Editing Angoon, Alaska (section)

==History==
[[Admiralty Island]] has long been the home of the Kootznoowoo [[Tlingit]] group, or ''Xootsnoowú Ḵwáan'' in Tlingit. Kootznoowoo means "fortress of brown bears", literally ''xoots-noow-ú'' "brown.bear-fortress-possessive".<ref>De Laguna, Frederica. (1960). ''The story of a Tlingit community: A problem in the relationship between archeological, ethnological, and historical methods''. Smithsonian Institution Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 172. Washington, D.C.: US Government Printing Office.</ref> Angoon has a less-rainy climate than most of southeastern Alaska and was valued by the Tlingit for that reason.

During the [[Russian America|Russian period in Alaska]], from the 18th century to the mid-19th century, [[maritime fur trading]] was a major economic activity in the area.

In 1878, after the 1867 [[Alaska Purchase]], the [[North West Trading Company]] established a trading post and whaling station on nearby [[Killisnoo Island]] and employed Angoon villagers to hunt whales. [[Whaling]], a school, and a [[Russian Orthodox]] church attracted many Tlingits to neighboring [[Killisnoo, Alaska|Killisnoo]].

In October 1882, the village was destroyed in the [[Angoon Bombardment]] by US Naval forces under the command Commander [[Edgar C. Merriman]] and the ''[[USRC Thomas Corwin (1876)|USRC Thomas Corwin]]'' under the command of [[Michael A. Healy]]. The Tlingit villagers had taken white hostages and property and demanded two hundred [[Hudson's Bay point blanket|blankets]] in compensation from the [[North West Trading Company]] following the accidental death of a Tlingit [[Philosophy and religion of the Tlingit#Shamanism|shaman]] who died in a [[Harpoon cannon|whaling bomb]] accident while working on the whaler. The hostages were released upon the arrival of the naval expedition to Angoon, however Merriman demanded four hundred blankets in tribute and upon the Tlingit delivery of just eighty one blankets, Merriman's forces destroyed the village.<ref name=HarringCrow>[https://books.google.com/books?id=EHe_Ez7JXY4C&dq=angoon+merriman&pg=PA229 Crow Dog's Case: American Indian Sovereignty, Tribal Law, and United States Law in the Nineteenth Century], Sidney L. Harring, pages 228-230</ref><ref name="Hoxie">[https://books.google.com/books?id=IK6NCwAAQBAJ&dq=angoon+1882&pg=PA307 The Oxford Handbook of American Indian History], Frederick E. Hoxie, pages 307-8</ref>

After a short time, the North West Trading Company switched to [[herring]] processing. During this time, many Tlingits moved to Killisnoo for employment at the fish plant. In 1928, Killisnoo was destroyed by fire and many Tlingits returned to Angoon.

In 1973, Angoon won a U.S. $90,000 settlement from the United States government for the 1882 bombardment.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Thiessen |first=Mark |date=2024-10-26 |title=US Navy will apologize for the 1882 obliteration of a Tlingit village in Alaska |url=https://www.yahoo.com/news/us-navy-apologize-1882-obliteration-040201946.html |access-date=2024-10-26 |website=Yahoo News |language=en-US}}</ref>