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Frostberg
Photo from National Register collection |
The ruins of Fortsberg, a typical 18th-century citadel fortress, are
located on the summit of a high hill commanding Coral Bay. Ruins of
a supporting shore battery, containing five cannon, lie 1,000 feet
southeast of the fort. Begun in 1717, Frostberg was the site of a
successful slave
rebellion on November 23, 1773. Seizing the fort, the liberated African
slaves massacred the garrison and occupied most of the plantations
on
St. John. When two attempts by the Danish authorities failed to suppress
the rebellion, 400 French soldiers from Martinique were called in.
After
six months of fighting, the rebellion was quashed. In 1760, four bastions
and a gun deck were added to the fort. During the Napoleonic Wars
the
fort and adjacent battery were occupied by the British in 1801, and
again from 1807 to 1815.
Fortsberg is located on the Fortsberg peninsula of St. John,
U.S. Virgin Islands. It is privately owned and not open to the public.
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