Politician. Peter von Scholten received recognition during the 19th century as the last Danish governor of the Danish West Indies. Born into a military family, he joined the military in 1803, serving in a post under King Frederik VI. Since his father had ties to the West Indies, serving as Commander on the islands between 1804 to 1807, he was transferred there. On October 31, 1810 he married the daughter of an army captain, Anna Elizabeth, but after the birth of three daughters, his wife returned to Denmark. In 1814, he was appointed to the profitable office of customs weigher and measurer and first the Harbor Master of St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands. In 1823 he became Governor of St. Thomas. From 1827 he was the Governor-General of all three islands of the Danish West Indies, St. Thomas, St Croix and St. Johns. He climbed the military ranks becoming a major in 1816, lieutenant colonel in 1820, Commander of Dannebrog in 1828, and major general in 1829. From his reforms, he gained many enemies. Among his reforms were that the free coloreds in 1834 got largely the same civil rights as Europeans on the islands. Besides benefits for the free coloreds, he provided the enslaved schools for the children, better housing, an infirmary for the sick, and gave Saturday off work as well as Sunday. He opposed the delay of Emancipation in Christian VII of Denmark's ruling that every child born of an unfree woman should be free from birth and all slavery would end in 12 years. The ruling was not approved by the slave owners, thus much conflict. He often had to travel to Denmark to defend himself against complaints from the plantation owners. He had a country estate, Bülowsminde, outside Christiansted on St. Croix. Although he had a wife and three daughters in Denmark, he and his free colored mistress of nearly twenty years, Anna Heegaard, resided there together. At one point, his colored mistress owned fifteen slaves. Even when he asked, the newly crowned King Fredrik VII had refused to give von Scholten the authority to free the slaves. On St. Croix on July 3, 1848, Governor General Peter Von Scholten, acting under a great pressure of a pending rebellion, declared the emancipation of slaves in the Danish West Indies. Even though the slaves had gained their freedom, they rioted for several days out of control of the government. After this crisis, he was sent back to Denmark and was court-martial, losing his pension. Since he lost his social status, title, as well as his wealth, he suffered a mental breakdown After an appeal, his pension was reinstated shortly before his death. Two years after the trial, his wife Anna Elizabeth died, and he went to live with his daughter in what is today Germany, dying four years later. He has his own mausoleum. The islands remained in the control of Danish government until 1905, when East Asiatic Company purchased the property. In 1917 the United States purchased the islands for $25 million, making them the U.S. Virgin Islands. This was done as part of its military defense strategy, to prevent the islands from becoming a German submarine base. Von Scholten has been portrayed frequently in both books and film.