USA > Alaska > History of Alaska : 1730-1885 > Part 41
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74
409
DIFFERENT VERSIONS.
When all was over, the witness was taken to the winter village of the Kolosh, where she was treated as a slave. During her presence there, a messenger was captured, from whom the savages learned of the approach of a large Aleutian hunting party under Kuskof. An armed force was sent to overtake and
party of Kadiak natives hunting. When they arrived at the village, the Indians communicated to them their designs, and requested their assistance. This they declined giving, and were then assured that no injury should be offered to them, but were at the same time informed that they would be de- tained at the village to prevent any information being given to the Russians of what was intended. From the time of their successful attack on the Russians, the Indians constantly protected and supplied the Americans until two American and one English ship arrived, about twenty days later. They were then permitted to go where they chose.' This portion of Sturgis' narra- tive is partly confirmed by the mention of one Englishman as having perished with the Russians, in the narrative of the widow Lebedef: 'Such conduct towards their countrymen merited the most friendly return on the part of the Americans, and policy as well as justice forbade any attempt to avenge the cause of the Russians; but unfortunately the men and officers were of a different opinion. I am inclined to suppose that they were in this in- stance too much influenced by the master of the English ship, who was in- duced from motives of interest to take part with the Russians. He was bound for Kadiak, and knew that whatever prisoners might be rescued would be for- warded in his ship. This he expected would ingratiate him with the Rus- sians, and procure him commercial advantages with them. At a meeting of the officers of the different vessels, it was determined to seize the native chiefs, who were alongside in the most friendly manner, and to keep them as host- ages until the Kadiak women and other prisoners on shore were delivered up. In pursuance of this resolve, several natives who chanced to be on the deck were immediately secured, and an attempt was made to seize those in the canoes, who however fled to the shore. They were fired on from the ships, and to the eternal disgrace of their civilized visitors, numbers were killed. .. The captive chiefs were now told that unless all the prisoners on shore were delivered up, they must expect no mercy. One of the natives attempted to escape, but failed, and in the attempt was slightly wounded. He was immediately sin- gled out as a proper object for vengeance. After a mock-trial, he was placed, as was the custom in naval executions, on a gun on the forecastle with a hal- ter from the yard-arm around his neck. The gun was fired, and he strung up in the smoke of it.' Mr Sturgis here indulges in a discussion of the atrocity of killing 'peaceable Indians,' and inserts a speech supposed to have been made by the condemned savage, which would do honor to the fictitious red- skinned heroes of Cooper in both eloquence and logic, and then continues: 'I have before observed that this speech had no effect. The man was executed. After several days, some of the Kadiak prisoners were liberated, put on board the English vessel, and sent to their former place of residence.' Narr., MS., 19-24. I have not been able to discover the name of the second American vessel, but have convinced myself that Mr Sturgis was not well informed as to this occurrence, and that the pretended speech is pure invention.
Lisiansky, in his story of the Sitka massacre, says: 'Among the assailants were three seamen belonging to the United States, who, having deserted from their ship, had entered into the service of the Russians, and then took part against them. These double traitors were among the most active in the plot. They contrived combustible wads, which they lighted, and threw upon the buildings where they knew the gunpowder was kept, which took fire and were blown up. Every person who was found in the fort was put to death.
410
THE SITKA MASSACRE.
destroy them, but they returned without having accomplished their object. After many days the widow Lebedef and two native women, together with fifty sea-otter skins stolen from the Russians, were placed on board an English ship and finally brought to Kadiak. While on her way to the ship in a canoe, a savage seated close by the woman whispered to her that during the attack upon Kuskof's party only ten natives had been killed.
On account of the importance of the event, I give one more narrative of the massacre, that of Baranof's biographer, Khlebnikof, a patient investigator, though of course somewhat biased in favor of his country- men. He relates that "on Sunday, the 18th or 19th of June,4 after dinner, Medvednikof sent off a few men to fish, others to look after the nets in the river, and some of the women went to the woods to pick berries. Only fifteen Russians remained in the garri- son, resting from their labor without the slightest sus- picion. A few of these and some of the women were outside of the barracks.
"The Kolosh women living with the Russians had in- formed their countrymen, not only of the number of people in the garrison, but of all precautionary meas- ures and means of defence, and the Kolosh chose a holiday for the attack. They suddenly emerged noiselessly from the shelter of the impenetrable for- ests, armed with guns, spears, and daggers. Their faces were covered with masks representing the heads
Not content with this, the Sitcans dispersed in search both of Russians and Aleuts, and had many opportunities of exercising their barbarity. Two Russians in particular were put to the most excruciating torture. The place was so rich in merchandise, that two thousand sea-otter skins and other articles of value were saved by the Sitcans from the conflagration.' Voy., 219-20, London ed., 1814.
Davidof says: 'At the station there lived several sailors who had deserted from a United States ship and had been allowed to stay and work for their subsistence. These made joint cause with the savages, set fire to the bar- racks, and fire& apon the Russians at the time of the attack by the Kolosh.' Dvukr, ii, iii.
4 That all the narrators of the events just decribed are in error as to date is evident from Baranof's own diary, in which it is stated that the Unicorn arrived at Kadiak on June 24th.
411
KHLEBNIKOF'S TESTIMONY.
of animals, and smeared with red and other paint; their hair was tied up and powdered with eagle down. Some of the masks were shaped in imitation of fero- cious animals with gleaming teeth and of monstrous beings. They were not observed until they were close to the barracks; and the people lounging about the door had barely time to rally and run into the building when the savages, surrounding them in a moment with wild and savage yells, opened a heavy fire from their guns at the windows. A terrific uproar was continued in imitation of the cries of the animals represented by their masks, with the object of inspiring greater terror.
"Medvednikof had only time to hurry down from the upper story, and bravely attempted to repulse the sudden attack with the twelve men at his disposal. But the wailing of the women, and the frightened cries of the children, added to the confusion, and at the same time nerved the defenders to do their utmost. The assailants broke into the door of the vestibule, cut through the inside door, and kept up a wild but continuous fire. Finally the last door of the barracks was broken in, the last weak barrier which protected the besieged, and in the savages poured. Suddenly the report of a cannon was heard. Those within range threw themselves down, while others ran away in terror. A few more well directed and rapid discharges, and it might have been possible to frighten away the enemy, who were numerous but cowardly. The bold defenders Medvednikof, Tumakof, and Shashin were killed, and others dangerously wounded. The women in the upperstory, crazed by fright, crowded with their children to the trap-door over the stairway. Another cannon-shot was heard, and the trap-door gave way. The women were precipitated into the street, and in a moment were seized and carried off to the boats."
Meanwhile the savages had set fire to the building. "The flames increased," continues Khlebnikof, "in the
412
THE SITKA MASSACRE.
upper story of the barracks, and the Russians still fighting there, suffocated in the dense smoke and heat, jumped from the balcony to the ground, in the hope of gaining the shelter of the woods. But the enraged Kolosh rushed after them with hideous cries, thrust their lances through them, and dragged them about for a long time to increase their suffering, and then, with curses and foul abuse, slowly cut off the heads of the dying men.
"Skaoushleoot, the false friend of Baranof, who had been named Mikhaïlof by the Russians, stood at the time of the attack upon a knoll opposite the agent's house, and having given the signal for the at- tack, shouted to the canoes with terrible yells to has- ten to the slaughter. Amid fierce outcries, about sixty of these instantly appeared round the point, filled with armed men who, as soon as they landed, made a rush for the barracks. The number of assail- ants may be estimated, without exaggeration, at over a thousand, and the few brave defenders could not long hold out against them. They fell, struck with bul- lets, daggers, and lances, amid the flames and in tor- ture, but with honor. They were sacrificed for their country. The hordes of Kolosh then poured into the upper story, and carried away through the smoke and flames furs, trading goods, and articles belonging to the murdered men, throwing them to the ground over the balcony, while others seized the booty and car- ried it off to the canoes. In the mean time, not only the barracks, but the commander's house, the ware- house, and other buildings, as well as a small vessel just completed, had been burned; and as the flames, fanned by the wind, leaped upward amid the unearthly howls of the mad, hurrying savages, the spectacle became hideous and awe-inspiring.
When the massacre occurred the chief manager was at Afognak Island; but on hearing that Barber had 5 Mater. Ist. Russ. Zass., 46-7.
413
AN ENGLISH PHILANTHROPIST.
brought with him three Russians, two Aleuts, and eighteen women whom he had rescued from the Kolosh at Sitka, he returned in all haste to Kadiak. Instead of landing the released prisoners at once, Captain Barber, under the idea that there was war between England and Russia, cleared his decks for action, prepared his twenty guns for service, and armed his men. At the same time he declared that from motives of humanity he had rescued the prison- ers from the hands of savages, fed and clothed them, and neglected his business; and he demanded as com- pensation 50,000 roubles in cash, or an equivalent in furs at prices to be fixed by himself. Baranof learned, however, that Barber had not only paid no ransom, but had even appropriated a large number of sea-otter skins of which the savages had robbed the Russian magazine. His only expense had been in clothing the captives, and feeding them on the way to Kadiak. The demand was of course refused, where- upon the captain threatened to use force if it were not satisfied within a month. Baranof was somewhat dis- concerted. He was without news from Europe, and unaware of any declaration of war, but he prepared his settlement for defence as far as lay in his power, and remonstrated with Barber on the injustice of his claims. At last, after much haggling and repeated threats on the part of the Englishman, a compromise was arrived at, and the British philanthropist de- parted after receiving furs to the value of 10,000 roubles.6
The loss of Fort Sv Mikhaïl was a heavy blow to the Russians. Baranof saw at once that his plans for an advance beyond Sitka to the eastward must be abandoned until the Russians had been avenged, and
6 Baranof, Correspondence, MS., 20-1. Sturgis makes no mention of the captain's demand for compensation, and probably knew nothing about it, though it is mentioned by all the leading authorities. Khlebnikof states that Baranof took a receipt from the captain in order to explain his action to the Russian American Company. Shizn. Baranova, 70.
414
THE SITKA MASSACRE.
to do this he felt himself powerless. His loss in men had been considerable, and in property enormous. Moreover, he knew not in what light the misfortune, occurring as it did during his absence, would be viewed by the company.
Before the close of the year matters assumed a brighter aspect. On the 13th of September the brig Alexandr arrived from Okhotsk, and on the 1st of November the brig Elizaveta under Lieutenant Khvostof, the two vessels having on board a hundred and twenty hunters and laborers, and an immense stock of provisions and trading goods.7
By the Elizaveta Baranof received secret instruc- tions from the managers of the company,8 that were of considerable importance, as they touched on points that subsequently arose between the governments of Russia, England, Spain, and the United States, in regard to territorial claims. He was directed to push forward his settlements to the 55th parallel, to lay claim to Nootka Sound, and to establish forts and garrisons,? with a view to obtain from the English government a settlement of the boundary question.10 All explorations to the northward were to cease meanwhile, unless the advance traders of the company should come in contact with Englishmen, in which case a line of posts must be constructed. He was
7 Baranof now learned for the first time that his old enemy Ioassaf had perished on board the Feniks, with the crew and passengers, numbering 90 souls.
8 The original instructions have been preserved in the archives of the Rus- sian American Company, now deposited in the department of state in Waslı- ington.
" If natives already occupied the most convenient sites, Baranof was per- mitted to form settlements at the same points, provided he obtained their consent by purchase or by making presents. In T'ikhmenef, Istor. Obos., i. 117-18, is a list of the fortified stations occupied by the company in 1803. They were twelve in number, and included, besides those at Pavlovsk and Three Saints, three on the gulf of Keuaï Bay-forts St George, St Paul, and St Nicholas-two in the Chugatsch territory-one named Fort Constantine and Helen at Nuchek, and the other at Port Delarof-two on Yakutat Bay, and one each at Cape St Elias, Afognak Island, and Cape Kenaï, the last being named Fort Alexander. Most of them were armed with three-pounder pivot guns, and with due precautions were strong enough to resist the attacks of hostile natives.
10 At the 50th parallel, if possible.
415
INTERNATIONAL MATTERS.
instructed to avoid disputes as to boundary lines, and should they become unavoidable, to declare that, while insisting on the rights of Russia, he was not author- ized to treat on such a subject, and that the govern- ment of Great Britain must address the tzar directly.11
The instructions then touch on the political changes which had occurred in Europe. Baranof learns for the first time that "the French nation had been universally acknowledged as a republic, that the wise administration of the first consul had put an end to the shedding of blood, and that a universal peace had been declared." Little did the managers of the Rus- sian American Company dream how soon this univer- sal peace would be followed by Austerlitz and Fried- land. Allusion is also made to Nelson's appearance in the Baltic after the battle of Copenhagen; and though harmony was now restorel between England and Russia, Baranof is cautioned that such misunder- standings might arise again, and is ordered to collect all the furs gathered at Pavlovsk and its vicinity, or to ship them to Siberia without delay. In future a naval officer was to be sent with each transport to take charge of the vessel on the return voyage.
With regard to the navigator Shields, the man- agers write that, "though they have no reason to doubt his zeal, his kinship with the English may lead him to act to their advantage, and therefore advise Baranof to use every precaution, to watch his every step, and to keep the boardinformed, endeavoring at the same time not to irritate him with suspicions, and not only to abstain from the slightest provocation of a quarrel with him, but to treat him kindly and ply him with promises of reward from the government and pecuniary recognition from the company, in order to attach him the more firmly to the Russians, and that, under the fatherly rule of his imperial Majesty, this
11 The managers remark that in Vancouver's Voyage it is stated that some of Baranof's traders had given charts of the Russian voyages to the English, and forbid any repetition of this practice.
416
THE SITKA MASSACRE.
foreigner may feel to the fullest extent the blessings of his fate, and see no reason to seek his fortune else- where."
In conclusion, Baranof is enjoined to maintain peace and good feeling among all, as a necessary condition to the success of the great and promising enterprise on which the company has just entered. The execu- tion of all plans is left to him as chief manager of the Russian American possessions, "under the conviction that he will devote his strength and labors to the service of the emperor, and thus make known his name in Russian history." 12
From Unalaska also had come good news, though not unmixed with evil tidings. In May the councillor Banner13 arrived with intelligence that the Russian American Company had obtained a new charter and fresh privileges. Baranof had been appointed a share- holder, and by permission of the emperor Alexander was allowed to wear the gold medal of the order of St Vladimir, previously bestowed on him by Paul I. The day on which he heard of his advancement he counted as one of the happiest of his life. "I went
12 Baranof is informed that the government had views concerning America that must be kept a profound secret, and is instructed to send his despatches direct to the board of managers, instead of through the authorities at Okhotsk, with whom no secret was safe. As a proof of this, a copy of Shelikof's Travels was enclosed, which consisted merely of his journal, presented confidentially to the governor of Siberia, and on his removal stolen from the chancelry, and, contrary to the wishes of the deceased, printed in Moscow, thus exposing state secrets, especially the location of tablets claiming possession of the country for Russia. Baranof is ordered to cause the immediate removal of these tablets to such points as he may select, and in future to address every- thing pertaining to discoveries direct to the managers, in special reports, marked 'secret.' The document is signed by the directors Mikhail Buldakof, Eustrate Delarof, and Ivan Shelikof, and approved by a cominittee of the shareholders assembled at the office of the minister of commerce, Count Nikolai Petrovich Rumiantzof.
13 Ivan Ivanovich Banner had been formerly in the government service in the province of Irkutsk as provincial inspector in Zasheiversk. On leaving the service, he was engaged by the company to proceed to Bering Bay with a colony of agriculturists. The vessel was injured on the voyage, and detained for nearly a year on one of the Kurile Islands. At Unalaska the vessel was again detained by Larionof, and as the plan of a settlement in that region had been abandoned, Banner was ordered to Kadiak, where he remained until his death in 1816. He was favorably mentioned by Langsdorff, Rezanof, Campbell, and other visitors to the island during his residence there of twelve years. Id. 66.
417
HONORS FOR BARANOF.
to the barracks," he says, "where the imperial orders and documents concerning my promotion were read out, and also the new charter and privileges granted by highest order. The undeserved favors which our great monarch has thus showered upon me, almost overwhelmed me. I prayed from the bottom of my heart that God's blessings might fall upon him. As a small token of my gratitude, I donated a thousand roubles for the establishment of a school here for the instruction of the children of the Russians and the natives. On the occasion of this holiday I killed a sheep which had been on the island from our first settlement. What gluttony!"
From Larionof, who had been appointed agent at Unalaska in 1797, the chief manager received letters, in which the condition of affairs was depicted in gloomy colors. Supplies of goods and provisions were nearly exhausted,14 and no vessels had arrived; while scurvy and other diseases were playing havoc among the islanders and the few discontented hunters who still remained.
It is probable that Baranof now proposed to aban- don this settlement; for in April 1803, he ordered Banner to sail for Unalaska in the Olga, and ship thence, in the Petr y Pavl, all the men that could be spared, the furs and trading goods in the storehouses, and all the provisions, except what were needed to supply the islanders until the next visit. He was then to take his best seamen and proceed for the hunting season to the islands of St Paul and St George, which had not been visited for many years, and where a vast number of skins must have been accumulated by the natives.
At Kadiak also much dissatisfaction was caused about this time by a change in the relations between
14 Langsdorff says that during his stay at Unalaska, in 1805, Larionof as- sured him that for five years he had seldom tasted bread. Some time before he had procured five or six pouds of meal from Okhotsk, but only on rare occasions was bread or pastry inade of it. Voy., part ii. 36.
HIST. ALASKA. 27
418
THE SITKA MASSACRE.
the company and its employees. Hitherto all had re- ceived a share in the proceeds of the sale of furs in the Russian markets, but now payment was made for furs procured in accordance with a price-list made out by the managers, without regard to fluctuations in value. Of course, in making this arrangement, they insured themselves against the possibility of loss, by fixing the prices below the market rates. Complaints and remonstrances were frequent, and the hunters were sorely aggrieved; for a few months before, Baranof had shipped on the Elizaveta the most valuable cargo ever sent home to Russia, consisting of 17,000 sea- otter skins, in addition to others, representing in all a sum of not less than 1,200,000 roubles. The value of this shipment will be the better comprehended when I state that the cargoes of the 77 private trading ves- sels which left the coast of Russian America between the years 1745 and 1803 were estimated as worth little more than 5,600,000 piastres;15 while those of the seven ships belonging to the Shelikof-Golikof Com- pany, between 1786 and 1797, were valued at less than 1,200,000 piastres; 16 and the 39 craft which sailed from Alaskan ports in the employ of the Russian American Company, between 1798 and 1822, had on board, apart from other cargo, only about 86,600 sea- otter skins.17
Feeling that he had now given the shareholders of the company a proof of his zeal in their service,
15 Their cargoes included 96,047 sea-otter skins, 58,618 sea-otter tails, 417,758 fur-seal skins, 1,697 otter, 10,421 black fox, 15,147 silver fox, 14,967 red fox, and 62,361 ice-fox skins, 977 pouds of whalebone, and 772 pouds of walrus tusks. Materialui, Istor. Russ., part iv. app., where a list is given of the names of vessels and their commanders, the valuation of cargoes, and the dates of sailing.
16 Including 15,647 sea-otter skins, 13,941 sea-otter tails, 139,266 fur-seal, 3,360 otter, 4,623 black fox, 5,222 silver fox, 5,704 red fox, 600 ice-fox, 428 beaver, and 200 sable skins. Id., where a similar list is given.
17 Besides 71,130 sea-otter tails, 1,767,340 fur-seal, 17,768 otter, 15,112 black fox, 24,535 silver fox, 35,456 red fox, 5,130 white ice-fox, 45,904 gray ice-fox, 56,001 beaver, 2,650 bear, 1,819 lynx, 1,234 glutton, 5,349 mink, 17,921 sable skins, 2,011 pouds of whalebone, and 1,989 pouds of walrus tusks. Id. The valuation of the cargoes is not given.
419
PREPARATIONS FOR VENGEANCE.
and an earnest of what he might accomplish in the future, Baranof felt at liberty to turn his thoughts once more to that thorn in his flesh, the loss of Sitka. In September, 1803, he sailed for Yakutat with the intention of assembling there the different hunting parties operating under Kuskof's superintend- ence, and then proceeding on his errand of vengeance. Kuskof, however, persuaded him that this plan was impracticable without the aid of sea-going vessels; and he was compelled to bridle his wrath and return to Kadiak, taking with him but a small quantity of otter skins as the result of the summer's operations. Mean- while Kuskof was left at Yakutat, with orders to build two small sailing vessels and have them in readiness for the following year.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.