# Alaska Day

Alaska Day is a legal holiday in the U.S. state of Alaska, observed on October 18. It is the anniversary of the formal transfer of territories in present-day Alaska from the Russian Empire to the United States, which occurred on Friday, October 18, 1867.

## Background

On March 30, 1867, the United States purchased Alaska from the Russian Empire for the sum of $7.2 million (equivalent to $129 million in 2023). It was not until October of that year that the commissioners arrived in Sitka and the formal transfer was arranged. The formal flag-raising took place at Fort Sitka on October 18, 1867. The original ceremony included 250 United States Army troops, who marched to the governor's house at "Castle Hill". There, the American soldiers raised the American flag, and the Russian flag was lowered.
The official account of the affair as presented by General Lovell Rousseau to Secretary of State William H. Seward:
   ... The troops being promptly formed, were, at precisely half past three o'clock, brought to a 'present arms', the signal given to the Ossipee ... which was to fire the salute, and the ceremony was begun by lowering the Russian flag ... The United States flag ... was properly attached and began its ascent, hoisted by my private secretary [and son], George Lovell Rousseau, and again salutes were fired as before, the Russian water battery leading off. The flag was so hoisted that in the instant it reached its place the report of the big gun of the Ossipee reverberated from the mountains around ... Captain Pestchouroff stepped up to me and said, "General Rousseau, by authority from his Majesty the Emperor of Russia, I transfer to the United States the Territory of Alaska" and in a few words I acknowledged the acceptance of the transfer, and the ceremony was at an end.
Due to the 11-hour time difference between Sitka and St. Petersburg, and the fact that Russia still used the Julian calendar, the date is sometimes given as Saturday, October 7.

## Observance

Alaska's territorial legislature declared Alaska Day a holiday in 1917. It is a paid holiday for state employees. The annual celebration is held in Sitka, where schools release students early, many businesses close for the day, and events such as a parade and reenactment of the flag-raising are held.
It should not be confused with Seward's Day, the last Monday in March, another state holiday commemorating the signing of the treaty for the Alaska Purchase in which the U.S. purchased Alaska from Russia on March 30, 1867.

## Modern view

Alaska Day is protested by some Alaska Native people, who view the holiday as a celebration of the violence used to take their land away. Native organizers assert that the land was not Russia's to sell in the first place; therefore, the sale of the land to the U.S. is illegitimate. Even despite being a holiday tradition in Alaska and October 18 being marked the day Russia transferred Alaska to the United States, some Alaska Natives have argued about the holiday as cultural genocide, and there is a chance of healing in time. A former resident of Sitka, Peter Bradley, had given an idea about a resolution that called for renaming Alaska Day to Reconciliation Day.