US Navy returns to Angoon and apologizes 142 years after bombing

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) – Navy Adm. Mark Sucato is expected to formally apologize to the small town Saturday in Angoon for the 1882 U.S. Navy bombardment that destroyed a Tlingit village.

Oct. 26 will mark the second apology offered to Alaska Natives on behalf of the military for what happened nearly 150 years ago. The first apology was made in Kaka in September for the bombing of that village in 1869.

Angoon organizers said the Navy attack claimed the lives of seven children. They say the damage destroyed food stores before the onset of winter, as well as canoes used by the community for hunting and fishing, destroying their means of gathering food.

Among the many details of planning and organizing the event, Emma Demmert, Angoon’s director and one of several organizers, said the emotional intensity of generational trauma is difficult to put into words.

“I didn’t even find out about it until I was an adult. We didn’t learn about it in school because it was traumatic to talk about,” Demmert said. “The generation before me was still traumatized by it and still angry about it.”

Demmert said as she grew older, she began to understand how her community was impacted by events that happened more than a century ago and the importance of history education for younger generations.

“I feel like the current administration understands how traumatizing all of this is for our Native people,” Demmert said.

On Friday, President Joe Biden issued a separate official apology regarding the abuse of Indigenous children in residential schools is the first apology issued by a sitting US president.

Alaska Native Explorer Benjamin Yakuk told Alaska News Source that while he was thrilled to see historically unacknowledged crimes confirmed, he wanted to see action to accompany the apology.

Demmert agreed, reiterating that an apology should only be the first step toward acknowledging injustice.

The number of military officials and members of the Angoon community expected to arrive by ferry and catamaran led Demmert to expect a large turnout for the event.

Starting at 10 a.m., an apology will be broadcast at ku.éex’, which Demmert described as a traditional Tlingit payoff party.

Saturday invitations are for the evening. Demmert believes there is a high chance it will last even longer than the expected nine hours, but Navy officials and other visitors will remain at the Angoon school until their ferry departs Monday.