Battle of Sitka – 1804 – Russian colonization of the Americas

The Battle of Sitka was the last major armed conflict between Europeans and Alaska Natives, and was initiated in response to the destruction of a Russian trading post two years before. The primary combatant groups were the Kiks.ádi Clan of Sheetʼká Xʼáatʼi of the Tlingit nation and agents of the Russian-American Company assisted by the Imperial Russian Navy. Though the Russians’ initial assault was repelled, their naval escorts bombarded the Tlingit fort Shísʼgi Noow mercilessly, driving the natives into the surrounding forest after only a few days. The Russian victory was decisive, and resulted in the Sheetʼká Ḵwáan being permanently displaced from their ancestral lands. They fled north and reestablished an old settlement on the neighboring Chichagof Island to enforce a trade embargo against the Russians. Animosity between the two cultures, though greatly diminished, continued in the form of sporadic attacks by the natives against th