars designed to drive on the right is but one of the idiosyncrasies of quirky island style.
