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4.1.11.wavWhile there was not widespread conflict or violence between Alaskan Natives and the Americans who took over possession of the territory, there were a few notable incidents between the Tlingit and Americans.
In 1869, a scuffle in Sitka between American soldiers and Tlingits from Kake resulted in the death of a Tlingit. On their return to Kake, the Tlingit group came across two American miners whom they killed. When word of the killings reached Sitka, the Army sent the Navy ship USS Saginaw to shell Kake, destroying most of the buildings and their winter food stores. No Natives were injured, but the village was destroyed, and it would be two decades before villagers returned.
That same year, a brief battle happened at the Tlingit village of Wrangell. The incident started at a Christmas party when a drunk Tlingit was killed in a fight after he bit off part of a finger of a soldier's wife. A relative, Scutd-doo, felt duty-bound to avenge his death and killed an American trader. The Army demanded Scutd-doo's surrender and, when the village refused, began to shell the village with cannon fire. The following day, Scutd-doo surrendered. He was convicted of murder at an army court-martial and executed, the first application of the death penalty in Alaska under U.S. rule.
One of the most unusual events of this time happened in 1879 after the Army had abandoned Sitka. Fearing a Tlingit uprising, non-Natives in the town appealed for help from a British naval base in Victoria, B.C. A British ship, the H.M.S. Osprey, responded, and everything quieted down.
The most significant conflict occurred at the Tlingit village of Angoon in 1882. The incident started when a Tlingit shaman working aboard a whaling ship died in an accidental explosion of a whaling bomb. Following Tlingit law, clan leaders demanded 200 blankets in compensation for the death. To ensure payment, they took two Americans as hostage. When the Navy responded by sending the USRC Thomas Corwin, the Tlingit released the hostages. However, the navy commander, Edgar Merriman, demanded 400 blankets in compensation from the Tlingit. After the villagers only collected 81 blankets, Merriman proceeded to bombard the village, destroying its homes, food stores, and 40 canoes. In addition to the physical destruction, six children died during the bombardment.
In 1973, the Indian Claims Commission awarded the Angoon Tlingit $90,000 in compensation for clan property destroyed in the bombing. In 1982, 100 years after the incident, the Assistant Secretary of the Navy, John Herrington, acknowledged, "The destruction of Angoon should never have happened, and it was an unfortunate event in our history."
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