Editing 1733 slave insurrection on St. John (section)

===End of the rebellion and aftermath===
Danish officials appealed for help to French colonists at [[Martinique]], located {{convert|324|mi}} away.<ref name="distance">[http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/distances.html?n=718 "Distance from Fort-de-France to ..."], Distance Calculator, Time and Date website, accessed November 13, 2014</ref> Two French ships arrived from there at St. John on April 23, 1734, carrying several hundred French and [[Swiss mercenaries#Service in the French army|Swiss]] troops to try to take control from the rebels. With their firepower and troops, they had restored planters' rule of the island by May 27.<ref>"St. John Revolt (1733)", by Lori Lee, in ''Encyclopedia of Slave Resistance and Rebellion'', ed. by Junius P. Rodriguez (Greenwood Press, 2007) p. 435</ref> The French ships returned to Martinique on June 1, leaving the local militia to track down the remaining rebels, which they did over the next three months.<ref name=coloredsilks />

The slave insurrection was considered ended on August 25, 1734<ref name=IDocumentaryHistory /> when Sergeant Øttingen captured the remaining maroon rebels.<ref name=coloredsilks /> The loss of life and property from the insurrection caused many St. John landowners to move to [[St. Croix]], a nearby island bought by the Danish from the French in 1733. Four ships carried planters and their families from Charlotte Amalie in August. While they found St. Croix to be a richer land, they had to have their slaves clear the jungle before being able to live there readily.<ref name=Virginislands>{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/virginislandsou01farigoog |quote=1733 slave insurrection on St. John. |title=The Virgin islands, our new possessions: and the British islands|access-date=August 22, 2016 |author=Theodoor Hendrik Nikolaas de Booy, John Thomson Fariswork|publisher=J. B. Lippincott company|year=1918}}</ref>
[[File:Plate celebrating the abolition of slavery in the British Empire, 19th century-.jpg|thumb|180px|left|Freedom 100 years later]]

Franz Claasen, a loyal slave of the van Stell family, was deeded the [[Mary Point Estate]] for alerting the family to the rebellion and assisting in their escape to St. Thomas. Franz Claasen's land deed was recorded August 20, 1738, by Jacob van Stell, making Claasen the first "[[free person of color|Free Colored]]" landowner on St. John.<ref name=Mary>{{cite web|url=http://www.stjohnhistoricalsociety.org/Articles/MarysPoint.htm?limited=1 |title=Mary's Point Hike |access-date=July 21, 2008 |author=David Knight |work=St. John Historical Society Newsletter |publisher=St. John Historical Society |date=January 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110728060835/https://www.stjohnhistoricalsociety.org/Articles/MarysPoint.htm?limited=1 |archive-date=July 28, 2011  }}</ref>

[[Denmark-Norway]] ended the African slave trade in the Danish West Indies on January 1, 1803, but slavery continued on the islands. When the British government abolished slavery in the [[British West Indies]] in 1833, slaves on St. John began escaping to nearby [[Tortola]] and other British West Indian islands, where they were given refuge by the local inhabitants.<ref name=HistSociety>{{cite web|url=http://www.stjohnhistoricalsociety.org/Articles/Emancipation-Timeline.htm?limited=1|title=Timeline of the Emancipation of the Danish West Indies|access-date=July 21, 2008|publisher=St. John Historical Society|date=June 1, 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110728060751/http://www.stjohnhistoricalsociety.org/Articles/Emancipation-Timeline.htm?limited=1|archive-date=July 28, 2011|url-status=dead}}</ref> On May 24, 1840, eleven slaves from St. John stole a boat and escaped to Tortola during the night. The eight men (Charles Bryan, James Jacob, Adam [alias Cato], Big David, Henry Law, Paulus, John Curay), and three women (Kitty, Polly, and Katurah) were from the [[Annaberg Historic District|Annaberg plantation]] and ten Leinster Bay estates. Brother Schmitz, the local [[Moravian Church|Moravian]] [[missionary]], was sent to Tortola by the St. John police to persuade the slaves to return. After meeting with British officials in Tortola and the runaway slaves, Schmitz returned to St. John to relay the slaves' resolve to stay away because of abusive treatment by the overseers on the plantations. After planters replaced those overseers, Charles Bryan, his wife Katurah, and James Jacobs returned to work at Leinster Bay. Kitty, Paulus, David, and Adam moved to St. Thomas. Henry Law, Petrus, and Polly stayed on Tortola. John Curry relocated to [[Trinidad]]. None of the runaway slaves were punished.<ref name=OhterRevolt>{{cite web|url=http://www.stjohnhistoricalsociety.org/Articles/StJohn-OtherRevolt.htm?limited=1|title=St. John's Other Revolt: The Desertions of 1840|access-date=July 21, 2008|author=David Knight|work=St. John Historical Society Newsletter|publisher=St. John Historical Society|date=November 2001|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110728060841/http://www.stjohnhistoricalsociety.org/Articles/StJohn-OtherRevolt.htm?limited=1|archive-date=July 28, 2011|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Slaves and free blacks petitioned the colonial government and Denmark to abolish slavery. On July 3, 1848, 114 years after the slave insurrection, enslaved Afro-Caribbeans of [[St. Croix]] held a non-violent, mass demonstration seeking the abolition of slavery. Governor-General [[Peter von Scholten]] declared [[abolitionism|emancipation]] throughout the Danish West Indies.<ref name=ST.CROIX>{{cite web|url=http://www.unesco.no/fredensborg/monuments_and_site_in_st_croix/|title=Monuments and sites in St. Croix|access-date=July 20, 2008|work=The slave ship Fredenborg: An information project|publisher=United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120210151324/http://www.unesco.no/fredensborg/monuments_and_site_in_st_croix/|archive-date=February 10, 2012|url-status=dead}}</ref>

The [[Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023]] directed the placement of a commemorative plaque at Ram Head Peak.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Proposed Omnibus Bill Would Boost National Park Service Funding |url=https://www.nationalparkstraveler.org/2022/12/proposed-omnibus-bill-would-boost-national-park-service-funding |access-date=2022-12-27 |website=National Parks Traveler |date=December 20, 2022 |language=en}}</ref>