William Tamaree Recording Collection, 1940-1941 | Sealaska Heritage Institute Archives

Title: William Tamaree Recording Collection, 1940-1941

ID: MC/013

Extent:

The 1869 Bombardment of Wrangell was an altercation between U.S. Army troops of Battery I, 2^nd Artillery stationed at newly occupied Fort Wrangell and the Shtax’héen Kwáan Tlingit Indians of Kaachxan.áak’w. The conflict sparked on Christmas night after U.S. Army soldiers shot and killed Tlingit man Shawaan and mortally wounded his brother. After soldiers failed to provide the Tlingit reparations for the murder of a Tlingit man according to Tlingit law, Tlingit law was applied by Xook’weidí clan man Shx’átoo who killed a local non-Native merchant. Later that day the U.S. Army opened fire on Kaachxan.áak’w with artillery, while small arms fire was exchanged between the Tlingit and the U.S. Army. The following morning the U.S. Army shelled the village again, but Shx’átoo surrendered himself to stop the conflict, a ceasefire ensured, and the situation calmed. On December 29, 1969 the U.S. Army publicly hung Shx’átoo. It is unknown how many Tlingit men, women, and children were killed or injured as result of the conflict.

The conflict was later criticized by U.S. Board of Indian Commissioners Secretary Vincent Colyer. Colyer submitted a critical report of Army actions to the U.S. President and Congress which was discussed during the 41^st Congress, 2^nd Session. It is also remembered as an attack on Tlingit sovereignty, example of unconstitutional actions undertaken by the U.S. Army against an indigenous community in Alaska, and a controversial episode in America’s early occupation of Alaska.

In 2012 a two-year NPS Battlefield Preservation Program Grant was awarded to Sealaska Heritage Institute to study the conflict and its accompanying battlefield.

Sources:

William Tamaree, “Tragedy Marred First Christmas Eve for Wrangell Indians,” Wrangell Sentinel (May 31, 1940): 1.

Vincent Colyer, Bombardment of Wrangel, Alaska: Report of the Secretary of War, Secretary of the Interior, and Letter to the President. 41^st Congress, 2^nd Session, Ex. Doc. No. 67 (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1870).

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Scope and Contents:

This collection contains a 29 minute recording of William Tamaree (1862-1956) speaking in the Tlingit language about the 1869 Bombardment of Wrangell and a published newspaper version of Tamaree giving an oration about the 1869 Bombardment of Wrangell in the English language.

The Tlingit language recording, captured on cassette, consists of a Tlingit language oration of the Bombardment by Tamaree, dated to circa 1940s or early 1950s. This account by Tamaree should not be considered a memoir/remembrance of the Bombardment from Tamaree’s youth (he was a child in Wrangell at the time of the Bombardment), but is a traditional oration of the Bombardment. The cassette recording is labeled “The first Xmas in Wrangell, the death of Shxict’oo [Skhat.oo].” In 2011 linguist and Tlingit James Crippen edited the recording for sound quality, and his edited version is presented in this collection on CD for patron use. This recording was translated/transcribed via a 2012-2014 NPS Battlefield Protection Program Grant, and this is included in the collection.

This collection also contains a Wrangell Sentinel newspaper clipping from 1976 of Tamaree orating in English about the Bombardment of Wrangell in 1869. This 1976 account was originally printed in June 1940 as the Chief Shakes House was being dedicated and during a time of cultural celebration in Wrangell. This 1940 version is different and distinct from the Tlingit language version, and the two should be considered different accounts.

Detailed Description
Folder 1: CD recording of William Tamaree’s account of the Bombardment of Wrangell. Includes edited version by James Crippen (29 minutes long) and original flat recording migrated from cassette to CD, which includes two tracks, 29:05 and 34:49 minutes long. Transcription/translation included.
Folder 2: Cassette recording of William Tamaree’s account of the Bombardment of Wrangell. Migrated from reel to cassette. Two sides: Side A 29:05 and Side B 34:49 minutes long. Same content on both sides.
Folder 3: Newspaper clippings from the Wrangell Sentinel about the Bombardment of Wrangell.