Tlingit Nation

==Tlingit Begins==
The Tlingit indian tribe (Lingit as they call themselves) at it's largest stretched from the southern point of modern Alaska to the Portland Canal. After Americans began to settle the Oregon region, the Tlingit tribes were pushed out of America and eventually settled in the southern portion of Alaska and along the coast of Canada near the Alaskan border. After Settling in Alaska, the Tlingit tribe began a tumultuos relationship with the Russians that had also settled there.
When getting ready for battle they woukld wear wooden armor and ferocious wooden masks in order to frighten their opponents. They also had tremendous battle prowess as shown below.
==Tlingits and the Russians==
The Tlingit tribe welcemed the Russians with open arms, however, the relationship soon turned sour. Their relationship mainly consisted of a warlike give and take with neither side giving up any territory. The dispute continued until the Battle of Sitka in 1802. The Tlingit tribes attacked a small Russian fort in retaliation for a previous attack on their land. They dressed in traditional wooden armor and painted their faces like demons. The Tlingit's killed all men in the fort which included 20 russians and 130 Aleuts (another tribe that the Russians were using as workers). They then enslaved the remaining women and children. After the initial attack the tribe tried to recruit some of their allies, but none of them came to the call. They knew that the reprecusions would be heinous so they decided to build a fort that would be able to sustain cannon fire.
The battle lasted for only 4 days. The Tlingits repelled all attackers on the first day which provoked the Russians to simply bombard the indians with canon fire. On the 4th day the Tlingits sent a message to the Russians that they were tired of fighting and disappeared in the darkness. After it took the Russians several days to build the courage to take the fort by setting fire to it. The Russians tried to pursue the Tlingits, but could find no trace of them, so they lived in fear of a reprisal attack.
After the Tlingits reappeared, the Russians kept cannons trained on them. There was still a constant threat of an uprising until the Russians sold Alaska to the United States in 1867.
Category:Indian Nations