Alaskan War (Napoleon's World)

The Alaskan War was a violent North American conflict between 1884 and 1887, in which the primary belligerents were the United States of America and the Empire of Alaska, as well as various Native American peoples participating intermittently in concordance with both sides, and sometimes neither. It resulted in the most lives lost in military conflict on the North American continent in history, remains to this day the war costing the Alaskan Empire its greatest loss in life, and contained the site of the most northernly battle in modern military history.

Border Dispute and Native American Raids
The United States and Alaskan Empire had long had a tense disagreement over where exactly the border between their two countries was. America maintained that ever since their victory over the former British Empire in the Canadian War, they had legitimate claim to territory stretching as far north as the Arctic Ocean. Alaskans disagreed - the Lermontov royal family did not recognize American treatises and the huge Alaskan settlement in central North America led to a claim to land stretching as far south as the 47th parallel - Alaska even claimed territory that by 1860 was the state of Oregon.

The American ideal of "Manifest Destiny" - that the United States had a God-given right to the entire continent - directly clashed with the Alaskan belief that territory which they controlled with settlers and with their military was, naturally, theirs. On top of that, following the death of Czar Mikhail Lermontov in 1869, his hotheaded young nephew Feodor quickly militarized eastern Alaskan territory, building the "Great North American Fort" at Klastok, a construct so large and expensive it nearly bankrupt the Alaskan military.

Feodor's encouragement of the growth of the "Plains Territory," which focused around the trading hubs of Kialgory, Evgenigrad and Novotoskya coincided with the ramped-up execution of American military campaigns against Native Americans beginning in the mid-1860's. Fearing instability such as the 1861 Pennsylvania Uprising or the brief secession of South Carolina from the Union in 1862, both President Stephen Douglas and Horatio Seymour used the military with gusto to clear "the Great West" of Indian presence. The political gamble was that an increased encouragement of the Manifest Destiny would distract disgruntled northerners from the pervading issues of slavery. Seymour finally put the slavery issue to rest by cutting the landmark Compromise of 1868 with Southern Senators, agreeing to phase out slavery gradually and to allow Southern states autonomy in their practices of running the post-slavery world. Seymour's death in 1870 nearly jeapordized the security of this law, and so the new President, William Seward, called on trusted nationally-renowned generals Abraham Lincoln and Ulysses Grant to engage in a spirited war that was meant to rally popular support. These wars against the Sioux drove almost 50,000 Indians north out of American borders, where they eventually settled near Novotoskya in the massive "Sioux City."

The many tribes of the plains slowly learned to speak Russian, and in 1873 Sitting Bull was appointed High Chief of the Lakota, making him effective ruler of Sioux City and the entire Sioux nation. The Sioux staged regular raids across the border into US territory, often with devastating results. Trains, forts and settlements were the main targets, although the Sioux also raided an army camp in the Dakotas in 1875 as a "prank."

Americans were furious by what they saw as a breach of their sovereignty - Senator Eustace Goslyn of Michigan sent a fiery letter to Czar Feodor demanding that the Alaskans turn over Sitting Bull and his right-hand man, Crazy Horse. Feodor responded in a letter he wrote personally in English:

"Dearest and Esteemed Friend Goslyn, I regretfully must ask who exactly who are, what office of government you hold which enables you to make demands far exceeding your position in the United States, and how you expect to force my compliance with your unreasonable and offensive requests. Regards, Czar Feodor Mikhailovich Lermontov."

The "Goslyn Letters" caused enormous political buzz in Washington - many Senators, especially Southerners, mocked the embattled Michigan Senator, who would not be reelected by the Michigan legislature in 1876. Others demanded a recourse by President Josiah Marks against the Alaskans, feeling that Feodor was mocking not only Goslyn, but the entire United States. Marks sent a letter apologizing to Feodor for Goslyn's rudeness, but also drew a line: "We do not tolerate the harboring of enemies who strike at us behind your borders. Even if you refuse to give us the High Chief, we do need you to control him."

Feodor warned Sitting Bull personally to ease up on the raids, or else he would no longer arm and protect the Indian Chief. For two years, the Indian raids calmed down and both nations breathed easily, believing that war had been successfully avoided.

Sioux Raid and Sitka Accords
In March of 1877, shortly after the inauguration of Marks for a second term, General James Smith organized the 17th US Cavalry and ordered Major Ambrose J. Penwright to stage an ambitious raid against the outskirts of what was now called Indian city, a massive settlement of nearly 35,000 Native Americans of all sorts of different tribes, and all of whom spoke Russian and many of whom had converted to the Alaskan Orthodox Church (among them Sitting Bull and his new confederate, Red Cloud). The goal was to attack the camp at Big Duck Creek, where nearly 3,000 Cheyenne lived, in order to capture a conference of important war chiefs (Sitting Bull was believed to be in attendance).

Penwright's men attacked Big Duck Creek, located about twenty miles from Indian City itself (the Alaskans so ambitious as to build a railroad between the two cities). Cheyenne spies south of Big Duck Creek alerted Sitting Bull, on his way to the camp, in time for him to rally up a war party to engage the American soldiers. Penwright's force attacked Big Duck Creek and killed thirty Cheyenne, took fifteen prisoners including Red Cloud, and lost six men in the tense fighting. Shortly thereafter, Sitting Bull's army pursued them, with help from an Alaskan contingent. American soldiers engaged the Alaskan regiment and five Americans were killed against six Alaskans and ten Sioux.

Penwright made it successfully to Fort Brookstone, where the rest of the 17th Cavalry was waiting to ward off any pursuants. The Alaskans balked and Sitting Bull felt uncomfortable attacking an American fort that was fully prepared for his assault. The Sioux Raid of 1877 was a success - at least temporarily.

Feodor got the news of the raid and demanded an apology from Marks. He considered the use of American soldiers crossing the border as a direct violation of the unspoken agreement both nations had to not cross the de facto border at the 51st parallel. Marks was furious as well; he was a diplomat and a compromiser by nature, and he did not want to start a war with Alaska while he was trying to sate the Southern slave states in their transitional period, nor did he want to lose American lives over what he considered a "local issue."

Secretary of State Rutherford Hayes personally traveled to Sitka with a tentative treaty composed by Marks himself without Congress' knowledge - that the two nations would draw a temporary border at 51'30 and try to resolve their differences diplomatically. Feodor was unsure if he completely agreed with the treaty - it would leave Kialgory in American territory and it also failed to resolve the issue of the possession of Vancouver Island and the Yekaterina Islands further north. Hayes pointed out that some in Congress demanded the extreme claim of the 56th parallel as the northernmost border - Feodor replied that many in Alaska "want to sail our ships out the mouth of the Columbia." Feodor and Hayes nominally agreed to the terms of the treaty, which was left unsigned, in what was called the "Sitka Accords."

The Nationalist-controlled Congress in America was furious, feeling Marks had accomplished nothing, since the Accords were not enforcable. While Marks had stripped James Smith of his command over the Big Duck Creek debacle, he was easily pressured by Congress into doubling the contingent of American soldiers in the "Dakota Line" of forts in the frontier. Noting the growth of Northwest cities such as Tacoma, Bellingham, and Sahalee, Marks also sent a large portion of the Navy to the Pacific and used the newly completed Pacific Coast Railroad between San Diego and Tacoma to ship soldiers to the frontier. Still, Marks was unwilling to engage Alaska due to his focus on domestic policies, especially the weakening economy in the late 1870's.