Cheesy Grits: What We Know of Adeline's Story (Part II: The Fireburn of 1878)

At some point between 1870 and 1880, Adeline and her family moved away from Frederiksted, where she had lived a great portion of her life, to Christiansted. It's quite tempting to think that her move had something to do with the events of 1878 on St. Croix—events that must have been terrifying for a mother with young children.

The "events of 1878" are often referred to now under the name of the "Fireburn," mainly because much of the town of Frederiksted and many estate houses, sugar mills and sugar fields were burned during the first week of October, 1878.

I mentioned earlier that the Danes had abolished slavery in the Danish West Indies in 1848. Even though the slaves were legally free thereafter, their working conditions didn't change all that much. Instead of being chattel, the former slaves were obliged to sign annual labor contracts with their employers. The contracts, as it turned out, did not really offer better terms and conditions of employment for the former slaves. Although they now received wages, the costs of clothing, food, and shelter were deducted from their wages, many times leaving them with little or nothing. "Freedom" turned out to be almost indistinguishable from slavery, as they were restricted by law to their estates for the term of their contract. Not to mention that as more and more sugar was produced elsewhere, prices (hence profits) for sugar were dropping and estate owners were importing workers from the other islands.

October 1 of each year was "Contract Day," when the labor contracts for the coming year were signed. Workers gathered to celebrate their one day of relative freedom. The continued discontent with the horrible working conditions finally spilled over when the workers gathered in Frederiksted in October, 1878.

Four women rallied the workers—Queen Mary, Queen Agnes, Queen Matilda, and Queen Susanna, who was also known as "Bottom Belly"*—and a general strike ensued, accompanied by violent struggle. The most powerful weapon the workers had was fire, and they used it: nearly 50% of Frederiksted was burned, as well as acres and acres of sugar cane and some fifty estate houses and mills.

Clifton Marsh in his 1981 study A Socio-Historical Analysis of the Labor Revolt of 1878 in the Danish West Indies. concluded:

"The Fireburn was costly. Eighty-four workers were killed, and two soldiers and a planter lost their lives. Three hundred workers were arrested. Property losses were also high. In Christiansted, $670,500 was lost in the destruction of fifty-one plantations, and in Frederiksted, the damage totaled $1,341,000. These must be measured against significant changes in the lives of the workers which were also results of the revolt.

Three significant changes occurred as a result of the Fireburn and improved the quality of live for the working people of the Virgin Islands. First, labor contracts were no longer enforced on an annual basis. Second, laborers could buy land on good terms under the 'parcelling out-systems,' each laborer was allowed to buy up to twenty-eight acres of land. Third, labor unions were formed."

While some sources believe that Marsh has undercounted the number of workers killed, most agree that somewhere between fourteen and twenty laborers were hanged for their participation in the revolt.

The four queens were captured but because women were not hanged, they were shipped off to Copenhagen where they served prison terms but eventually found their way(s) back to St. Croix.

There is now a statue to the queens in St. Croix. Centerline Highway, which connects the East End to the West End is also known as "Queen Mary Highway." And there is a Crucian folk song celebrating Queen Mary:



Here are the words:

Queen Mary, oh where you gon' go burn?
Queen Mary oh where you gon' go burn?
Don't ask me nothin' at all. Just give me the match and oil.
Bassin Jailhouse, ah there the money there.
Don't ask me nothin' at all. Just give me the match and oil.
Bassin Jailhouse, ah there the money there.

Queen Mary, oh where you gon' go burn?
Queen Mary, oh where you gon' go burn?
Don't ask me nothin' at all. Just give me the match and trash.
Bassin Jailhouse, ah there the money there.
Don't ask me nothin' at all. Just give me the match and trash.
Bassin Jailhouse, ah there the money there.
We gon' burn Bassin come down,
And when we reach the factory, we'll burn am level down.

Although the song sings of burning down Bassin/Christiansted, that town remained largely untouched, with most of the damage being done in the West End. The song also refers to "the factory", which was a central processing point where much of the sugar cane juice was turned into molasses or sugar.

But in the end, the whole of St. Croix's sugar business took a heavy hit from the Fireburn.

While the only fact we have regarding Adeline and her family is that the 1880 St. Croix census finds them in Christiansted rather than Frederiksted, the Fireburn of 1878 would have provided plenty of reasons to her to move. After all, she had mouths to feed, including her own.

The 1880 census identifies her as a washerwoman at Peters Farm Hospital, which was a hospital compound just outside Christiansted. Google Earth has ground-level pictures of the walls of a large building with no roof, but I can't reproduce them here without violating copyright. Here is the overhead shot from Google's satellite view.

Just across the street from the red dot marking the ruins of Peters Farm Hospital is the south edge of the cemetery where Adeline is buried.

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*Many stories refer to only three queens; however, a researcher recently turned up the identification of a fourth queen—Queen Susannah—in the Danish archive.