Saint Croix and the Virgin Islands
Maxime J Coles MD

The Caribbean Sea is populated with multiple islands. If it has been difficult to learn about other paradises closed to our beloved Haiti, an archipelago (group of islands) of the Virgin Islands or the Leeward islands in the Caribbean Sea, strikes us for its originality. Indeed. this is where Christopher Columbus landed on his second trip to America in November 1493 with 17 ships and 1500 men. He called the island Santa Cruz /” Santa Ursula y las Once Mil Virgenes” in honor of the legendary St Ursula and the 11,000 martyred virgins”. We would like to bring to life the history of the Arawak Indians in this part of our world with their different artifacts found on the workings of a sugar plantation. More we will try to bring the chronology of the African people’s history in the Virgin Islands who like anywhere else in Americas, were used as slaves to cultivate the lands while the native Indians were dying.

This Virgin Islands stand geographically at the Easternmost part of the Greater Antilles (Cuba, Haiti, Jamaica). some belong to the British while, another group is part of the territory of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. The Danish Virgin Islands (Saint Thomas, Saint John and Saint Croix) were part of Islands West Indies Danish territory until they were purchased by the United States of America. The first human habitation on these islands are believed to be with the arrival of the Arawakan speaking people who came from the Orinoco River Basin of South America as early as the 1000 BCE. They were farmers and fishermen who settled in villages and developed over the years the complex Taino culture around 200 BCE. In the mid-15^th century, the Carib settled also on the islands and conquered the Taino but in 1555, the Spaniards defeated the Carib and claimed the island of Saint Croix for Spain. In 1625, English and French settlers invaded Saint Croix and built up farms until the return of the Spaniards which evicted them for a short period. The French took again all the islands the same year and annexed them to Santo Domingo.

Historically, Saint Thomas was the first island to be annexed by the Danish West India Guinea Company in 1672, then Saint John in 1718. The French West India Company took also the opportunity to purchase Saint Croix when the Danish went bankrupt in 1754. The King Christian VI of Denmark and Norway assumed direct control over all three islands. During the Napoleonic wars !801-1802 and 1807-1815), Britain took over the control of the Danish territory. The Danish were trading manufactured goods to Africa in exchange for slaves able to work on their plantations in these Caribbean colonies. Grossly by 1778, it was estimated that the Danes were bringing around 3000 African slaves, yearly, to their West Indies territories until the end of 1802. Earlier in 1792, the Crown Prince Regent Frederik has banned the trade of slaves. They established a commerce in the exportation of Sugar, Molasses and Rum back to Denmark. These plantations lost all their productivity once turmoil on the islands become consequent to the slave’s insurrection in 1848 which forced the Danish authorities, soon to abolish slavery. The Danish Parliament debated on the sale of the islands with Germany and the United States of America, and finally, it was sold to the USA for 25 million dollars but the transfer was effective on 31 March 1917.

In 1725, St Thomas Governor Frederik Moth suggested to the Danish West Indies Company directors to purchase the island of Saint Croix. It was purchased for 750,000 pounds from France by Denmark and Norway. Louis XV ratified the treaty and King Frederik V took control of Saint Croix in paying with French coins during a year and. half. The same governor Moth became also the governor of Saint Croix installing many Sugar and Cotton plantations with more than 1900 slaves on the island with 360 whites. By 1754, there were some 7600 slaves. forcing King Frederick IV to take full control of the territories. For the next 200 years, Saint Croix and Saint Thomas were known as the Danish West Indies and by the late 18^th century, the slave population was around 20,000 while the colons were 2000.

I will refer the lector to a past AMHE Newsletter issue (# 274 AMHE, March 2020) relating on the first slave uprising in the Americas: the 1733 slave insurrection on the island of St John, in the Virgin Islands where 150 African slaves mostly originated from Ghana (Akwamu) revolted against the owners and managers of the island’s plantations on November 23, 1733. This was considered as the earliest slave revolt in the “New World” which lasted until August 1734. The slaves captured the fort in Coral and took control of the entire island in the goal of controlling themselves the production of crop. The planters did not give up and continue to fight to re-gain control. The Akwamu slaves were defeated by hundreds of better armed French and Swiss soldiers who came to their rescue from the French colony of Martinique. They hunted down the maroons and put an end to the rebellion in August 1734. I will discuss further the most important revolt on the island in 1848 which bought freedom to all slaves in the Danish West Indies,

On the other side, the Spanish expanded their conquest to the Americas and occupied most of the West Indies. We have seen the way they enslaved the indigenous Arawak’s and used them as slave labor until Bartholomew took their cause in pity and suggested to Queen Isabelle De Castille to use in replacement of the native Indians, African slaves. The Indians died as a result of atrocity by the Spaniards, infectious diseases, war and over working conditions as slaves. By the late 17^th century, the British, French and the Danes were sharing together the islands. But in St John, the British won out before the Dane claimed St John in 1718 although numerous planters stayed behind as settlers, there was not enough laborers. Young Danish were not interested in emigrating to the West Indies to provide a reliable source of labor. They tried to interest prisoners to come to the plantation unsuccessfully. It became obvious like for the other imperial powers that the best way to populate the plantation with laborers, was to import African slaves. Danish ships transported 85,000 African slaves to the New World between 1660 and 1806.

 

This brings the story of Alexander Hamilton, one of our Founding Father in the United States who lived with his mother Rachel Faucette and his brother on the island of Saint Croix in 1765. He lost his father James Hamilton by abandonment and later his mother to death. His uncle become his guardian when he was 13 in age and Alexander worked for a merchant company Beekman and Cruger on King street until a business man volunteered to sponsor his education in New York. The British occupation of the Danish West Indies took place at the end of March 1801 for a short period and Denmark and Norway accepted the capitulation allowing the British troops to occupy the islands for a while and until they return it to Denmark and Norway in April 1802. The British repeated the invasion more than one time especially because of Napoleon’s alliance to Denmark and Norway during the Napoleonic wars. At the end of the war, the island was returned to Denmark.

Another well-known revolt in Saint Croix was the one in 1848 led by John “Buddhoe” Gottlieb a free black man. This was a well-planned rebellion that would change the course of history in the Danish Virgin Islands. On July 3, 1848, some 2000 thousands of slaves carefully executed a yearlong plan to demand their freedom on the streets of Frederiksted, outside Fort Frederik in Saint Croix, culminating to the Emancipation Proclamation. Bells and blowing conch shells were inviting more slaves to gather together although few rioting were noted. Women were seen dragging sugar cane tops near the fort in preparation to burn all the town if they did not receive satisfaction. Other leaders were Moses Roberts of the Estate Sprat Hall and Martin Admiral King from Estate Slob. The slaves began to think that John Gottlieb and Moses Roberts were the same person and created the name of “Moses Roberts”. Historians believe that Buddhoe was born as a freeman on the habitation of Estate LaGrange and become a skilled sugar boiler. He was 28 at the time of the emancipation and some state that he died in Grenada but others believe that he went to the United States. He was instrumental is the search for freedom and found his way to control the slaves avoiding a disaster on the islands.

Later, in the year of 1916, the islands of Saint Croix, St Thomas, and St John were sold to the United States for a sum of 25 million in gold allowing the US to take possession in April 1917. All the islanders become US citizen in 1927. Agriculture, Tourism have been since the mean of revenue while the Hovensa refinery re-opened recently its doors. We know also well the way the Hurricane “Hugo’ imposed extensive damages, on the island, destroying 75% of the habitations after almost all the stores were looted by gangs. It was necessary to send the United States Army and the US Marshalls Service to restore order. Another hurricane “Maria” in 2017 hit Saint Croix western part with 250 miles per hour winds damaging buildings, schools and the only hospital on the island, the Governor Juan F Luis. Fortunately, the island has a desalination plant even if most home or business have built-in cisterns to collect rainwater.

The habitants of the island of Saint Croix are called “Crucians” or “Cruzan’s”. but the real one Cruzan is the one who can trace its origins prior to 1927, date when the United States took possession of all three islands. Ancestral native Crucians represent around one third of the population of Saint Croix mainly consisting in descendants of enslaved Africans dating from the colonies in the 18^th and 19^th centuries or descendants of paid laborers recruited by the Danes. The majority of the women were of mixed heritage and not too many European women were part of the population. Most Europeans males produced offspring with them. There are also a handful ancestral families on the island traditionally white called “bukra” and they were of full European ancestry. Most ancestral native Crucians work for the Government of the Virgin Islands. Puerto Rican migration started in the 1950’s after the collapse of the sugar industry. And simultaneously while the United States were buying most of Puerto Rico islands of Viegues during World War II. They speak a special language called the “Spanglish” which represent a mixture of the Spanish and the Crucian creole English. They celebrate also a special tradition day similar to the one dedicated to Columbus where they parade proudly.

In the 1960’s, Saint Croix has seen a decline in the major industry and a replacement by tourism, the oil refinery and the alumina production. Then another migration from the lesser Antilles (down-island) occurred in the 1960’s. The demand for imported labor was excessive because many of the ancestral native Crucians who acquired American citizenship years earlier found a need to migrate to the mainland United States. looking for better career opportunities. Down-islanders from St Kitts, Antigua, St Lucia and Dominica made Saint Croix their permanent home. There is a melting pot on the island as well and in the years I provided my services to the Governor Juan F Luis Hospital, I met many people from Haiti, Santo Domingo and Jamaica.

Actually, the fact that the Virgin Islands became the property of the United States, has facilitated the migration. The middle class was mainly exclusive to the down-islanders with their Saint Croix born offspring. Others from European or African descent also migrated from St Marteen, Anguilla etc. Continental American became also part of the population and most will reside on the East end of the island and tend to work in the tourism industry, real estate and law offices. Some chose Saint Croix for retirement. Many ancestral native Crucians shared family ties with Barbados families (Bajans) especially because they were recruited to work on the sugar cane plantations in the past. Arab Palestinians have an influential part in the economy of the island since the 60’s. They handled the shopping industry like the food supermarkets, the gas stations. People from Philippines, China, Vietnam as well as people from South Americans are encountered and has been also the source of tension within the community with the Crucian and the other Caribbean countries.

Legislation was looked for by a select group of senators to define what a “Native US Virgin Islander” was, meaning anybody able to trace their heritage or ancestry prior to 1917, year of the purchase by the United States. Their efforts failed on the pressure of the public outcry and on the controversial facts presented. They realized that most native born US Virgin Islanders would not have qualified as “native” under the proposed legislation because their immigrant ancestors may have arrived after 1917… but thousands of Danish citizen would be qualified. The voted US Virgin Islands Constitution establishes three definitions of a US Virgin Islander which was rejected by the United States Congress on 2010 under the pretext that the law will violate the principle of equal rights for all citizen on the territory, native or not:

1-    An “Ancestral Native Virgin Islander “with ancestral ties

2-    A “Native Virgin Islander” born on the island

3-    A “Virgin Islander” any US citizen who has resided on the island for more than 5 years.

This law was sent back for further consideration. The official number for the population of the island in around 55.000 according to the 2010 Census. Saint Croix is divided in 9 districts Christiansted, Ana’s Hope Village, East End, Frederiksted, Northcentral, Northwest, Sion Farm, Southcentral and Southwest.

English has been the dominant language in Saint Croix since the 1700. Danish may have been spoken as well as Scottish, Spanish, French as well as Dutch creole. Virgin islander’s creole English is spoken by the majority of the population. Spanish is spoken by the migrants from especially Puerto Rico and Santo Domingo. French creoles are spoken by St Lucian and people from Dominica and Haiti. Arabic is the language of a large Palestinian community. Other immigrants from Anglophone Caribbean who migrated to Saint Croix speak English creole. 

Saint Croix has been called the land of 150 churches but Christianity is the predominant religion. Protestants are the most prevalent followed by the Catholics. A Spanish population with Danish from the colonial period, Anglican, Methodist, Moravian, Presbyterian, Adventists etc are prevalent on the island. Jehovah’s witness as well as Mormons can also be found. Islam is also practiced by the Arab population. There is also a small Jewish population and a small Philippine population who may have as well their own place to practice their faith. Finally, various form of Rastafari is practiced on the island.

Saint Croix economy like we mentioned above used to be mainly agricultural with sugar cane and cotton plantations but around the 1960’s, a rapid industrialization is seen with mainly one of the world larger refinery, HOVENSA operated by the Hess Oil Virgin Islands Corp (HOVIC) (HESS in the USA) and Petroleos of Venezuela SA (PDVSA). For a reason we may don’t understand, gas prices on the island are the highest in the USA. The HOVENSA closed its doors in 2012 with major repercussion on the economy of the island and anywhere else in the Virgin Islands. It is the largest employer using more than 1300 employers and almost 1000 of contractors. The refinery re-opened its doors at the satisfaction of the islanders.

There is also a Rum distillery, The Cruzan Rum Distillery which make the Cruzan Rum (Beam Suntory Inc.). This company was founded in 1760 as “Estate Diamond” which was using sugar cane to produce a dark style of rum. Nowadays, the company imports sugar cane molasses from other countries especially from the Dominican Republic. Cruzan Rum has won many Spirit Awards for it smoothness and its quality. The production of a supreme rum mainly aged for five (5) years in American oak barrels (Cruzan Estate Diamond Rum) and another one (Cruzan Barrel Estate Rum) or aged for twelve (12) years and more are to the satisfaction of the consumers. More, a new distillery “Diageo” has also been built next to the HOVENSA Refinery to produce another rum: “Captain Morgan Rum”. The competition is not well seen by some especially the Puerto Rican government who share the market.

There are many ways of transportation. In the automobile domain, cars drive on the left side of the road with left side steering columns. One has to learn and be precautious when driving is necessary while visiting the islands. Others are used to drive with right side steering column especially when traffic is differently oriented in the United States compared to the French or the Dutch West Indies or the United States or Puerto Rico or Santo Domingo. The islander benefits from a system of transportation called Virgin Island Transit (VITRAN) operated by the Virgin Island Department of Public Works. There is a system of shared taxis locally known as “Taxi buses” also share in the other islands consisting in full-sized vans between Frederiksted and Christiansted. They can be privately owned as well with no regular schedules. Customers will wait on the side of the road for the taxi and flag the diver. They are not metered and a $ 2.50 fee is charged regardless where the passenger gets on or off. Taxis can be used to specific locations especially by tourists but it will cost more.

There is also a Ferry service between the islands for $ 50 dollars in many locations like Gallows Bay, in Christiansted to Charlotte Amalie in St Thomas. It takes around two hours and half to destination. Other Ferry companies based in St Thomas and St John, may take the road to Saint Croix especially when festivities like St Croix Agricultural Fair in mid-February or Virgin Island Festival or Cruzan Christmas Festival as well as horse races are planned. The Cruzan Christmas festival is celebrated through the late December. Several times a year, there is a “Jump-up” nighttime festival in Christiansted or a Sunset Jazz where local jazz musicians will participate in playing on the beach.  Mardi Gras has also its time and festivities may include a local Mardi Croix parade or a dog parade. In May, there is a Half Ironman Triathlon with its 1.2 mile (1.9km) swim, a 56 mile (90km) bike ride and a 13.1 mile (21.1 km) run. They describe this event as the “Beauty and the Beast’ because the bicycle route in the triathlon involves a steep hill known as the “Beast”.

An international Airport “The Henry E Rohlsen International Airport” allows the islanders to travel to their US destinations, Puerto Rico, and the Eastern Caribbean. There are also seaplanes between the islands and departing and arriving in Christiansted Harbor. The Virgin Islands may have been a US territory but it is maintained as a free port in a separate customs zone and as such, travelers to the US and Puerto Rico must clear customs but does not need to present passport. The National Science Foundation has helped in the installation of a giant 5 million-dollar antenna with 82 feet in diameter. A 260-ton dish is used to explore the universe acting with the nine other antennas around the world as a single giant telescope where data can be shared over the internet. It is an eye in the sky, in a strategic position

About education, the Saint Croix School District operates the public school but it also exists multiple private schools like Montessori school, the AX Academy, Ste Mary’s Catholic School, The Manor school, The Good Hope Country Day School etc. There are also colleges on the island like the University of the Virgin Islands, St Croix Campus and Barry University for physician assistant training program. For the tourists, there are many points of interest:

In Frederiksted, a Victorian era type of architecture dating from the colonial time with several historic structures like the St Patrick Catholic Cathedral built in 1840, The Customs House and other buildings which have fallen into ruins, As already stated, in January, it is Carnival time and the town is more lively allowing also cruise ships passengers to visit the port. The Salt River National Historical Park is an Ecologic reserve.  This park while it preserves upland watersheds, mangrove forests, is the only known site where Christopher Columbus and his crew set foot on the island.

The Fort Sale is a remaining earthworks fortification dating from the French colonial period around 1617. Now it also preserves an historical prehistorical and archeological past like in example a ball court in the Caribbean. Finally, the “Creque Dam Road” and a 15 acres of the Rain Forest can be visited. The dam is a 150 feet high structure. Mahogany trees board a road in a yellow cedar with also Tibet trees (mother’s tongue) seem to rustle in the wind like to invite you to inhale the scent of local fruits. This forest is a private property and the owners allows visitors on the premise.

In Christiansted, the fort Christiansvaern built in 1749 and other building for the National Park Service like the Christiansted National Historic Site. Buck Island Reef National Monument, a 176 acres’ island (71ha) just north of Saint Croix with surrounding reefs, very popular destination for the snorkelers. It is also a US coast guard weather station and a lemon shark breeding ground Green Cay managed by the US Fish and Wildlife Service. Close by the Tamarind Reef, another attraction for the snorkelers. The Farmer market which offer to anyone the choice of local fruits or vegetables and even juices. You can enjoy a typical Cruzan breakfast and it is open all-year around.

There are two bioluminescent bays on Saint Croix at Salt River Bay National Historical Park and Ecological Reserve and another one at Altona Lagoon. These bioluminescent phenomena are due to the red mangrove trees surround the water. Both bays share different characteristics. Altona is larger in size but very shallow allowing the visitors to see the marine life swimming while lightning and agitating the water. The Salt River Bay is smaller in size but deeper and because it is deeper more forms bioluminescence is seen like the “Ctenophore”. (comb Jellies). A third organism is also found there in the Salt River a marine fire worm “Odontosyllis” which perform a ritual when mating under the full moon and the female rising to the surface leaving the green puddle to allow the males to fertilize the eggs.

The waters of Saint Croix and the other Virgin Islands are warm and invite year around people to perform in scuba diving, Kayaking, Surfing, Snorkeling, and any other water sports like kite surfing, jet skiing. fishing, sailing, swimming paddle-boarding etc. The two most popular underwater site for scuba divers are the Frederiksted Pier and the Drop-off into deep water at Salt River National Historical Park and ecological Reserve. Frederiksted is known for reef diving. One can appreciate the abundant seahorse population and the shallow waters with its sandy water around the Pier are ideal for recreational diving and undersea photography. Christiansted is the former capital of the Danish West indies. This is the only United States Monument (National Park) that is underwater. The park covers over 850 acres including the island, with a sandy beach, picnic table and barbecue pits. There are two underwater trails: a turtle Bay trail and an East End Trail. There is also Sprat Point a 30-acre peninsula and nature preserve on the Water island.

Saint Croix is the home of dozen historic sugar mills dotting its landscape, most of them built at the end of the 18^th century between 1759 and 1800 while the island was under Danish rule. After Santo Domingo, Saint Croix was one of the richest sugar producing island in the Caribbean. While visiting the island, one can’t miss these magnificent structures remaining of the old sugar plantations. They serve as a reminder of the time when “Sugar” was the most important production on the island and Saint Croix was known as the Garden of the West Indies. It is believed that it existed more than 200 sugar plantations which unfortunately disintegrated or were destroyed with time of the 1878 fire. Many of them can be visited and some have been restored by the Saint Croix Landmarks Society. A sugar plantation consisted in many buildings which housed the residents and the workers working on the production of the sugar cane:

1-    A recognizable building where the sugar cane is crushed by a machine often driven by an animal.

2-    A factory called “boiling house” is the area where the sugar cane juice is crystallized.

3-    A cure house where the sugar settled and the molasses is separated and dripped into crystals.

4-    A shop for the production of the barrels to help transporting the sugar and the sub-products for exportation.

5-    A stable where horses or mules, cows or other animals are kept.

6-    An overseer’s house where a manager (master boy) lives.

7-    A slave village with multiple cabins to quarter the workers.

8-    A cook house (kitchen) away from the other building because of the generated heat and possible hazard.

Business at a Sugar Mills was not complicated. There are three upright iron plated rollers using cogs protected by a stone and coral exterior. The trade winds blow the sails with such a force that turn the machinery while the workers fed sugar cane to the stalks though the rollers. The sugar cane juice produced, run downhill in a sluice to the factory building where the slave laborers initiate the extraction of different products for exportation: Sugar, Molasses, and Rum. The dried out leftover cane stalks were also used as fuel for fires to boil the sugar cane 

No one can show enough emotion at the site of these ruins in Saint Croix. While they are part of a daily panoramic view, they have to be recognized for their beauty. Most of the machinery from the mills is surely gone to metal scrapping or dismantled and the wooden frame which used to stand on the top of the sugar mills has been destroyed over time. Almost all the 200 built have tumbled into ruins. Some may have been restored to their former splendor but many nowadays are part of private properties and even you can find some originality in new owners incorporating this old structure to their new construction. Many of the Sugar Mills may be still open to the public, rebuilt or not but you may be welcome to photograph them like the one we recently discovered on the “Buccaneer’ s Hotel property one of the most famous beach resort on the island. I urge a visitor to take the opportunity to stairs up into a sugar mill and experience perhaps the sensation of being a slave or an owner on such plantation during the colonial time. You may discover the ruins of a dungeon. Or a small bell tower, or a cistern or any remnant of equipment scattered across the grounds.

I wanted to touch this subject because it is a little different from what a French colony mill looked like in their production of sugar cane and their fine sub-products. The sugar mills and the plantations represent the Danish colonial heritage of Saint Croix. I tried to go over the history and the culture of the people of the Virgin Islands and because I share my duty as an orthopedic surgeon and a traumatologist at the Governor Juan F Lewis Hospital on the island, I found a need to know better the people and their customs. The colonial past brings to the island its pride and now when you hear people talking about a Cruzan or Crucian, I am sure that you will understand better that they were originally from Saint Croix in the Virgin Islands especially when they can trace back their origins on the island before 1927, date Saint Croix was purchased by the United States. I invite you to come and visit Saint Croix and the other west indies US Virgin Islands.

Maxime Coles MD
Boca Raton FL (3-11-21)

References

:

1-          Saint Croix Virgin Islands: Facts and History (Vinow.com Jul 2017).

2-          Chermow, Ron (2004) Alexander Hamilton New York: The Penguin Press pp 17-40.

3-          “The slave rebellion on St Croix and Emancipation”: The Danish West Indies (December 16, 2919).

4-          “The 1733 First Slave Insurrection at St John in the virgin Island and First Insurrection in America (AKWAMU slaves): AMHE Newsletter # 274, Winter Issue March 2020).

5-          Danish West Indies: “The Abolition of Slavery”: National Museum of Denmark (archives September 2019)

6-          “Virgin Islands Language”: Vinow, VI July 2016)

7-          Williams, Eric (January 1, 1945): “Race Relations in Puerto Rico and The Virgin Islands” Foreign Affairs Vol 23 No 2

8-          “Hurricane Hugo Haunts Virgin Islands” October 31, 1989.

9-          Lynn M Sullivan (2006) Adventure Guide Virgin Islands. 6^th Ed Hunter Publishing p 186

10-     “SEA Launching Second Study on Bioluminescence” stcroixsource.com. (Archived Jun 13, 2013).

11-     The Caribbean Classic Triathlon (Feb 29, 2008)

12-     Usup, G and R V Azanza (1998). “Physiology and dynamics of the tropical dinoflagellate Pyrodinium bahamense”. Anderson D M, Cembella and G M Hallegraeff (eds) the physiological ecology of harmful algal blooms. NATO ASI Series, Berlin Springer-Verlag pp 81-94.

13-     Colin Thomas, J; Allard, William Albert, Wolinsky, Gary (February 1981): Paradise Comes of Age: “The US Virgin Islands”.. National Geographic Vol: 159 #2, pp 225-247.

14-     Sebro, Louise (2013). “The 1733 Slave Revolts on the Island of St John: Continuity and change from Africa to the Americas”. Scandinavian Colonialism and the Rise of Modernity, Springer New York, pp 261-274.

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