Talk:Awa'uq Massacre

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Ben Fitzhugh (2003)

Ben Fitzhugh (< The Evolution of Complex Hunter-Gatherers: archaeological evidence from the North Pacific, Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers, New York, 2003) says:

Shelikhov justified his brutal attack on the Sitkalidak refuge Rock site and ten-year reign of terror against the Alutiiq of Kodiak and Prince William sound as a response to the reportedly fierce resistance Russians met on three previous excursions to the archipelago in 1762-63, 1776, and 1779-1780 assembled various ethnohistoric reports of Shelikhov's attack and the early phase of conquest. According to her accounting, Shelikhov's headed to Southeast Kodiak in the summer of AD 1784 with the assistance of 130 Russians and Siberians, 12 Fox Aleuts, and an elderly kodiak alutiiq slave named Qaspeq (serving as translator). Searching for sea otter furs, Shelikhov was prepared for confrontation. he and his crew immediately established a fortified post in three Saints bay on the southeast side of kodiak Island. After unsuccesfull attempts to trade and command hostages, and after repelling an attack from the inhabitants of the area. Shelikhov demonstrated his trength by mounting a decisive offensive. Aware of impending trouble, as many as 4000 Alutiiq retreated to Awa'uq, their strongest and best concealed defensive refuge on the outer-coast of Sitkalidak Island. Unfortunately for the native defenders, shelikhov learned of the location of this hiding place and its vulnerable back approach.

Acting as an intermediary between the Russian and the besieged Alutiiq. Qaspeq pleaded in vain with his relatives to surrender to Shelikhov. Finally, apparently fearing the arrival of reinforcementes from other alutiiq settlements, Shelikhov decided to attack. From a high spot on the spit on Sitkadak Island, the Russians fired a barrage of cannon balls on the exposed side of the cliff-faced refuge islet and then stormed the encampment. Mayhem broke out among the alutiiq, and reports suggest that between 500-2000 alutiiq were killed or drowned while attempting to escape. Women and children flung themselves over the cliffs an fear and desperation. So many people died in the attack that the location earned the name Awa'uq (to become numb) in the Alutiiq language of Sugtestun. Arsenti Aminak, a Native who survived the attack and later served as a primary informant for Holmberg (1985), reported that a year after the attack "the stench of corpses lying on the shore polluted the air so badly that none could stay there, and since then the island has been uninhabited".

Following the attack of Awa'uq, Shelikhov claims to have captured over 1000 people, detaining 400 as hostages. Of the captives brough back to the Three Saints outpost, several adult men were executed on Shelikhov's order. The number of executions reported varies from 6 to 200. other captives were resettled a few kilometers from the russian post under the care of a chief under Shelikhov's control. Shelikhov then began consolidating his grip over the island, demanding that each high-ranking man deliver a male child into his custody for insurance against malice. numerous incidents to russia in 1786, the alutiiq of Kodiak had been demoralized and decimated. russian control was secure. Shelikhov continued to administer his fur company from Russia, attempting to gain an ımperial monopoly over the alaskan colony he had founded by force. alexander Baranov ran Shelikhov's company in kodiak and the successor Russian-American Company in Sitka from 1790 until his removal in 1818.

--Kmoksy (talk) 09:11, 3 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

New Resource from Hubert Howe Bancroft

See: The Works of Hubert Howe Bancroft, Volume XXXIII: History of Alaska 1730-1885. San Fransisco, 1886 pp. 224-228 (For example, "Shelikof writes: 'I retained 400 prisoners, furnished them with provisions and all necessary appliances for trapping and hunting, and placed .them in charge of a native named Kaskak.' Puiexh., i. 18, 19. The same name of Kaskak occurs in the narrative of a native of Kadiak collected by Holmberg, relating to the first landing of Russians on Kadiak Island, 20 years prior to Shelikof's arrival.") --Kmoksy (talk) 13:36, 19 March 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Qaspeq = Kashpak = Kaskak (meaning kuspuk) who an elderly Kodiak Alutiiq slave (serving as translator) of Shelikhov --Kmoksy (talk) 08:24, 24 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]