Let’s Talk Battle Of Sitka.
Much of this conflict takes place between 1802 and 1804. around this time, Russia was expanding deeper into what we called Russian America, starting from Aluetian islands, and into Alaska, with the goal of establishing settlements and conducting trade. Which brings us to Alexander Baranof, who was the head of Russian-American Company Under the High Patronage of His Imperial Majesty (Pod vysochayshim Yego Imperatorskogo Velichestva pokrovitelstvom Rossiyskaya-Amerikanskaya Kompaniya), .
Keep the name Baranof in mind.
At first, Tlingits , although its fair to remember not all Tlingit clans, welcomed the russian traders, as the Russians attack and enslave their rivals in the region, Aleuts and Inupiaqs. however, as Russians encroach more into Tlingit territory, they were seen less welcome and conflict started to break out. Not only were the Russians seen as a threat, they were both taking resources, therefore creating competition, but they were also in competition with British traders as well. Russian-American Company established a settlement near the Tlingit fort built at Castle Hill, called Redoubt St. Archangel Michael. Eventually, the Kiks.adi (Frog) tlingits attacked this settlement in 1802 and won this instance. Allegedly this was the result of an arrangment between the British and the Kiks.adi, who both wanted Russians off the region. The Russian settlement was caught off guard, resulting in many death of Russians and Aleuts.
They knew the Russians would come back, and their plan was to hold them back long enough to retreat to the now a new, bigger fort. However, remainders from the settlement reported the incident back to Alexander Baranof. Baranof, who was in Kodiak at the time, then returned with a large fleet, and attacked the Kiks.adi , who had gotten ready for a counter attack and built Shís'gi Noow, the fort you see in the following image. This conflict took six days, during which time Baranof was heavily wounded and had to retreat, Yuri Lisyansky took his place as the head of the attack and when it seemed like the Russian forces would win and surround the fort, the Kiks.adi escaped in secret, so when the Russians arrived into the fort it was more or less empty, with the women and children having already having escaped into the forest a day earlier, minimizing casualties.
I said to keep the name Baranof in mind because the island near Sitka is now called, you guessed it, Baranof Island.
Lastly, unlike what some might think the Russian forces that arrived to fight the Kiks.adi and the Kiks.adi themselves were more or less evenly matched. Some sources state a low amount of gunpowder as the reason for the Kiks.adi retreat. Otherwise, in those few days they were holding on quite well, and their fort is said to be strong by the Russian sources, i believe it was Yuri Lisyansky who said it. As for weaponry yeah, still evenly, the tlingit had guns and ammunition by this time, they always carried their daggers(two sided ones, one sided ones were rarer. the daggers would be hung on necks or tied to the wrists) , and had somewhat better armor than the arriving Russian Forces. Would they be able to hold off the russians in the long run? likely not. but this was still an impressive feat nevertheless.
