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  Military

 

With the formal transfer of Alaska from Russia to the United States, the federal government sent Army officers for a temporary government. From 1867 onward, military exploration and presence has been a force in the territory's development, driving communications and building projects, population surges, and economic trends.  The Department of Alaska was the designation for the government of Alaska from its purchase by the United States of America in 1867 until its organization as the District of Alaska in 1884. During the Department era, Alaska was variously under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Army (until 1877), the United States Department of the Treasury (from 1877 until 1879) and the U.S. Navy (from 1879 until 1884). The area later became the District of Alaska, then the Alaska Territory, then the State of Alaska.

 

American Civil War, 1861-1865

FACT:  A Confederate raider, the CSS Shenandoah, journeyed to Alaska, where it preyed mostly on Yankee whalers. The last shot of the Civil War was fired near St. Lawrence Island in the Bering Sea on June 22, 1865, seventy-four days after General Robert E. Lee surrendered his Confederate forces at Appomattox and nearly two months after the surrender of the rest of the Confederate Army actually ended the war on land. When Commanding Officer Lt. James Iredell Waddell learned of the South’s surrender, he sailed to Liverpool, England and surrendered on November 6, 1865.  Spending a little over a year at sea, the Shenandoah had captured 38 ships, two thirds of them after the Confederacy had surrendered.

A Civil War pension index of 262 Union veterans who served in the war applied for pensions through Alaska.
CSS Shenandoah: Civil War's Last Shots Were Fired In The Bering Sea 

 

Military District of Alaska, 1867

FACT:  President Andrew Johnson signed the treaty purchasing Alaska from Russia for $7,200,000 on March 30, 1867.  On Sept. 6, 1867, Gen. Jefferson C. Davis, U.S. Army, and no relation to the former head of the Confederacy, formally took command of the newly created military division in Alaska. In that capacity, Davis was the first U.S. official responsible for administering the new U.S. territory, the Military District of Alaska.  The Army took possession of Alaska on October 18, 1867, in a formal transfer ceremony held in Sitka, the Russian capital of Alaska.  Garrisons were established at Sitka, Wrangell, and Tongass in Southeastern Alaska; on Kodiak Island, the Pribilof Islands and on the Kenai Peninsula.

Thus began the U.S. history of military service in Alaska.

Alaska's Forts from the Russian period to the present; a little about each one.
Army Officers Who Served in Alaska, 1867-1917
Navy Officers Who Served in Alaska, 1867-1877
U.S.S. Alaska Warship and Her Personnel, 1879 and 1880
U.S.S. Jamestown Warship and Her Personnel, 1880 and 1881
   

 

Regimental Histories of Units Stationed in Alaska 

FACT: When Alaska was first transferred to the United States from Russia, the military was put in charge of administering the new territories. The army was the first administrator but power was soon transferred to the U.S. Navy. The Navy remained in charge of the Territory of Alaska until 1884 when the Organic Act allowed for the transfer of power to civilians. The military, however, continued to play a direct and prominent role in the early days of the development of the Territory of Alaska and continues to hold strategic military value and to experience a significant military population.

24th Infantry Regiment "Buffalo Soldiers"
 

Early History of Company L, 24th Infantry Regiment "Buffalo Soldiers"
  1900 Roster of Men, Detachment Company L, 24th Infantry, Fort Wrangel
  1900 Roster of Men, Company L, 24th Infantry, Skaguay
  1900 Roster of Men, Detachment Hospital Company L, 24th Infantry, Fort Wrangel
  1900 Roster of Men, Hospital Company L, 24th Infantry, Skagway

1900 Roster of Men, U.S. Army Troop Detachment Hospital, Camp at Port Valdez

 

FACT: On September 6, 2005, Mark Matthews, the oldest living Buffalo Soldier, died at the age of 111. He was buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

 

Spanish-American War, 1898

FACT:  Four ships from the Revenue Cutter service patrolled the U.S. west coast from San Francisco to Alaska "in order to protect the treasure-laden vessels from the Klondike gold fields." These vessels mounted 12 guns, 30 officers, and 128 enlisted men. 

FACT:  On January 28, 1915,  the United States Revenue Service became the United States Coast Guard.

 

World War I (The Great War), 1914-1918

FACT:  Veterans of the Spanish American War from all over Alaska - Haines, Anchorage, Seward, Cordova, Petersburg, Wrangell, Fairbanks and Dutch Harbor - would became the nucleus of the Alaska Home Guard, a volunteer militia.

FACT:  One of the least known fronts of the First World War---the Alaska Territory, because of its vast size and closeness to Europe via the Arctic Circle.

    World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918    
AA-AM AN AP-AZ BA-BE BG-BO BR-BY CA-CE CH-CL CO-CZ DA DE DI-DL DO DR-DZ
EA-EL EM-EY FA-FI FL-FY GA-GE GH-GO GR-GY HA HE-HJ HO-HY I JA JE-JI JO-JY
KA KE-KY LA LE LH-LI LO LU MA-MAN MAP-MAZ MC ME-MI MJ-MO MP-MZ NA-NE
NI-NY OA-OL OM-OZ PA PE PF-PL PO-PZ Q RA-RI RO-RY SA-SB SC-SE SH SI-SL
SM-SN SO-SR ST SU-SZ TA-TH TI-TZ U VA-VE VI-VU WA WE-WH WI WO-WY X
Y Z   NO SURNAMES                
  World War I Number of Service Members by Community
   

World War I Military Personnel from Alaska - Army.  NOTE:  Age 22.92 equals 22 years, 9 months, 2 days
A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | WY | Z

  World War I Military Personnel from Alaska - Navy
  World War I Military Personnel from Alaska - Marines
  World War I Veterans Deaths  -  NOTE:  Age 22.92 equals 22 years, 9 months, 2 days
  World War I Alaskan Soldiers Buried in Foreign Cemeteries

 

WORLD WAR II 

FACT:  In 1943 Japan invaded the Aleutian Islands, which started the One Thousand Mile War, the first battle fought on American soil since the Civil War.   Many resulting casualties were not caused by gunfire, but booby traps and the weather.