Experts Speak
Dr. Rosita Worl of Sealaska Heritage Institute speaks on the legacy of bombardments in Alaska.
Anthropologist Dr. Zachary Jones, author of the National Park Service report on the bombardment, speaks on the impact of Alaska’s bombardments.
Ronan Rooney presents a timeline of the Bombardment of Wrangell at Sharing Our Knowledge 2022.
Timeline
The Rise of William Borrowe
1861: As the U.S. Civil War between the North and the South kicked off, President Abraham Lincoln asks for volunteers to serve in the Continental Army. William Borrowe, a 25 year-old New York City stock broker, answers the call, and enters service on November 15, 1861 as a 2nd Lieutenant.
A painting depicting the 1862 Battle of Antietam.
1863: William Borrowe is promoted to 1st Lieutenant. As a member of the 2nd Artillery, Borrowe is in charge of the Army’s biggest guns on the battlefield. He is commended by his superior officers for his ability to lead men in battle, including the single bloodiest day of the war, the Battle of Antietam.
1864: William Borrowe is court-martialed for multiple abuses of official power, fraud, forgery, and other crimes. You can read more about his offenses on our blog. Borrowe appeals directly to Abraham Lincoln, who curtly replies:
“I decline to make any further order in this case.”
1865: Following the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln, William Borrowe is restored to Army service by President Andrew Johnson.
1866: Lieutenant William Borrowe and his family are sent to Oregon. He becomes instrumental in the Army’s administration of the “Snake War,” a conflict with Indigenous peoples reaching into what is today Oregon, Idaho, California, and Nevada. Lieutenant Borrowe’s deputy, Dr. William McKay, oversees a wintertime program of hunting Indigenous men, women, children and collecting their scalps. McKay wrote in his journal:
Lieutenant Dr. William McKay
“January 7, Monday. Last night the scouts reported of seeing signs of one footprint, on the light snow of todays print. Consequently we started immediately on the track with 40 men. We went and camped on the dividing ridge on the Bend of Crooked River about 9 o’clock. Cold and frosty night this morning took the track and surprised a camp of Snakes Killed 3 & took prisoner 2 children...”
1867: Borrowe and his family are transferred to Camp Steele in the San Juan Islands. Mary Julia Tyson Allen, the wife of a major, writes about Borrowe to her sister:
“I am afraid if I say anything about them I shall say too much; however, whatever I do say remember is to be repeated to no one... I heard an officer say the other day they would subscribe to the Regiment a thousand dollars to present him if he would resign. He is a most elegant lieutenant; and if you were in his presence five minutes and did not know the man, he would make you believe black was white...”
The Army in Alaska
October 18, 1867: Russia formally transfers its holdings in Alaska to the United States at a ceremony in Sitka. Russia’s footprint in Alaska is relatively small. It includes a military headquarters in Sitka and a long-abandoned, dilapidated post in what is today Wrangell.
August 1868: The Army sends a detachment of soldiers from Sitka to establish Fort Wrangel. Soldiers sleep in tents as workers, including hired local Tlingit laborers, clear the land of stumps and begin construction of a large fence and buildings.
September 1868: William King Lear, an Army veteran and former merchant of the Frasier River Gold Rush, arrives in Fort Wrangel to open a trading post. As a post-sutler, Lear’s job is to sell goods to the soldiers and families stationed at Fort Wrangel. (For a complete history, check out our podcast episode, King Lear of Wrangell.)
October 1868: William Borrowe is sent to Fort Wrangel, where he reports to Brevet Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Grey.
1869: Lieutenant Melville Loucks became Fort Wrangel’s second-in-command, reporting only to William Borrowe. (Read our blog post about the personnel files of Melville Loucks). Shortly before coming to Alaska, Melville Loucks graduated near the bottom of his class at West Point. While serving at Fort Wrangel, he acquired a Tlingit Pipe and Tlingit Rattle onto which he carved:
“Made By the Alasky Indians — Brought by MR Loucks First Lieutenant Officer.”
February 1869: In an event dubbed The Bombardment of Kake, the USS Saginaw destroys the village of Kake, sending its Tlingit villagers into the wilderness during the cold winter season.
March 1869: Former Confederate navy Captain Leon Smith arrives at Fort Wrangel with his wife and young son. Smith enters into business with William King Lear. Together, they run a trading post and a bowling alley down the hill from the newly constructed Fort Wrangel. Of the Tlingit, Smith reports:
“I have found them to be quiet, and seem well disposed toward the whites… They take up salmon, fish oil, blankets, domestics, red cloth, beads, molasses, flour, and in fact every other article suitable for Indian trade… The Stick tribe is a very honest tribe, and partial to the whites.”
Vincent Colyer Visits
October 1869. Humanitarian-worker Vincent Colyer is sent to Fort Wrangel to assess the conditions. Colyer is famous for his work among marginalized people. President Ulysses S. Grant appointed Colyer to the newly formed Board of Indian Commissioners in order to advise the government on Indian policy.
Wherever he went, Vincent Colyer created illustrations of the people and places he visited. In Alaska, he creates detailed illustrations of life in Fort Wrangel and Ḵaachx̱ an.áakʼw.
Vincent Colyer personally visits 32 homes in kaach.xan.a’kw to perform a village census. He counts a total of 508 people. Every home contains at least one child. Most of the village (54%) are female.
December 25, 1869
Christmas Day
Christmas Morning: At the invitation of Fort Wrangel’s commander, Lieutenant William Borrowe, Tlingit men and women come to the fort for a day-long party. Neither of the lieutenants in command of Fort Wrangel would later admit to this party in their written reports, but multiple newspaper accounts and William Tamaree describe the party in detail.
“Early on the morning of Christmas Day the Indians, all prepared for merry-making, left their settlements and repaired in swarms to the garrison. Here the soldiers had made ample preparations for their entertainment, and the whole day was a continued round of pleasure and festivities… Liquors were freely circulated.”
Christmas Evening: The sun begins dimming around 4:03pm, becoming fully dark by 5:39pm. Despite Army regulations banning Indians inside the fort after sunset, the party continues inside the fort’s largest building, the two-story Hospital building.
Christmas Late Night: Among the soldiers at Fort Wrangel are an accordion player and a violin player, who create music for dancing. A Tlingit woman, Kchok-een, is humiliated when the Army men laugh at her for falling on the dancefloor. In response, her husband, Shawaan, pushes her down the stairs. At the foot of the stairs, Angelina Muller, the wife of the fort’s quartermaster, recovers Kchok-een and attempts to protect her from Shawaan in an anteroom. Shawaan struggles against Angelina Muller to push open the door, and in the process bites off her finger.
According to William Tamaree, Shawaan is shot dead almost immediately and Shawaan’s brother, Isteen, is mortally wounded. According to written reports of Lieutenants Borrowe and Loucks, the brothers were shot inside a home in the village of Kaach.xan.a’kw in a failed attempted arrest.
December 26, 1869
December 26 Before Sunrise: Both Tamaree and the Army reports agree that the Army sent a detachment of soldiers into the village in the middle of the night, early on December 26. Tamaree describes Lieutenant Loucks as threatening and challenging the Tlingit to fight.
Meanwhile, Shawaan and Isteen’s father, Scutdoo, is awoken from his sleep by his wife, who reports the the shootings. In the reciprocal-based system of Tlingit justice, Scutdoo feels compelled to atone for Shawaan’s death at the hands of the White men by shooting a White man, to even the balance. Scutdoo takes a rifle with him, and on a chance encounter, shoots merchant Leon Smith outside of his store. Read here to learn about the spot where Shx’atoo shoots Smith. Scutdoo flees into the woods.
From inside the fort, Lieutenant Melville Loucks hears Scutdoo’s rifle discharge and runs to find Leon Smith struck and bleeding on the ground. Loucks and fellow soldiers take Smith into the fort.
An unidentified Tlingit woman visits the fort in the dark morning hours to consult with commander Lieutenant William Borrowe. He tells her to tell the chiefs of the tribe that unless Scutdoo is turned over, the Army will bombard the village.
December 26 After Sunrise: Lieutenant Melville Loucks returns to the village with 20 enlisted men to deliver Borrowe’s ultimatum: turn over Scutdoo, or the villagers will be bombarded and hunted down. The villagers reply they don’t know where Scutdoo is. Loucks returns to the fort without any concessions. Loucks relies on a translator named William Wall who may have been speaking “Chinook Jargon.”
December 26 Late Morning: Lieutenant Borrowe relies on a man named Kaacheinee to deliver his message to the village leaders. Kaacheinee walks from the fort to Shakes Island and back three times to deliver messages.
December 26, 2pm: The Army begins shooting cannons at Kaach.xan.a’kw. While some Tlingit people flee into the areas south of the village beyond the range of the cannons, others take up arms and assault the Army fort from the high vantage ground of what is today called Mt. Dewey. The Army responds by firing scatter shot from their cannons.
December 26, Sunset: After a long afternoon of steady cannon fire, the Army ceases fire for the day.
December 26, After Sunset: According to Tamaree, Shakes and Towatt visit the fort for a private discussion with Lieutenant William Borrowe, where Shakes agrees to turn over Scutdoo, if the Army will turn over the man who killed Shawaan. Borrowe reportedly says he will consider it.
December 27, 1869
December 27, Sunrise: Shortly after sunrise, the Army reports gunfire attacking the fort from the direction of the village. After several rounds of exploding shells hit Shakes Island, the Tlingit approach seeking terms of surrender. Lieutenant Borrowe describes taking Scutdoo’s mother and another man as hostage, pending the return of Scutdoo.
December 27, Mid-Day: Scutdoo emerges from hiding in the woods to walk through the village one last time. He makes his way around Etolin Harbor, ending at the home of Shustack near the end of the peninsula in front of the town.
December 27, Evening: Scutdoo is taken across the water, from Shustack’s Point to the fort, where he surrenders to the U.S. Army. Lieutenant William Borrowe orders Scutdoo placed in the guardhouse. No more shots will be fired in the conflict.
In the whole bombardment, the Army fired 15 rounds of solid shot cannonballs, 4 canisters of scatter shot, 4 exploding shells, and 110 rounds of ball cartridge.
December 28, 1869
December 28, 1969: Even though Scutdoo is a civilian, Lieutenant William Borrowe orders a court-martial trial for him. The judges and jury of the court-martial include Borrowe, Lieutenant Melville Loucks, Dr. Henry Kirke, and the late Leon Smith’s business partner, William King Lear. The court-martial finds Scutdoo guilty of murder and orders him hanged the next day.
December 29, 1869
December 29, 1869: Scutdoo is hanged in full view of his fellow villagers. Scutdoo is the first of twelve executions carried out in Alaska under the United States. Nine years later, Alaska’s second execution also takes place in Fort Wrangel. (For a complete history, check out our episode The Trial of John Boyd for the Murder of Thomas O’Brien).
According to AlternateWars.net, the U.S. Army spent most of 1869 engaged in conflicts with Indigenous people. Red X’s on this calendar indicate a date of conflict.
Fallout
January 1870: Newspapers along the west coast report on the bombardment. Many of them crib details from the officers’ written reports, but they also include additional details omitted by the officers, such as the drunken party on the day of Christmas 1869.
February 19, 1870: Harper’s Magazine runs full-page reproductions of Vincent Colyer’s illustrations, along with his quote:
“The villagers, Mr. Colyer thinks, will now be afraid to occupy their houses again for the winter, and will be greater sufferers by this act of the commandant. The inhabitants were quiet, honest, and well-disposed toward the whites, and it is very much to be regretted that the commandant of the post should not have been more judicious in his treatment of them.”
March 1870: The U.S. Senate formally requests the Secretary of War to investigate and explain the event being called “The Bombardment of Wrangel.”
April 1870: In response to the Senate’s request, Vincent Colyer publishes a report on the bombardment dubbed The Colyer Report. He writes:
“The military reports show that this bombardment was the result of a wanton and unjustifiable killing of an Indian named Shawaan by Lieutenant Loucks, the second officer in command of the post... Nowhere else that I have visited is the absolute uselessness of soldiers so apparent as in Alaska… The soldiers will have whisky, and the Indians are equally fond of it. The free use of this by both soldiers and Indians, together with the other debaucheries between them, rapidly demoralize both.”
January 1871: Lieutenant William Borrowe is forced out of the U.S. Army, this time for good.
September 17, 1901: William Borrowe continues to lead a life of deceit, fraud, and abuse. In 1901, the San Francisco Examiner an article about his arrest, under the headline Borrowe’s Borrow Ends in Sorrow.
Remembering the Bombardment
May 31, 1940: The Wrangell Sentinel interviews Tlingit elder William Tamaree about his childhood recollection of the bombardment. The article, entitled Tragedy Marred First Christmas Eve for Wrangell Indians, shares never-before publicized details about the bombardment from the Tlingit perspective.
“Following is the story of a dramatic and tragic Christmas Eve at Fort Wrangell, the Wrangell Indians’ first Christmas, in the year 1869, as told by William Tamaree... at the time, six years old. However young, that stormy night of murder and terror left an indelible imprint on his memory.”
1962: The U.S. Army publishes Building Alaska with the US Army:
“The post commander regretted the extreme measures, but under the circumstances nothing else would have brought Scutdoo to justice.”
1969: Edward Hoagland publishes Notes From the Century Before, a travelogue of his trip through southeast Alaska. His chapter on Wrangell contains this story, as told to him, by Tlingit elder Thomas Ukas:
“He danced, and he lifted his hand to his mouth and bit off a great hunk of flesh and spat it into the soldier’s face who was doing the hangman’s job. The mourning Indians of the town had been forced to take hold of the rope that would pull the trap door, but before the soldiers could make them do this, Scutdoo went into his final dance, with his hands tied and the noose round his neck, he sprang high into the air and off the platform, breaking his neck and saving his friends the task.”
1990: Former Wrangell Sentinel editor Jamie Bryson publishes The War Canoe, a novel set in Wrangell that heavily features the bombardment in its storyline. The appendix includes a complete copy of The Colyer Report.
2012: Anthropologist Dr. Zachary Jones publishes The 1869 Bombardment of Ḵaachx̱an.áakʼw from Fort Wrangell: The U.S. Army Response to Tlingit Law, Wrangell, Alaska. The paper includes Tlingit translations by David Katzeek and Ishmael Hope. The paper is published under a grant from the National Park Service American Battlefield Protection Program, along with collaboration from the Wrangell Cooperative Association, the City and Borough of Wrangell, and Sealaska Heritage Institute.