Angoon bombardment

Angoon Bombardment
Part of Department of Alaska

USRC Thomas Corwin
Date26 October 1882
LocationAngoon, Alaska
57°29′49″N 134°34′25″W / 57.49694°N 134.57361°W / 57.49694; -134.57361Coordinates: 57°29′49″N 134°34′25″W / 57.49694°N 134.57361°W / 57.49694; -134.57361
Result Destruction of Angoon
Belligerents
Tlingit people
Commanders and leaders
Edgar C. Merriman
Michael A. Healy
Units involved
USRC Thomas Corwin, detachment from USS Adams, marines. Tlingit villagers
Strength
1 cutter, 1 tug, 1 howitzer, 1 Gatling gun, company of marines one village
Casualties and losses
none Six children killed in bombardment
An undetermined number of starvation deaths due to loss of winter supplies
Angoon, Alaska
Location within Alaska

The Angoon Bombardment was the destruction in October 1882 of the Tlingit village of Angoon, Alaska by US Naval forces under the command Commander Edgar C. Merriman and the USRC Thomas Corwin under the command of Michael A. Healy. The Tlingit villagers had taken white hostages and property and demanded two hundred blankets in compensation from the North West Trading Company following the accidental death of a Tlingit shaman who died in a whaling bomb accident while working on the whaler. The hostages were released upon the arrival of the naval expedition to Angoon, however Merriman demanded four hundred blankets in tribute and upon the Tlingit delivery of just eighty one blankets, Merriman's forces destroyed the village.

Background

Following the Alaska Purchase, the United States Army came to Alaska to serve as the civil administering entity of the Department of Alaska. Administration of the department was transferred to the United States Navy in 1879. The U.S. authorities used common law, while the Tlingit people used indigenous law. Americans generally characterized the Tlingit legal framework as based on "revenge"; in actuality it was more complex and involved "peace ceremonies" which included compensation in either goods or human lives.[1]

In 1869, two major conflicts took place between the army and Tlingit groups following retribution killings by the Tlingit against whites:

  1. In the February 1869 Kake War three deserted villages and two forts were destroyed near present day Kake, Alaska by the USS Saginaw. Prior to the conflict, two white trappers were killed by the Kake in retribution for the death of two Kake departing Sitka village in canoe. Sitka was the site of a standoff between the Army and Tlingit due to the army demanding the surrender of chief Colchika who was involved in an altercation in Fort Sitka.[2]
  2. In the December 1869 Wrangell Bombardment the Stikine village of Old Wrangell was bombarded by the United States Army. The army issued an ultimatum to the villagers, demanding they deliver a Stikine named Scutd-doo to justice following the retribution murder of Leon Smith by Scutd-doo. Scutd-doo's son, Lowan, had earlier been killed by soldiers following an altercation in which he bit off the finger of the wife of the quartermaster of Fort Wrangell. Following a two day bombardment of the village and return musket fire by Stikine skirmishers, Scutd-doo was handed over to the army, court-martialed, and in the first application of the death penalty in Alaska under US rule, was hung before the garrison and Stikine villagers. [3]

In 1878, the North West Trading Company established a trading post and fish processing plan at Killisnoo, Alaska near Angoon, Alaska.[4]

Death of Tlingit shaman

Tlingit Shaman, ca. 1900. Portrait of man wearing fur cape and carved amulet necklace, holding raven rattle

on 22 October 1882, a Tlingit shaman by the name of Til'tlein[lower-alpha 1] working aboard a whaling ship in the bay died as a result of an accidental explosion of a whaling bomb.[5][6]

Hostage taking and compensation demand

The Tlingit demanded two hundred blankets in compensation for the death of the shaman. In Tlingit law, compensation was also required for accidental deaths. To ensure payment, the Tlingit took two whites and two boats hostage at the plant in Killisnoo and discontinued working. [5][7][8]

The superintendent of the whaling station at Killisnoo, J.M. Vanderbilt managed to escape on the company tug Favorite to Sitka, Alaska, arriving on 23 October, and request assistance from Commander Edgar C. Merriman who commanded the largest ship then in Alaskan waters the USS Adams.[6][8]

As the USS Adams was thought to be too large to navigate in the shallow waters of the bay,[8] Merriman tendered the company tug Favorite and the USRC Thomas Corwin under the command of Michael A. Healy, upon which he placed a company of marines, a Gatling gun, and a howitzer.[9][5]

Merriman's force arrived at Angoon on 25 October, and the Tlingit released the white hostages and captured property. Merriman however demanded four hundred blankets in tribute from the Tlingit to be delivered by noon the next day.[5] The villagers were only able to collect 81 blankets for the tribute payment. Merriman proceeded to destroy the houses of the village (with the exception of a few "friendly" houses), forty canoes, and food stores. While most of the inhabitants survived after fleeing the village, six children died of smoke inhalation.[10][11][5][7]

Aftermath

An unknown number of Tlingit died during the winter due to the loss of winter supplies and shelter.[10]

In 1884, the First Organic Act placed Alaska under civilian control.[6]

In 1973, the Indian Claims Commission awarded the Angoon clans 90,000$ in compensation for clan property destroyed in 1882 value. The Angoon Tlingit continue to press for an apology by the navy.[11] Governor of Alaska Jay Hammond declared the 100th anniversary as "Tlingit Remembrance Day".[7]

Notes

  1. ↑ Stikine names vary widely between sources, when named this name is given as Til'tlein, Teel' Tlein, or Tith Klane

References

  1. ↑ Harring, Sidney L. "The Incorporation of Alaskan Natives Under American Law: United States and Tlingit Sovereignty, 1867-1900." Ariz. L. Rev. 31 (1989): 279.
  2. ↑ "Search for and destroy": US Army Relations with Alaska’s Tlingit Indians and the Kake War of 1869,"
  3. ↑ The 1869 Bombardment of Ḵaachx̱an.áakʼw from Fort Wrangell: U.S. Army Response to Tlingit Law, Wrangell, Alaska (Washington DC: American Battlefield Preservation Program; Juneau, AK: Sealaska Heritage Institute, 2015). Part 1, National Park Service, American Battlefield Protection Program, Zachary Jones
  4. ↑ Herring Synthesis: Documenting and Modeling Herring Spawning Areas within Socio-Ecological Systems Over Time in the Southeastern Gulf of Alaska 2015-01-11.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 Crow Dog's Case: American Indian Sovereignty, Tribal Law, and United States Law in the Nineteenth Century, Sidney L. Harring, pages 228-230
  6. 1 2 3 US Navy Bombed Angoon 125 Years Ago, Dave Kiffer, SitNews, 29 October 2007
  7. 1 2 3 The Alaska Native Reader: History, Culture, Politics, Maria Sháa Tláa Williams, pages 144-150
  8. 1 2 3 Alleged Shelling of Alaska Villages: Letter of the Secretary of the Treasury, December 6 1882
  9. ↑ 1882 letter sheds light on Angoon tragedy, 12 August 1999, GENEVIEVE GAGNE-HAWES
  10. 1 2 The Tlingit Indians want a warship named the U.S.S Angoon, UPI, Elmer W. Lammi, 19 June 1982
  11. 1 2 The Oxford Handbook of American Indian History, Frederick E. Hoxie, pages 307-8
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.