1869 bombardment of Wrangell, US Army Apology

[stikine]

Today we participated in probably a once in a lifetime event where the US Army officially apologized for the 1869 bombardment of the Tlingit village clan houses in Wrangell.
The day started with a walk around the harbor where each of the clan houses were once located many years ago.

 

[stikine]

The last picture was from the site of US Army fort Wrangell, now the Post office.

 

[stikine]

The formal apology and ceremony was held at the Nolan community center.
General Hilbert giving the apology.

Followed up by acceptance or not by each of the eight clans

 

[stikine]

Lots of really nice regalia and artwork on display including some really nice clan hats.

 

[stikine]

A newly carved killer whale totem that will be raised this summer. The whale portion goes on top of the pole.

 

[stikine]

The Army brought musicians.

 

[stikine]

Video of just one of the songs and dance.
I helped raise the totem in this video 37 years ago.

 

[Mick!]

Explains your forum name anyway.
Interesting stuff.
Can you speak any Tlingit?

Wrangell Bombardment - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[stikine]

U.S. Army will apologize for bombarding Wrangell Tlingit village in 1869 this Saturday - KSTK

The Wrangell community expects the U.S. Army to apologize this Saturday for bombarding the Tlingit village, Ḵaachx̱aana.áakʼw, in 1869. This counts as the third bombardment apology by the U.S. government held in Southeast Alaska over the last few months, the other two were in Kake and Angoon.

www.kstk.org

 

[stikine]

Explains your forum name anyway.
Interesting stuff.
Can you speak any Tlingit?

Wrangell Bombardment - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Not a bit Mick. It's a pretty tough language to learn since it's not a written one in the conventional sense. Also, I'm not native so don't have any family exposure.

 

[cory]

Interesting posts, nice share!

 

[lxskllr]

I like NW indian art. It's some of my favorite. Did any clans not accept the apology?

 

[stikine]

I like NW indian art. It's some of my favorite. Did any clans not accept the apology?

Well, that was a bit interesting. Around half of them said it was the beginning of new relationships and more or less a start. The other half accepted and wanted to move forward.

 

[stikine]

It was over a shooting incident. The KSTK article I linked tells the story much better than I can type on my phone.

 

[lxskllr]

"The bombardment stemmed from a domestic dispute originating from the party between one tribal member, Shaawan, who allegedly bit off the finger of an officer’s wife."

I wonder how that came to pass? I also wonder what balance would dictate as recompense. Chopping off Shaawan's finger? I don't think I'd be too happy with that. I care much less about any of his fingers than I do one of mine.

 

[lxskllr]

Expanding on that, I was thinking what I'd consider good recompense. Depending on which finger I lost, I think I'd accept Shaawan's finger, 10# of smoked salmon, and a totem pole carved to commemorate the event. That got me thinking about what a totem pole really is, so I looked it up on wikipedia. Turns out shame poles are a thing. I'd definitely want a shame pole carved to pay back my finger :^D

"Another example of the shame pole is the Three Frogs pole on Chief Shakes Island, at Wrangell, Alaska. This pole was erected by Chief Shakes to shame the Kiks.ádi clan into repaying a debt incurred for the support of three Kiks.ádi women who were allegedly cohabiting with three slaves in Shakes's household. When the Kiks.ádi leaders refused to pay support for the women, Shakes commissioned a pole with carvings of three frogs, which represented the crest of the Kiks.ádi clan. It is not known if the debt was ever repaid.<a href="Totem pole - Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Totem_pole#cite_note-53"><span>[</span>53<span>]</span></a> The pole stands next to the Chief Shakes Tribal House in Wrangell. The pole's unique crossbar shape has become popularly associated with the town of Wrangell, and continues to be used as part of the Wrangell Sentinel newspaper's masthead."

Totem pole - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Burnham]

Thank you for this dive into the history of your community, Austin.