DISCOVERY AND HISTORY.
The actual discovery of the great north-western peninsula of the
American continent cannot be dated further back than the middle part
of the eighteenth century. Its remoteness from the centres of European
settlement and from the lines of trade and travel, and its inhospitable
climate made Alaska one of the latest regions to yield to the advances
of the explorer, surveyor and settler. At a date when the colonies on
the North Atlantic coast of America numbered millions of prosperous
people, already preparing to take independent rank among the nations
of the world, the very existence of this enormous country was unknown.
At a very early date, however, voyagers from many lands began their
advances toward the far North-west, and the story of the discovery of
Alaska must naturally include a brief outline of these.
As early as 1542 the Spanish adventurers Coronado and Juan Rodriguez
de Cabrillo went up the Pacific coast of Mexico, and sailed for some
distance along the coast of what is now the State of California. The
memory of the former has been locally honored in California in the name
of Coronado Beach. At this time the Spanish considered themselves sole
masters of the South Sea, as the Pacific was called, and of all lands
bordering upon it. But their supremacy there was soon disputed by the
intrepid Sir Francis Drake. He not only ravaged their South American
seaports, but, in 1579, sailed far to northward in a little schooner
of two hundred tons, entered the Golden Gate, and refitted his vessel
in what is now the harbor of San Francisco. Thirteen years later the
Spaniards pressed still further up the coast. Apostolos Valerianos,
best known as Juan de Fuca, sailed from Mexico and passed through the
straits that bear his name, and discovered Puget Sound. There adventure
from the south made pause for many years, still a weary distance from
the Alaskan peninsula.
More than a hundred years after the voyages of Coronado, a different
people, from a different direction, began to move toward the same
goal. These were the Russians, who had already taken possession of
the greater part of Siberia, and who were now persistently pushing
on to the occupation of the whole realm between the Baltic and the
Pacific. They had already gone eastward as far as the Kolyma River,
and possessed the town of Nijni Kolymsk, in about 160° degrees east
longitude. In 1646 they advanced still further. Isai Ignatieff, with
several small vessels, sailed from the Kolyma, and effected a landing
on Tchaun Bay, in the country of the Tchukchees. He found the trade
in walrus ivory so profitable that his example was soon followed by
others. The very next year the Cossack Simeon Deshneff, with four
vessels, sailed eastward, to take possession of all the land in the
name of the Russian crown. The Anadyr River, of which reports had
been heard from the natives, was his goal. At the same time, Michael
Stadukin led an expedition overland in the same direction. But both
these enterprises failed. The year 1648, however, saw Deshneff's
venture repeated. Three ships sailed for the Anadyr, commanded
respectively by Simeon Deshneff, Gerasim Ankudinoff, and Feodor
Alexieff. They reached Behring Strait, not knowing it was a strait, and
Ankudinoff's vessel was wrecked on East Cape. He and his men were taken
on the other vessels, and the expedition kept on. Deshneff made his way
around Cape Navarin and Cape Olintorski to the coast of Kamtchatka.
There his vessel was wrecked and he and his men made their way home
overland, surveying, as they went, the Anadyr River. Again in 1652
Deshneff explored the Anadyr, in a boat, and the next year planned a
trade-route, by sea, from that river to Yakutsk, on the Lena.
Many other expeditions to Kamtchatka and the western part of Behring
Sea were soon thereafter made. Taras Stadukin in 1654 discovered the
westernmost Kurill Islands, and sailed round Kamtchatka into Penjinsk
Bay. In 1696, Lucas Simeonoff Moroscovich explored Kamtchatka by land,
and during the next year the Cossack Vladimir Atlassoff followed
him thither and by force of arms made the Kamtchatdales subjects of
the Czar. This conquest was marked by wholesale butcheries of the
helpless natives, and confiscation of their goods. The conquest of
the Tchukchees was attempted in 1701, but failed, as did a second
expedition against them ten years later. This latter, however, under
the Cossack Peter Iliunsen Potoff, in 1711, had one highly-important
result. It brought back definite reports of the narrowness of Behring
Strait, of the location of the Diomedes Islands, and of the proximity
of the American continent. Then, for some years, all further advance
was stayed.
The next movement was undertaken by no less a personage than Peter the
Great,
"----that Czar
Who made of tribes an Empire."
It was at the end of his reign and life. Two passions moved him.
One was the zeal for scientific exploration and knowledge of the
world; the other, the desire to extend his dominion across the Arctic
borders of another continent. Accordingly in 1725 he planned a great
expedition, drew up full instructions with his own hand, and delivered
them to Admiral Apraxin; then died. His widow, who became Autocrat
in his stead, ordered the plan fulfilled, and it was done promptly.
On February 5th, 1725, the chief members of the expedition set out
from St. Petersburg, their leader and commander being the illustrious
Captain Vitus Behring.
The explorers made their way by slow stages to Okhotsk. There they
built two ships, the "Fortuna" and the "Gabriel," and on July 20th,
1728, set sail on their adventurous voyage. On this occasion they
contented themselves with traversing Behring Strait, and returned
without seeing the American coast or even the Diomedes Islands. A
second voyage, in 1729, was altogether fruitless, and in the spring
of 1730 Behring returned to St. Petersburg without having achieved
a single work of importance or won the first fraction of his later
fame. But one of the objects of his expedition was presently attained
by others, accidentally. The Yakutsk Cossacks, under Athanasius
Shestakoff, had been for years fighting to subdue the indomitable
Tchukchees, with little success. A party of them took the ship
"Fortuna," abandoned by Behring, to make a war-like cruise along the
Tchukchee coast. They were soon wrecked in Penjinsk Bay, and were
routed in battle with the Tchukchees. But the engineer and navigator
of the expedition, Michael Gwosdeff, made a boat from the wreck of the
"Fortuna," and with his surviving comrades sailed to the Anadyr River.
Thence they sailed to Cape Serdze, expecting there to meet a Cossack
expedition from overland. In this they were disappointed. And presently
a great storm arose from the eastward and drove them, helpless, before
it. Right across the strait they were driven, to the American coast.
Upon the latter, however, they could make no landing. The shore was
inhospitable and the storm was furious. For two days they cruised along
the coast, and then, the storm abating, made their way back to Asia.
Despite the failure of his first expedition, Behring was received with
honors and promotion at the Russian capital, and preparations were
pressed for another venture under his command. For several years he was
engaged in voyages along the Siberian coast, and to Japan. But in 1741
the great achievement of his life began. His pilot, Ivan Jelagin, had
gone to Avatcha with two ships, the "St. Peter" and the "St. Paul." On
Niakina Bay he had founded the town of Petropaulovsk, named for the
vessels. Thither went Wilhelm Steller, the Franconian naturalist, and
Louis de Lisle de la Croyere. Thither, finally, went Behring, and on
June 4th, 1741, sailed for America. On June 20th the two vessels were
parted by a storm, and did not come together again; nor did Behring and
Chirikoff, their commanders, ever meet again in this world. Chirikoff,
in the "St. Paul," made quickest progress. On July 15th he reached the
American coast, and anchored in Cross Sound. His mate, Dementieff, and
ten armed men, in the long boat, went ashore. They did not return, and
on July 21st Sidor Saveleff with other armed men went after them, in
the only other boat of the "St. Paul." They did not return either. But
the next day two canoes filled with savages came from the shore toward
the ship, showing only too plainly what had become of the landing
parties. The savages did not venture to attack the ship, but Chirikoff
had no more boats in which to effect a landing. So on July 27th he
weighed anchor and sailed back for Kamtchatka. He passed by numerous
islands, and on October 9th re-entered the harbor of Petropaulovsk.
Twenty-one of his seventy men had perished; among them Louis de Lisle
de la Croyere, the French naturalist, who died of scurvy on the day of
their return.
The "St. Peter," with Behring and his comrades on board, meanwhile,
was driven blindly through tempest and fog toward the Alaskan coast.
On Sunday, July 18th, he reached the land and disembarked. He was at
the foot of some low, desolate bluff which skirted the shore for a
long distance, and beyond which rose the savage splendors of Mt. St.
Elias and the Arctic Alps. The spot was near what is now called Kayak
Island. For six weeks Behring tarried in that neighborhood, refitting
his storm-strained ship, laying aboard supplies of water and food, and
making a few explorations of the coast. The two capes between which he
landed he named St. Elias and Hermogenes. Here the naturalist Steller
found many interesting traces of the natives. Going further north,
into Prince William's Sound, Behring became confused by the number of
islands and the difficulties of navigation, and abandoned the direction
of the vessel to Lieutenant Waxel. They kept on, past the Kenai
Peninsula, past Kadiak Island, and down the coast of the slender Alaska
Peninsula, to the south-west, until they reached a group of islands
which they named Shumagin, for a member of the company who died and was
buried there. This was on August 29th. On September 3d a terrific storm
arose, before which they were driven, helpless, far out into the North
Pacific, southward to latitude 48°. Scurvy broke out among them with
fatal force, and the disheartened men resolved to return to Kamtchatka.
Thenceforward for weeks they suffered almost incredible hardships.
Every one was suffering from scurvy. So weakened were they by disease
and famine that it took three men to hold the helm. Only a few sails
were used, for the men were not able to hoist and manage more. When
these were torn away by the storms, the helpless craft drifted under
bare poles. The weather was a chaos of wind and fog and snow. For weeks
they drifted blindly, now eastward, now westward, scarcely hoping
to see land again, and utterly ignorant of the part of the ocean
into which they had been borne. But on November 4th a particularly
furious gale drove them ashore on an unknown coast. They were in the
south-eastern part of Behring Sea, on one of the Kommandorski group of
islands. The vessel was completely wrecked, and the men built huts on
the shore for winter quarters. Waxel was still in command. Behring was
a victim to natural stupidity, constitutional cowardice, and scurvy.
All through the dreadful voyage from Prince William Sound he had
remained in his cabin, shivering in abject terror. A few weeks after
landing, on December 8th he died. In honor of him his men named the
island Behring Island, and the group the Kommandorski, while Behring
Strait and Behring Sea in their names give immortality to one of
the least worthy of men. Waxel, Steller, and the others remained on
Behring Island all that winter, feeding on the flesh of sea-lions and
the monster Arctic manatee or sea-cow, now extinct. They collected
a considerable store of furs of the sea-otter, blue fox and other
animals, which they took back to Russia and thus greatly stimulated the
zeal of further conquest. In the summer of 1742 they made their way
to Petropaulovsky in a boat constructed from the wreck of their ship.
Waxel reached St. Petersburg with the official report of the expedition
in 1749.
Thenceforward the greed of gain led many Russian adventurers to the
waters and shores of Behring Sea. Emilian Bassoff discovered Attoo
Island, the westernmost of the Aleutian chain, in 1745, and Michael
Novodtsikoff, in the same year, discovered other islands near by,
and got a rich cargo of furs. Other explorers, who followed up the
Aleutian chain were Ribinski, in 1748; Trapesnikoff, in 1749; Yagoff,
in 1750; and Ivan Nikiforoff, who reached Unimak Island in 1757. Simon
Krasilnikoff, Maxim Lazeroff and others kept up the work of discovering
islands, getting furs, and massacring the natives. The Andreanoffsky
Islands were discovered in 1761, and named in honor of Andrean Tolstoi,
who fitted out Lazeroff's expedition. In the winter of 1761-2,
Pushkareff and his men lived on the shore of False Pass. They were
the first to spend a winter on the mainland of Alaska. The atrocities
committed by them excited the hostility of the natives, and they were
glad to get away in August, 1762. They took with them thirty natives,
mostly women, as prisoners and slaves; but on the voyage home they
wantonly murdered them all except two.
War to the knife thereafter prevailed among the natives and the
Russians. The latter waged it with the most ferocious energy, but
were by no means always victors. A whole expedition of fifty men was
destroyed on Unimak Island in 1762; and a similar party met the same
fate in 1763, on Ounalaska. Indeed, for years the history of Russian
progress in Alaska was one of unrelieved horror, an inferno of lust,
torture and death.
And now the advance of the Spanish and others from the southward was
resumed. Juan Perez sailed from Monterey in 1774, and discovered
Queen Charlotte Island and Nootka Sound. The next year Bruno Heceta
discovered the mouth of the Oregon or Columbia River. Then the famous
English navigator, James Cook, came upon the scene. In 1778 he reached
Nootka Sound; saw and named Mount St. Elias; explored Cook's Inlet;
stopped for a time at Ounalaska; sailed up Behring Sea, through Behring
Strait, to Icy Cape; explored Norton Sound and the adjacent waters;
touched again at Ounalaska; and then sailed away to the Sandwich
Islands, where he was killed in February, 1779. In these few months
this immortal Yorkshire man and his Connecticut and Virginia comrades
had done more active work of discovery and survey than all the Russian
pillagers who had frequented that part of the world for seventy-five
years before.
The first permanent industrial and commercial settlement was effected
by the Russians under Shelikoff on Kadiak Island in 1783. Three years
later the ill-fated La Perouse visited the Alaskan coast and saw Mt.
St. Elias. In 1787, two Russians, Lastochkin and Pribyloff, discovered
two islands in the south-east part of Behring Sea, which have since
become of enormous value. They named them St. Paul and St. George, and
called them together the Suboff Islands. They are now known, however,
as the Pribyloff Islands, and are famous as one of the chief homes of
the fur seals.
The Russian Government, about 1788, formally laid claim to all the
Alaskan lands and waters, and even to the northern part of the Pacific
Ocean. At the same time the Spanish and English laid conflicting
claims to the region about Nootka Sound, and in 1789 came into
violent conflict there. United States expeditions were also busy with
explorations in that region, but the Spaniards made no objection
to their presence. Captain Gray, of the "Washington," Captain John
Kendrick, of the "Columbia," Captain Metcalf, of the "Fair American,"
Captain Ingraham, of the "Hope," Captain Crowell, of the "Hancock,"
Captain Roberts, of the "Jefferson," and Captain Magee, of the
"Margaret," were among the Americans conspicuous in exploration and
trade, chiefly about Nootka Sound and the Straits of Juan de Fuca.
Captain George Vancouver, already mentioned as a member of Cook's
expedition, also spent much time in exploring the coast, from the
island which bears his name northward to the Prince of Wales Islands,
in the British service; and Alexander Mackenzie traveled across the
continent from Canada and explored the great river which has been named
for him. The surveys of Vancouver were the most thorough and accurate
that had been made.
To return, however, to the Russians. In 1782, Gregory Shelikoff, of
Rylsk, Siberia, a man of great ability and energy, of remarkable
brutality, and of unsurpassed unscrupulousness, entered upon an
important campaign for the establishment of trading posts. In this
he was accompanied by his wife, Natalie Shelikoff, a woman of
extraordinary ability. In 1787, the Czarina Catherine II, gave him
a medal in recognition of his services; and in 1790, by an imperial
ukase, that notorious but brilliant sovereign gave to a company, of
which Shelikoff was the head, the practical monopoly of the Alaska
fur trade. Alexander Baranoff, one of Shelikoff's subordinates, was
soon made Chief Director of Affairs in the Russo-American colonies.
He, like his chief, was a man of consummate executive ability, and
utterly destitute of humane feelings or moral sense. In the summer of
1793 he prevailed upon the Czarina to issue another ukase, authorizing
the sending of missionaries to America to convert the natives to
the Orthodox Greek faith, and also the sending thither of Russian
convicts to teach them agriculture. Thirty convicts were thus settled
by Baranoff on the Kenai peninsula, and the Archimandrite Joasaph,
elder of the Augustin friars, also went thither. Many other convicts
and their families, and monkish missionaries, were in 1794 landed at
Kadiak and Cape St. Elias. As soon as they were landed, Shelikoff
refused to support them, and they were compelled to work for their
living. In consequence the missionaries sent bitter complaints to the
Czar; and these were accompanied by still more bitter complaints from
the natives, who were being subjected to such brutalities as cannot
be described in print. These had little effect, however. In 1795,
Shelikoff died, and his wife succeeded him as president of the company.
At this time the population of Kadiak was more than 3,600 adults.
The next year the first Greek church was erected there, and Father
Joasaph was made Bishop. In 1799 the Czar Paul chartered anew the
Shelikoff company, re-organized as the Russian-American Company, for a
term of twenty years. He gave it absolute control of all the American
coast-lands and waters north of latitude 55°. The Company was required
to survey the region, plant settlements, promote agriculture, commerce
and other industries, propagate the Greek faith, and extend Russian
influence and possessions as widely as possible. As for the natives,
they were by the same decree made the slaves of the Company. Baranoff
was made practically the supreme head, the autocrat of the entire
realm, on whose word were suspended the issues of life and death.
Under this new _régime_ the old policy of cruelty and outrage toward
the natives was pursued with added intensity. Generally the Russians
worked their will with impunity, though sometimes the natives rose
against them with vengeful might, and on several occasions the Russians
were glad to flee to British and American ships for shelter. Meanwhile
explorations went on. The American ship "Atahualpa" in 1802 discovered
the mouth of the Stikine River. Baranoff explored the lower part of
the Copper River. In 1804 Baranoff took Sitka from the natives, after
a hard battle; renamed it New Archangel, gave the island on which it
stood his own name, and made it thenceforth the chief station in the
colony. About this time an attempt was made to plant trees on the
Aleutian islands. The Imperial Chamberlain, Count Nicolas Petrovich
Resanoff, founded a school at Kadiak, and effected some valuable
administrative reforms, especially in the colonial courts and in the
financial system. Then he went back to Russia to get the Czar's consent
to his marriage with the daughter of Don Luis de Arguello, the Spanish
governor of San Francisco. As soon as he was gone, Baranoff undid
all his reforms. Resanoff died on his way to Russia. His betrothed
never believed he was dead, and never would marry another; but waited
patiently for his return until she became very old and died.
John Jacob Astor, having formed a company for the Pacific fur trade,
sent a vessel to Sitka in 1809, and in 1811 an agent to St. Petersburg
to negotiate with the Directory of the Russian-American Company. The
negotiations were successful, and in October, 1811, were approved by
the Czar, Mr. Astor was to furnish provisions and supplies at stated
prices, and to take pay therefor in furs from the Company. They
were to assist each other against smugglers, respect each other's
hunting-grounds, and not to sell intoxicating liquors to the natives.
In 1817 Baranoff, having grown old and weary of his toil, resigned
the Chief Directorship of the colonies, and was succeeded by Captain
Leontius Hagenmeister. He resigned within a year, and was succeeded
by Lieutenant Janoffsky. At this time an Imperial Commissioner,
Vasili Golofnin, was sent to investigate and report on the abuses of
administration. As a result, in July, 1819, the Czar made sweeping
changes in the regulations of the colonies, which effected some
substantial reforms.
There were now Russian settlements on five of the Aleutian islands,
four on the shores of Cook's Inlet, two on Chugach Gulf, and one at
Sitka. The last named was a large and handsome place, surrounded by
gardens and wheat fields. In 1821 the charter of the Company was
renewed for twenty years. The profits of the enterprise, however, were
now declining. Not one of Baranoff's successors had a tithe of his
ability, and the result of his loss was seen in shrinking dividends.
Explorations, however, were pushed vigorously. A two years' expedition
surveyed the coasts of Norton Sound, Bristol Bay, and Nunivak Island.
The Alexander Archipelago also was thoroughly explored. The Russian
Government in 1821 issued a proclamation of sovereignty over the whole
Pacific Ocean north of the 51st parallel, and forbidding vessels of
other nations to approach within one hundred miles of the shores
thereof, save in cases of extreme distress. Against this the United
States and England vigorously protested, and with effect. In 1824 a
convention was signed between the United States and Russia, by which
the North Pacific was opened to American ships, and latitude 54° 40'
was recognized as the southern boundary of the Russian possessions; and
a similar treaty was made with England the next year.
Kotzebue Sound was explored by the English Captain Beechey in 1826.
Captain Staninkovich explored much of the northern coast of Alaska
in 1828. In 1830 Chernoff examined the harbor of Nuchek and the
mouth of the Kaknu River; and Kolmakoff surveyed the bay and river
of Kuskoquim. In this year the Company took formal possession of all
the Kurile Islands. The next year Baron von Wrangell became Director
of the Colonies, and an era of progress began. The colony was opened
for settlement to all Russians. Fort St. Michael's, on Norton Sound,
was established. Measures were taken to check the destruction of
seals and other sea animals. An observatory was founded at Sitka. In
1835 Glasunoff explored the deltas of the Kuskoquim and Yukon rivers,
ascending the latter stream as far as Anvik. Small-pox now broke out
at Sitka, and for several years ravaged all the settlements, nearly
depopulating some of them. In 1838 Malakoff went up the Yukon River to
Nulato, and Kushevaroff thoroughly explored the northeastern coast as
far as Point Barrow. The next year Mt. St. Elias was observed for the
first time to emit smoke, but no further eruption occurred. In 1843
Lieutenant Zagoskin ascended the Yukon as far as Nowikakat, Malakoff
explored the Suchitna, Gregorieff the Copper River, and Kashevaroff the
shores of Behring Sea.
The second charter of the Company expired in 1841, and strong efforts
were made to have it renewed at once. The Government hesitated, but
finally, in 1844, renewed it on even more liberal terms than before.
In the summer of 1848 the first whaling vessel passed through Behring
Strait. It was the American ship "Superior," commanded by Captain Roys.
The experiment was highly successful, and in the next season no less
than one hundred and fifty-four American whalers followed the example,
all making great catches, and the industry was thus established in
those waters. English and American explorers continued to visit to
northern coasts of Alaska, and surveyed almost every portion of it.
As the ending of the third charter of the Company approached, efforts
were made to secure still another renewal. A complete report on the
operations of the Company was made at the end of 1861. According to
it, the original capital was $73,500. In 1818 it was "watered," and
the shares were made $100 instead of $112.50 each. In 1844 the Company
had accumulated a surplus of $337,500. At the end of 1861 the capital
was $495,000, and the surplus $553,000. The original investment had
paid from six to ten per cent. net annually, besides the enormous
peculations of the officers and employes. Despite the earnest endeavors
of the Company, however, the Czar finally refused to renew its charter,
and the Company began to wind up its business. In 1864 there was
a great increase of American interests in the colony. The Western
Union Telegraph Company, of New York, doubting the practicability of
operating a cable under the Atlantic, planned to construct a telegraph
line to Europe by way of Alaska and Siberia. In this the Russian
Government agreed to co-operate. A surveying expedition was accordingly
sent to Alaska, and much exploring work was done at a cost of more than
three million dollars. The incident, though without practical result
in itself, drew so much attention to Alaska and its resources that
an American syndicate was formed to purchase for itself the charter
which the Czar refused to grant to the old Russian Company. This came
to the ear of Mr. Seward, the American Secretary of State, and he soon
concluded that it would be a good bargain for the United States to buy
the whole country outright from Russia. This was done in 1867. The
United States paid Russia $7,200,000 for the whole Territory of Alaska.
Nearly all of this went, at St. Petersburg, to satisfy old debts
and obligations incurred by Alaskan enterprises. The treaty of sale
was agreed upon on March 30th; it was ratified by the United States
Senate on May 28th; proclaimed by the President on June 20th; General
Jefferson C. Davis was appointed to take command of Alaska on September
6th; and on October 18th the United States took formal and actual
possession of the country.
This new Territory was looked upon as an Indian country and General
Davis was really a military commander. His headquarters were at Sitka,
where he had a garrison of about 250 men. A number of enterprising
business men accompanied General Davis to Sitka, and immediately began
erecting storehouses and offices, and purchasing the property of the
old Russian Company. In less than a week several new stores were
erected and two drinking saloons, two bowling alleys and a restaurant
were in operation. All sorts and conditions of men began flocking in,
including pioneers and squatters, and aspirants for political honors
in the Territory. There was talk of framing a city charter, and of
creating numerous lucrative offices. The usual amount of crime and
disorder of a frontier settlement occurred, and soon all respectable
inhabitants were compelled to lock their doors at nightfall and not
venture out again until daylight. Difficulties with the Indians also
soon began, and for many years the Territory was in a state of disorder
and confusion, lacking any organized government.
In February, 1868, the Russians began to return home and to abandon
the Territory to its new owners. In this year many serious troubles
with the Indians occurred on the Yukon River, and on the first of
January, 1869, there was some disturbance at Sitka itself. In April,
1869, the publication of a newspaper was begun at Sitka by a man who
also followed the avocations of lawyer and tailor. This paper passed
out of existence after about a year and was not revived. In 1870 the
withdrawal of the military garrisons occurred, excepting those at
Sitka and Wrangell. In 1874 an attempt was made to colonize Alaska
with Icelanders, who were at that time leaving their own country in
large numbers. Several of them visited Alaska and were pleased with
the appearance of the country. An offer was made to transport thither
five hundred Icelanders free of charge, but it was not accepted, and
the scheme of colonization was finally abandoned. In 1878 a serious
outbreak of Indians occurred at Sitka, and the inhabitants of that town
were compelled to appeal for protection to the commander of an English
war-ship. In 1884 a regular territorial government was established
and a civil governor appointed, the military garrisons having been
withdrawn.