An Encounter with the Tlingit of Southeast Alaska ENGL A476: ENGLISH IN ALASKA Elana Yanusz ARTIFACT ANALYSIS [email protected] FALL 2015

INTRODUCTION The artifact I studied is an excerpt from the book, A Voyage to the SETTLEMENT OF SITKA AREA North Pacific and a Journey through Siberia More than Half a •The Sitka area was heavily traveled and traded before Baranov was Century Ago, by John D’Wolf. able to establish his fort in 1799. •“European traders appeared along the British Columbia and Alaska D’Wolf was born in 1779 in Rhode Island and made his way to Coasts as early as 1785-86, and American merchantmen soon Alaska in 1805 by way of a ship he commanded, the Juno followed” (Dauenhauer xxvi). (Dauenhauer, 299). D’Wolf decided to spend the winter of 1805 •Americans often sold guns and ammunition to the Native groups they in Sitka and it was during this time he visited the Tlingit fort site came in contact with while Russians preferred not to because of the at Point Craven, which is described in his excerpt. very real threat to their settlements. •“Americans were pragmatic and not very diplomatic because they did D’Wolf’s narrative gives a window into the problematic way not want to have permanent settlements on Tlingit land” (Grinev 116). outsiders viewed the Tlingit, their customs and their way of life. •In 1799 Baranov decided to create a Russian outpost in Sitka Sound It also reveals many of the tensions that existed between the “to check foreign trade and provide a support base closer than the Tlingit and traders from North America and Europe. distant Yakutat for far-ranging sea-otter hunting parties” (Dauenhauer xxviii). My study of D’Wolf’s narrative looks into the broad issues of •Baranov named the new fort Novoarkhangel’sk and did his best to buy early colonization in Alaska by Russian and European fur traders. the land it sat on legally from the Tlingit so there would be no hostility. It also looks at the localized and specific issues that were taking Reproduced with permission from Rulon-Miller Books. •The purchase created some resentment among the Tlingit but there place in the Sitka in the early 1800s. Along with a historical view, Graves & Henry, 1910, Map-456-1a, Alaska State Library, reproduced with permission. was no outright warfare. my analysis also examines how D’Wolf used language to judge •Over the next two years, from 1800 to 1802, Tlingit resentment built. the Tlingit based on his own worldview. I also discuss how he Russians were accused of raping Tlingit women and several important used language to relate ways in which Tlingit life was different LINGUISTIC ANALYSIS Tlingit leaders were killed. The culmination of this resentment occurred from the European life he was used to. •In the excerpt, D’Wolf judges the Tlingit through his own situated meaning and cultural model. in 1802 when the Tlingit decided to destroy the Russian outpost •James Gee defines situated meaning as “judgements about what something means based on context and our experiences” (112) (Dauenhauer xxx). •D’Wolf makes judgements through situated meaning about the Tlingit when he writes “I expected nothing but an immediate •When the Tlingit attacked, they quickly took the undermanned fort and violent death” (301). and burned it to the ground (Grinev 119). •This phrase in particular, illustrates how D’Wolf is judging the Tlingit based on context and experiences, he had just been •Shortly after hearing of the destruction, Baranov decided to retake the land. He wanted to make sure that other traders did not have complete EARLY SETTLEMENT OF ALASKA dragged to the Tlingit fortress and all his belongings were taken. The experience the Russians had with the Tlingit in the past probably skewed his view as they had negative interactions with the Tlingit people not long before D’Wolf arrived. control over trade on the Northwest Coast and he knew not avenging •1741 - First contact with Alaska Natives was made with the •Gee also states that to form cultural models “we use words based … on stories, theories, or models in our minds about what is the dead would earn him contempt (Dauenhauer xxxv). second Russian expedition of Vitus Bering (Barman 19). ‘normal’ or ‘typical’” (112). •Baranov had to wait for reinforcements before he could exact his •Russia was the first nation to discover the economic importance •D’Wolf illustrates this in his narrative by stating “to our great astonishment, our packages were brought to us from our revenge. In 1804 he sailed from Kodiak to Sitka, burning Tlingit of the Pacific Northwest but Spain, England, France and the baidarkas, not the smallest trifle being withheld” (301). villages along the way. United States soon followed (Barman 23). •Once again D’Wolf is surprised by the actions of the Tlingit as his cultural model, and the stories he heard from the Russians, •When Baranov arrived in Sitka Sound he found the old fort site •The primary reason for colonization in the Pacific Northwest do not match up with the actions of the Tlingit. already abandoned and quickly took it over. The Tlingit had instead was the fur trade, specifically in sea otter pelts (Dauenhauer •One particularly interesting passage has to do with the Tlingit labret. D’Wolf comments that “you will naturally inquire the built their own fort at Indian River and this is where the Battle of 1804 xxiii). reason for this barbarous method of adornment. I might reply by asking the reason of some equally strange fashions among took place (Dauenhauer xxxvii). •1784 - Russians had already been trading extensively with civilized nations” (302). •The first day of the battle was the bloodiest but there was no decisive Alaska Natives along the Aleutian Chain when Grigorii •Here D’Wolf illustrates that he is aware of some of his cultural bias. He seems to judge people’s actions without victory. Several other skirmishes followed and the battle ended with the Shelikhov establishes a permanent post at Three Saints Bay on acknowledging cultural difference but judges fashion in terms of cultural similarities. Tlingit abandoning their fort in the middle of the night (Dauenhauer southwestern Kodiak Island (Dauenhauer xxiv). xxxviii). •With Kodiak as their base in Alaska, the Russians set out to •The Russians declared themselves the victors and immediately started explore the rest of the coast of southern Alaska. to rebuild Sitka. Peace was negotiated again and the Indians rebuilt at •1791 - Aleksandr Baranov arrives in Kodiak and becomes the Point Craven (Dauenhauer xxxix). Chief Manager of the Russian American Company. •1796 - Baranov settles Yakutat Bay, which he hopes will be a REFERENCES springboard for people going into Southeast Alaska. The fort only Barman, Jean. The West beyond the West: A History of British Columbia. Toronto: U of Toronto Press, 1996. lasts until 1805 when local Tlingits attack and destroy it (Grinev D'Wolf, John. "Journey from Sitka to Point Craven, 1805." Anóoshi Lingít Aaní Ká, Russians in Tlingit America: The Battles of 141). Sitka 1802 and 1804, edited by Richard Dauenhauer, Nora Marks Dauenhauer, and Lydia T. Black, U of Washington Press, •1799 – Baranov founds Novoarkhangel’sk, also called Old Sitka. 2008, pp. 299-303. •1802 – The Tlingits initiate the Battle of Old Sitka and displace -----A Voyage to the North Pacific and a Journey through Siberia. Rulon-Miller Books, 1983. Dauenhauer, Nora Marks, Richard Dauenhauer, and Lydia T. Black, eds. Anóoshi Lingít Aaní Ká, Russians in Tlingit America: ACKNOWLEDGMENTS the Russians. Thank you to Dr. David Mitchell who taught my Tlingit and Haida •1804 – Baranov exacts revenge for the destruction of Old Sitka The Battles of Sitka 1802 and 1804. Seattle: U of Washington Press, 2008. Gee, James P. Social Linguistics and Literacies: Ideology in Discourses. Routledge, 2015. Adaptations class, which allowed me to better understand the issues of and defeats the Tlingit who are forced to settle elsewhere while first contact. Thank you to Dr. Jennifer Stone who allowed me to create he rebuilds Sitka. Grinev, Andrei V. The Tlingit Indians in Russian America, 1741-1867. Trans. Richard L. Bland and Katerina G. Solovjova. Lincoln: U of Nebraska Press, 2005. this project and expand the literature on the history of English in Alaska. Thank you to the UAA Library for providing access to the sources I needed.