Transfer Day

On March 31, 1917, the Danish West Indies were officially transferred to the United States for $25 million. The negotiations began almost 50 years prior during the Civil War when the United States recognized that the islands provided a strategic outpost for the navy (fueling ships and protecting interests in the Panama Canal). 

A History of Transfer Day

External Links

The St. Croix Landmarks Society posts an interesting and in-depth background of the historical significance of Denmark’s allegiance to the Union during the Civil War


The U. S. Dept of State has archive files covering the Purchase of the Virgin xxxporn Islands in 1917