The Story of Sitka / The Historic Outpost of the Northwest Coast; The Chief Factory of the Russian American Company

by Clarence Leroy Andrews

The commanding officer of the American troops, Gen. Jefferson C. Davis, made his headquarters in the building on the hill that had been so long the residence of the Russian officers. The American soldiers were quartered in the barracks of the Siberian Battalion, and the sentries of the United States walked the beats of the Russian guards. Sitka gradually adjusted itself to the new conditions, to the crowds of adventurers who thronged its streets seeking a profit in speculations in lands and furs. They were doomed to disappointment, for the titles to lands were withheld and the fur trade was overdone, so most of the newly arrived drifted away as they came. Distinguished visitors came and were entertained in the old castle where the Commandant dispensed hospitality. Lady Franklin, the widow of the famous Arctic explorer, was once a guest at the mansion on the kekoor, and Secretary Seward was entertained there in 1869 when he visited the land he added to the possessions of the United States.

While the military garrison were content with their conditions and were not troubled with the affairs of the world at large, the civil population wished for the law and authority of other communities, and set themselves to remedy the omission of the Government in far-off Washington so far as was possible to do, for there was no provision for an organization of civil government in the community. They organized a municipal association, drafted ordinances, elected councilmen, collected revenue for improving the Governor’s Walk, changed the name to Lincoln Street, and in December opened a school. After five years the civil population declined until the revenue was insufficient to maintain the expense, the organization was abandoned, with it passed the school, and the first attempt at self-government closed.

Then followed dark days for Sitka.[^[25]] Military rules for the garrison and no law or protection for the people. Soldiers from the fort are said to have robbed the church of its ornaments, tearing the covers from the richly bound Bible of the Cathedral. The offenders were apprehended, but there being no civil law all the punishment meted out was to be drummed out of the service and sent to the States on an army transport. The stolen property was hidden under the old hospital building and was discovered by some boys and nearly all was restored to the church.

On New Year’s Day, 1869, Colcheka, a noted chief of the Chilkats who was visiting Sitka, was entertained by General Davis at the castle on the hill. The liquid refreshments served to him by the General raised his spirits and his pride of race. After it was over he descended the long flight of steps leading from the Commandant’s quarters and strode across the parade ground with the dignity becoming to the hereditary chief of the Chilkats, the proudest kwan of the Thlingits. For some reason he crossed the part reserved for officers, was challenged by the sentry, and, not heeding, when he reached the stockade gate was kicked by the sentry stationed there. He was furious.

“Me, Colcheka, Chief of the Chilkats, kicked!”

He turned in a rage, seized the musket of the sentry, wrenched it from his hands, then carried it to his house in the Ranche.

The guard was turned out for his arrest and a skirmish ensued in which the guard was worsted and retreated to the barracks. The Sitkas were neutral. The Chilkats were too few in number to fight the troops, so next day Colcheka surrendered, was kept in the guardhouse for a few days and then released.

Meantime orders that no Indians be permitted to leave the Ranche were issued which were revoked upon Colcheka’s surrender. Through some mistake in revoking the orders the sentries were not notified. A canoe load of Indians left the Ranche to get wood. The sentries fired on the canoe and killed two of the occupants, a Chilkat and a Kake. It was an unfortunate mistake. Those shots rang from Lynn Canal to Kuiu Island and the echoes vibrated for more than twenty years. By listening intently one might yet hear the vibrations. Two white men died and three Indian villages burned directly as a result, but it happened in places distant from Sitka, and, as they say, it is another story.

On a June day of 1877 the troops of the United States army embarked on a ship for the States and sailed away from Sitka. The buildings and property were left in charge of the Collector of Customs, who, with the Postmaster, constituted the only officials in the Territory. The presence of the military had guaranteed safety from attack by the Indians to the people of the town, and the officers had been a pleasant addition to the social life; with their departure both were lost.

The animosity of the Thlingits had been kindled by many wrongs, some real and others fancied. They saw in the new order of things an opportunity to recompense themselves for past grievances. All the old stories of the killing of their countrymen by the troops, the burning of old Kake and other villages, the loss of five Keeksitties, in the Schooner “San Diego” in Bering Sea and other tales were rehearsed and were used to stir the lust for vengeance. The Keeksittis, under the leadership of Katlean, openly advocated sacking the town, killing the men and making slaves of the women.