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EA-Bibliography

(Hector Chevigny)

ALEKSANDR ANDREVICH BARANOV

        Aleksandr Andrevich Baranov (1747 - 1819), first Governor of Russian

Colonies in Alaska. The primary source material on Baranov's early life

consists almost entirely of his own reminiscences about it, dictated late

in his life to his biographer, Kyrill Khlebnikov. His origins were humble

in the extreme. The village of Kargopol, where he was born to the store–

keeper, Andrei Baranov, lies near the old Finnish border in the former

Government of Olonyetz. The region was sparsely settled and very backward.

Such places as Kargopol were called "deaf villages," so seldom did they

bear news of importance. The name "Baranov" shows Tartar influence.

Aleksandr Andrevich was the oldest of four children; there were a brother,

Pyotr, and two sisters, Avdotya and Vassilissa. Aleksandr was small of

build and frame, fair-haired, and said to be quick of mind and clever with

his hands. His expression was mobile and alert, his disposition friendly

and gregarious. The family was of the mestchannin , or small trader class,

only a grade from the peasant class.

        Where and how Baranov got his early education is not known, but he

seems to have understood writing and ciphering when, at fifteen, he ran

away to Moscow. There he became apprentice to one of the German merchants,

who in the 18th century formed an important section in Russian commercial life.

There is scant evidence as to the type of business in which Baranov found

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himself except a taunt levelled at him in later years that in Moscow he had

been a "ribbon clerk." The Spanish Encyclopedia states, without giving

source, that after some years he returned to Kargopol as the representative

of a Moscow textile house. There is no doubt that he understood textiles

very well. In Moscow, too, he learned to speak German and schooled himself

in other directions, particularly in the Russian classics. He was married,

but there is no record of children by this Russian wife and his will made

no provision for any. It would seem that, on going to Siberia, about 1700,

he left this wife behind. In Irkutsk, with the financial aid of partners,

he established a factory for the making of glass. But although this venture

was very successful, Baranov apparently was still unsatisfied and, keeping

an active interest in this business, with his brother Pyotr he went into the

far northern reaches of the Anadyr to establish a post for the buying of furs

from the Chukchi natives. Their principal post they established at Ishiginsk

on the Sea of Okhotsk.

        Siberian economy at the time rested almost wholly on furs. The tremendous

quantities of tea, an article of food that had come almost as necessary to the

Russians as bread, were purchased entirely with furs from the Chinese. Hard

money was almost nonexistent, and in any event the Chinese preferred the furs,

which the wealthy used as articles of clothing. To satisfy the demand, the

promyshlenniki , or Siberian backwoodsmen, within a century and a half had

almost exterminated such valuable animals as the sable. By 1740 the economic

situation became so desperate that to maintain the tea trade the merchants of

Irkutsk had had to purchase furs from the Hudson's Bay Company in London. The

return of the men from Bering's expedition from the north Pacific islands with

a fortune in sea otter and fox skins pointed the way to a solution. In 1746,

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the Siberian hunters began abandoning the backs of their Mongol ponies for

the decks of hastily constructed vessels of every description in which they

put out in search of the sea otter that abounded in large numbers on the

shores of the Aleutian Islands. Then, as now, the pelt of the sea otter

was the world's costliest, a single fine skin bringing three hundred gold

rubles in worth of trade with the Chinese. With the discovery of the Aleu–

tian Islands as a fur field, the pressure of hunting lessened over the reaches

of northern Siberia, the animals multiplied again, and, as Baranov shrewdly

suspected, he found neglected wealth in the Anadyr. The Baranov vrothers

traded powder, shot, and other commodities for sable skins, and in the summer

of 1790, after approximately one year of operation, prepared to take their

rich stock of furs over the Stanovoi Mountains and down the Lena River to

Irkutsk. On the way, Baranov learned a lesson in trading he was never to

forget. He and his brother were waylaid by the Chukchi and the very powder

and shot he had sold these natives were used to rob him of the success of

his efforts.

        Perhaps seeking help in retrieving his property, Baranov went to the

village of Okhotsk to see the military commander of the district, Ivan Koch.

Koch was a German physician who had entered the Russian military service and

eventually rose to the rank of Quartermaster General. He had an official

problem to which Baranov seemed to be the answer. Although the Bering Expe–

dition of discovery and exploration had been authorized by Peter the Great,

Russian claims to land beyond the eastern borders of Siberia had never been

formally extended by subsequent sovereigns. The merchants of Irkutsk, many of

whom had important investments in fur-hunting enterprises on the Aleutians and

even on the American mainland, and the hunters themselves, had repeatedly

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importuned St. Petersburg for formal recognition of the region as Russian.

The need had become acute, for the presence of the hunters on the islands

had awakened the cupidity of European chancellories and of late years a

rash of Spanish, French, and British exploring expeditions, notably Captain

Cook's, had been sent into north Pacific waters. But the Empress Catherine II,

the Great, always refused to take action. She maintained that Russia and

Siberia together were far too uncolonized and unsettled to consider annex–

ing foreign soil. The most she was willing to do was to free the merchants

completely of the formerly prohibitive taxes on foreign trade and allow them,

under the doctrine of laissez faire, which she had adopted as a conscious

policy, to trade in foreign waters. She stated her position in 1769 when she

decreed, "It is for traders to traffic where they will. I renounce forever

all possessions in ... America."

        Upon learning of the visit of Captain Cook to the northwest coast, a

wealthy Irkutsk merchant, Grigorii Shelekhov (q.v.), decided to take on

himself the task of extending Russian jurisdiction, more or less forcibly,

by planting a permanent colony, something which other trading corporations

had not done. In 1784, he established the village of Three Saints Bay

on Kodiak Island, and Fort Alexander on Cook's Inlet. But the overseers he

had left in charge had proven unsatisfactory and now, in August of 1790,

Shelekhov was in Okhotsk to superintend the dispatching of his supply ship,

Three Saints , to his colony; he hoped also to find a new colonial manager.

The need for a reliable man was rendered desperate by the rumor that the

Swedes, who were at war with Russia, were sending a frigate into the Pacific

to attack the Russians on the Aleutians. Commander Koch had a responsibility

for the overseas Russians without the formal authority, in view of the Imperial

failure to clarify the situation, and he also sought a man with the intelligence

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to function as his representative under these ambiguous circumstances.

Shelekhov had once before offered Baranov the post of manager at Three

Saints Bay, but Baranov had then refused. Now, however, as he was without

money, deep in debt, and being importuned by both Shelekhov and Koch.

He agreed to go to America for a period of five years, the salary con–

sisting of the revenue from ten shares in the Golikov-Shelekhov Company

of Irkutsk.

        The Three Saints , on which Baranov went to see for the first time in

his life, sailed August 31, 1790. (All dates given are New Style.) She was

a baliot, broad of beam, with a rudder half as long as her keep and propelled

by a single square gaff mainsail and auxiliary gibs. Shelekhov had built

her in 1783 as the flagship of his three-vesseled fleet, and had himself

sailed in her to found his colony. With Baranov went fifty-two new Company

employees — the custom was to sign for a period of years and strictly on

shares — together with a load of supplies that included several domestic

animals. It was late in the season for navigation in this region, the

Bering Sea's fall storms were already on them, progress was slow against

a succession of head winds, and then it was discovered that the water casks

were of such poor construction much of the supply was gone. They did not

sight Unalaska until October 7. It was necessary to put in a t Koshigin

Harbor to replenish water. That night a williwaw blew up, the old galiot

dragged her anchor and went on shore. The sea pounded her to pieces.

There was nothing to do but make friends with the natives and dig in for

the winter.

        The hardship [ ?] was extreme, for most of the supplies had been lost

and the winter storms were of such severity that even seals could only in–

frequently be killed. But Baranov employed the time learning the Aleut

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tongue and, when the weather cleared, learning to handle a bidarka and

studying the technique of hunting sea otter. A Russian had been sent to

Three Saints village with five Aleuts in bidarkas to tell of the plight

of the new manager, but when in the spring nothing had been heard it was

decided to wait no longer but to construct three large walrus hide baidars

in which to attempt the rest of the journey to Kodiak Island. Baranov,

however, kept in mind the instructions of Koch to explore whenever possible

and sent a baidar commanded by Botcharov, who had been skipper of the

Three Saints , northward instead of southward along the island chain to

investigate Bristol Bay.

        The fact that Baranov was already middle-aged told on him, and the

rigors of the long trip to Kodiak in the open boats were made worse by the

fact he began running a continuous fever. Camp sites had to be selected

cautiously because of the unknown character of the natives, there were only

wet beached on which to sleep, and the only food was clams and such fish as

they could cook over cautious fires. Baranov was very ill when, on July 8,

1791, he reached Three Saints village and took command. It was freely pre–

dicted that he "would not last long in this climate."

        Factors other than the climate were against him. The two remaining

Shelekhov vessels, the galiot St. Michael Archangel , and the sloop God's

Friend Simeon , badly needed replacement. The site of the colony of Three

Saints Bay had been arbitrarily picked and needed changing to a location where

timber was more plentiful. Shelekhov had been consistently stingy with supplies

and seldom kept promises he had made. Furs were getting scarce for the reason

that, as usual, no one thought of establishing a conservation policy, and it

was necessary to go farther and farther afield in search of them. Moreover,

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on Cook's Inlet, and close to Shelekhov's Fort Alexander, the Lebedev–

Lastotchkin Company had established a rival post, Fort St. George, and war

had broken out between the men of this company and the Shelekhov men.

This was serious for reasons beyond the additional difficulties it imposed

in the way of carrying on operations; strife among the white traders raised

grave issued, too, with the native tribes.

        The greatest difficulty confronting Baranov, however, was the smallness

of the number of men at his command and their low caliber. The more able

and experienced seafaring traders and backwoodsmen, who were accustomed to

signing for only one trading voyage and returning whenever they had their

catch of furs, did not want to sign for the long periods in America demanded

by a colonial enterprise. At Three Saints Bay and Fort Alexander together

there were no more than 150 Russians. Morale was low because of the failure

of Shelekhov in many instances to keep various promises. Moreover, the old

Shelekhov lieutenants were jealous of the unusual authority given Baranov

and contemptuous of his abilities. The old skippers, Botcharov and Izmailov,

refused to teach him anything about navigation, and old promyshelenniks like

Samoilov conspired to thwart his authority. Nevertheless, Baranov established

strict discipline, instituting, among other measures, the regulation of

relations between hunters and the native women. The presence of Aleut girls

in the colony was demanded for reasons other than sex; the Russians had found

that the native dress was the best method of outfitting, particularly on the

chase, and only feminine fingers could do the extremely delicate needlework

needed to waterproof the garments. The children remained the property of

the mothers. And Baranov took stern measures to stamp out venereal disease,

isolating known cases and doctoring them with a solution of mercury salts

and alcohol.

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        He made arrangements for his own domestic comfort by accepting the gift

of a girl of Eskimo stock from a chief who came to visit him from the Bristol

Bay country. There is some confusion in the record of this woman with the

daughter of another native chief be eventually took to wife and who bore

him two children.

        In the spring of 1792, with that enormous energy that was his great

characteristic, he threw himself into plans for an advance on the conquest

of America. He planned to begin the building of a new outpost that summer,

on Prince William Sound, find a site for still another on the southern

coast, and make the biggest drive for furs in the history of the region.

A tidal wave that swept away part of Three Saints village also swept aside

what opposition he may have had to moving the main colony to higher and

better-timbered ground. He chose the site of old Chiniak, calling the new

village St. Paul. This is the present town of Kodiak. But he was unable

to complete the construction of St. Paul before the summer months were on

him and he had to turn his attention to larger issues.

        His plans revolved around the use of the Aleuts as his main source of

man power. There has been much bitter controversy over the use of the Aleuts

in Company operations, and it is commonly supposed that the idea originated

with Baranov. For centuries it had been the custom, which originated with

the Cossacks, to extract tribute in furs from native tribes when conquering

new lands. This tribute was kn wo ow n as the yassack, the Tear's property.

The early ships coming to the Aleutians had carried one or more official

designated to take the yassack , which was usually done forcibly, and around

this fact revolved most of the darker episodes in the earlier history of these

events. Prompted by reports of the cruelties attending the gathering of

yassak , Express Catherine abolished the practice, instead granted the merchants

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the privilege of using the labor of [ ?] natives. Perhaps in Catherine's

mind there was no contradiction between her earlier refusal to extend her

authority over the Aleutians and permissions such as this, and it all illus–

rates the ambiguity of the situation. Shelekhov, on the strength of this

decision, harbored various schemes for putting the Aleuts to work, and it

is probable that the suggestion they be used in force originated with him.

Baranov's contribution consisted of the extent to which the natives were

used and the ingenuity with which he deployed them. To the charges that

he had exploited the natives, often sending them on dangerous missions to

save the lives of his Russians, Baranov replied that if he had been sent

enough Russians and of a caliber he could trust, he would have gladly dis–

pensed with the services of the Aleuts. He never sent Aleuts to face dangers

alone. Each artel of eight canoes was commanded by a Russian, and the natives

were paid for the furs they caught on shares, as the Russians were paid.

Their coin was articles of iron, which they greatly prized.

        Perhaps because he troubled to learn their language and could grasp

their point of view, Baranov was tremendously popular with the Aleuts, who

called him "Nanuk" (Great Hunter). He inspected Kodiak Island, taking a

census of the population to calculate the strength of the force he could levy.

He bargained with the elders of each village and eventually was promised

1,200 men and 600 canoes as his summer's force. The tidal wave reduced this

levy to 900 men and 450 canoes. Four hundred of the canoes, in groups of

two hundred, respectively comman d ed by Kulikalov and Purtov, were sent to

hunt the southern coast as far as Yakutat and explore for a future colony

site. Baranov reserved the remaining fifty canoes as his own force for

the exploration he planned of Prince William Sound. Baranov himself, per–

haps to gain experience, perhaps because it gave him further mobility, more

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probably because he distrusted old Izmailov, rode the rear seat of a

bidarka. He explored Nuchek Island in Prince William Sound, visited

the villages of the Kenai and Chugach natives to make friends and to

distribute the copper plated bearing the imperial coat of arms which

he had been instructed by Koch to distribute and which were meant to

be shown by the native chiefs to the commanders of foreign vessels when

they appeared in these waters. One chief with several villages under his

domination and called by the Russians Grigor Razkazchikov, offered to

cement the alliance Baranov offered by marriage with his daughter, a

Kenaitze girl of great beauty. Just when this offer was accepted is not

clear, but this was the "Indian Princess" who became Baranov's wife under

the name of Anna Grigoryevna. The villagers under Chief Razkazchikov

subsequently became Baranov's firmest allies.

        However, attempts this summer (1792) to settle the question of another

post were cut short by an event of apparently minor significance, but which

gave Baranov's thinking a whole new direction and, in a subtle but definite

way, had a profound influence on the future economic history of Boston and

its shipping. A Calcutta merchantman, a schooner named Phoenix , fearing

she might be the long awaited Swedish frigate sent to destroy them, Baranov

concealed his fleet. But, on perceiving that she could only be a trader,

he went on board. Her master was Captain Hugh Moore, an Irishman from

England, her first mate, Joseph O'Cain of Boston. Both these men at

first had taken Baranov, because of his dress, for a native Aleut, but

on learning that he was a European they entertained him royally. Communi–

cation was established through the halting German Baranov had learned in

his youth. He had been enjoined by Shelekhov to be cautious and suspicious

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of relations with foreigners, but by his own account he decided to meet

the frankness of these new friends with frankness, and astonished them

with his exposition of the poverty of his resources. As his men helped

repair the vessel, Moore, O'Cain, and Baranov feasted and drank — the

New England rum on board was very much to Baranov's taste — and discussed

trade affairs the world over. Baranov heard for the first time of the

great King of the Hawaiian Islands, Kamehameha, and of his encouragement

of foreign trade with his islands. He learned that if he could only have

a ship like the Phoenix it would be entirely possible to keep himself and

his entire colony supplied with all the food and luxuries needed by

trading with the king. He learned, too, of the tremendous advantage of

selling furs directly at Canton over the cumbersom business of sending the

furs overland halfway across Siberia to sell them to the Chinese at Irkutsk.

He also had confirmation of the belief that the southeastern coast of Alaska,

along and below the region of Sitka, was many times richer in sea otter than

the region in which he was operating.

        Other advantages were to come in the future from this meeting. [ ?] First

Mate O'Cain was destined to return and to establish with Baranov a trade

relation which kept him supplied with necessaries and luxuries when nothing

forthcame from Russia, and which also led to a firm policy of friendship with

the Yankee shipmasters generally. In parting, the three friends exchanged

gifts. Baranov, out of his poverty, could only give fur clothing of Aleut

workmanship. In turn, because Baranov had expressed a strong wish to have

an English interpreter, Hugh Moore presented him with his own cabin boy, a

Bengalese named Richard. Richard was destined to remain Baranov's faithful

bodyguard and servant throughout many dangerous situations and vicissitudes

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for twenty-five years.

        Resuming his exploration of Prince William Sound, during a night's

encampment of Mantague Island Baranov and his men were set upon and alomost

wiped out by a war party of Tlingits from the Yakutat region. The attack

was beaten off, but Baranov now knew first hand the cha r acter of the natives

inhabiting the southern coast. This opinion was confirmed by Kulikalov

and Purtov on their return with their canoe fleets. They had a good catch

and they reported it was true that the southern coast was many times richer

than this in sea otter, but the fear of the Aleuts for the Tlingits was such

that they seldom landed and the explorations had not been made as far south–

ward as had been hoped. Baranov saw that even the mass use of the Aleuts

would not answer all his problems unless he could also have ships, if only

to convoy and protect the canoe fleets on long voyages.

        He had almost decided to leave part of his Russians on Nuchek Island

to winter there and build a new fort, despite the fact he was not altogether

satisfied with the location, when his attention was forcibly distracted by

a new outbreak of hostility on Cook's Inlet between his men at Fort Alexander

and the men of the Lebedev-Lastotchkin Company. The latter had planted

a second post on Cook Inlet, calling it Fort St. Nicholas. Baranov wasted

more of the summer in an effort to restore peace, then discovered that he

had been outwitted. The moment he had turned his back on Prince William

Sound, Amos Balushin, a Lebedev lieutenant, had taken a force overland

across Kenai Peninsula and, after crossing to Nuchek Island, there preempted

the location by beginning the construction of an outpost, Fort Constantine.

It was obvious that except for the catch of furs made by the huge canoe

fleet — which, however, had not been large enough to justify the expense of

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the new method — the summer's efforts had been fruitless. Baranov had

not only gained no new ground, he had lost to his opponents.

        Total discouragement, however, was prevented by hearing that at Kodiak

a new vessel, built by Shelekhov, had put in with supplies from home. She

proved to be a surprise. A small packet, named the Eagle , she had been built

at Okhotsk for Shelekhov by a curious character the Russian records name

Yakov Egorevich Shiltz. This proved to be James Shields, English adventurer,

who was certainly experienced as a shipbuilder and who, for reasons best

known to himself, had served with the Russian Army. With four cronies,

also of English ancestry, he had taken Shelekhov's contract to build him

a new vessel, had agreed to sail her to America, teaching her navigation

to the crew on the way, them to return hdme. Letters to Baranov from

Shelekhov were clear in their instruction to send Sh ei ie dls and his English–

men back home at the first opportunity because of the great expense they

entailed on the Company. Baranov, however, immediately conceived other

plans for Shields, comprising the learning of navigation at the English–

man's hands and the building of a ship which would match Captain Moore's.

        Shields was not an easy man to manage. There is reason, on the fact

of the record, to think that he came close to not sailing Shelekhov's vessel

to Kodiak at all, but to taking her instead to Canton, and probably it was

the ingrained Englishman's healthy fear of the penalty for piracy that made

him keep his contract. He met Baranov's refusal to let him return to Russia

with physical violence. As one witness puts it, "The rolled on the floor

like a couple of muzbiks ." He agreed to stay, however, when Baranov painted

a glowing picture of the wealth to be gained by trading for furs on shares.

The agreement finally arrived at with Shields and his sailors was so generous

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that, Baranov knew, it would cause Shelekhov to write some very angry,

although futile, protests. With the new men brought by the Eagle , con–

struction of St. Paul village was completed, and Baranov hastened to lay

plans for the building of his wonderful schooner. Shields chose Resur–

rection Bay on the mainland as the shipbuilding site, a winter camp was

established there, and the keel laid.

        It is difficult to understand the drive impelling Baranov to construct

this vessel. He had gone to America out of necessity in the first place and

against what would normally have been his will. By contract he had only two

more years to remain. Selfishly, he would have been better advised to drive

for more furs by which to profit from his shares. Instead, he all but bank–

rupted the Shelekhov colonial venture to finish his beloved schooner. He

named his dream the Phoenix. Her keel was to be seventy-three feet, with a

length of seventy-nine feet in the top deck and a depth of thirteen and one–

half feet. She was to be schooner rigged. Against Shield's better judgment,

Baranov insisted on two decks and a third mast. The labor problem alone was

formidable; the Russians, with some justice, held that they had not come to

America to do peasant labor but to hunt furs. At least one mutiny had to be

put down. Resurrection Bay stands in direct path of the fearsome gales off

the Gulf of Alaska and winter there was extremely unpleasant, a fact not

helped by the action of the Lebedev men in cutting off their food supplies.

Moreover, Baranov risked the enormous prestige in which he was held by the

Aleuts. The iron in which he had paid off the natives for their labor he

now requisitioned and, in terms of this metal, mortgaged the future pay of

the Aleuts for years ahead. Lumber was the only commodity for shipbuilding

existing in any abundance. Every demand for a new item caused Baranov to

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perform miracles of ingenuity. He milked the native trees for pitch, which

he mixed with moss in order to get calking. He used the local mountain ash

for hardwood. For paint, he [ ?] experimented with a mixture of hot whale oil

and red ocher from iron deposits. It proved to adhere admirably to the

wood and also to be waterproof, but it was found impossible to control the

shading, and when finally the painting was completed, the vessel presented

a curious patchwork appearance. The enterprise, however, indirectly solved

one nagging problem. [ ?] Baranov

had feared to settle the traders' war on Cook Inlet by a show of force, be–

cause he did not wish more reports of violence than were necessary to reach

Russia. But when the activities of the Lebedev men threatened the finishing

of his wonderful Phoenix , he lost his temper, went to Cook Inlet and boldly

put the Lebedev commander in irons. This action coincided with the putting

down of the mutiny among his men. Tikhmenev's history of these events con–

tains in full the speech Baranov is said to have made to his men after the

occurrence.

        On September 16, 1794, the Phoenix was launched with only her deck work

and cabins unfinished. It was thought that these would be added on the

vessel's first trip to Okhotsk. There is one ironical note about her sailing

to St. Paul under the patchwork canvas which had been put together from old

clothing and sails that could be mustered in the colony. Shields navigated

her but Baranov cautiously took a bidarka.

        The Phoenix was destined never to sail to Hawaii or any other glamorous

place, but did do excellent duty on the Okhotsk to Kodiak run for years.

Nor was Baranov ever to sail in her himself or, for that matter, see the world,

either. He could never dare to turn his back on the colony. Shelekhov sent

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more men, but to seek recruits he had to turn from the backwoodsmen and

scour the cities, getting the dissolute and the incompetent and often

convicts of the worst type who, in return for service in Russian America,

received reprieve from exile. In 1794, too, the first priests of the

Orthodox Church ever to come to a mission field outside of Russia came

to Kodiak from Valaam Monastery under the leadership of the Archimandrite

Iosaph Bolotov. Promised support in their activities by Shelekhov, a

promise not adequately kept, they held Baranov responsible both for the

fact they had to support themselves in the colony and for the character

of colonial life. "An almost French licentiousness reigns here," the

Archimandrite wrote in description of the Russians' relations with the native

women. Other new arrivals this same year included 35 serfs and their

families bought by Shelekhov from a bankrupt Russian estate. Shelekhov had

represented to the government that he wished them to be the nucleus of an

experiment in conducting an agricultural colony he meant to found at Yakutat.

In secret instructions to Baranov, he ordered that they be used as ordinary

laborers about the already established posts. The selling of serfs was a

matter hedged with heavy restrictions. By imperial decree their sale was

forbidden outside the empire and they could be used only for agriculture,

a measure intended to prevent their use as slave labor in mines and elsewhere.

It was obvious to what lengths Shelekhov was going in his efforts to get men.

Baranov refused to be a party to the dangerous deception which might have

condemned them all to penal servitude if discovered. He insisted that the

new outpost be established at Yakutat with the serfs as a nucleus, even though

Yakutat was unadapted for agriculture and inhabited by the dangerous and warlike

Tlingits. The serfs attempted mutiny on discovering their destination, but

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Yakutat was eventually established. The sorry end to this was written in

1805 at the complete massacre of the Yakutat colony by the Tlingits.

        No more ships were to come from Russia for three years; news was to

come only fragmentarily. The colony had to subsist without luxuries

until Joseph O'Cain returned in the ship, Enterprise , to keep his promise

to bring Baranov goods from Boston. Shelekhov died in 1795 but they

weren't to hear about that until long after it happened, or about the fact

that Empress Catherine died in 1796 and that [ ?] her son, the Mad Tsar,

Paul, was only with the utmost difficulty prevented from wiping out the

company of merchants, whom he hated, and recalling the Russians from

America.

        Perhaps it was as well these events at home were not known. Baranov's

term of service was up and he remained, despite lack of replies to his pleas

to be relieved, out of a sense of duty. Then other binding influences came

to hold him. His Kenaitze wife bore him his first and only son, Antipatr,

in 1797, and in 1802 his daughter, Irina, was born. Children by the native

women were the strongest influence making Russians permanent residents in

America. Since the native custom held the children to be the property of

the mothers, there was much trouble when fathers returning to Russia attempted

to take their offspring with them. Even had he wished to go against his own

expressed opinions in this matter, Baranov still had a wife living in Russia,

and these children, if taken there, would have been illegitimate. The trap

had sprung on him. Any joy he might have had in his children was destroyed,

as much as lay in their power to destroy it, by the priests. Father Nektar

and others, having learned the Aleut tongue, after a time made considerable

headway Christianizing the Aleuts and succeeded in strongly attracting

Baranov's wife to the faith. The record is not clear as to precisely what

018      |      Vol_XV-0083                                                                                                                  
EA-Biog. Chevigny: A.A. Baranov

happened, but it would seem that on one occasion Anna Grigoryevna attempted

to kill her baby son, perhaps having been told she was living in sin with

Baranov. He records that for a time he had to take the child from her.

Then, however, some rationalizing of the situation was achieved, as shown

by the fact that Anna remained his consort through the years. The children

were eventually legitimitized by special ukase of Tsar Alexander I.

        In 1795, Shields completed the building of two small sloops, Dolphin

and Olga . The latter became Baranov's private vessel, Shields having

taught him navigation. That summer, with only his trusted lieutenant, Ivan

Kuskov, and Richard, his Bengalese servant and constant companions, as crew,

he undertook to sail to the vicinity of Sitka to explore for a site for a

new post. Shields, who in the Eagle convoyed the bidarka fleet of 500

canoes on its summer hunt, was supposed to meet him, but they missed each

other and Baranov penetrated the Tlingit stronghold of Sitka, threading its

intricate waterways alone with his crew. Four years later, in 1799, he

advanced with his Russians and his Aleuts to found Fort St. Michael at Sitka.

        It was accomplished in the face of the usual difficulties — few men,

poor equipment, lack of ships — together with an added hazard, the resent–

ment of the neighboring Tlingits. Despite a few horrific episodes of

repellent aspects, for the most part the relations of the Russians with the

native tribes had been serene. In some respects it was a notably better

history than has been the case with other European colonizers. The Russians

at least recognized no color line and did not regard the natives as an

inferior race. Their mixed-blood children were under no social stigma.

Perhaps, if the Tlingits had not been conditioned to hate all white men

through their contacts with the foreign shipmasters, the history of their

019      |      Vol_XV-0084                                                                                                                  
EA-Biog. Chevigny: A.A. Baranov

relations with the Russians might have been happier for both. Since 1790,

trading vessels had been coming in numbers, the Yankees yearly gaining over

the British. Some of the shipmasters had been both treacherous and cruel;

one Captain Henry Barber, for example, was notor i ous for inviting natives

aboard to trade, then holding them for large ransoms in furs. The Indians

of the Queen Charlotte Islands had retaliated by burning several ships and

enslaving the crews. The Sitka Tlingits saw no reason to view the Russians

in any better light. Any fort built among them would have to be a redoubt

strong enough to withstand siege and guarded at all times against surprise attack.

        Nevertheless, it was imperative from the Russian point of view that a

foothold be gained at Sitka. This was not only the center of the rich fur

ground but the focal point of foreign trading expeditions. The activities of

the foreign traders were flooding Canton with furs. This had a depressing

effect on the Russian's market at Irkutsk. It was advisable to try to take

over this trading with the foreigners, if only to control this aspect of the

situation. But there was still another reason. The British brought a good

deal of rum to the natives, and both British and Yankees brought firearms

and ammunition. Baranov had never forgotten the factor that condemned him

to life in America. The selling of powder and shot to natives always elicited

his most severe punishments. Weapons in the hands of the Tlingits were a

constant menace to peace, for the northern colonies had forever to be on the

alert against their war parties.

        Nevertheless, there was no open opposition from the Tlingits when the

site of the new fort was selected, and, indeed, the chief of the Sitkans

apparently agreed to cede it on the offer of purchase. Construction was

completed by Easter of 1800. The main building was an immensely strong

two-story fort in frontier style, measuring 50 by 70 feet in ground space,

020      |      Vol_XV-0085                                                                                                                  
EA-Biog. Chevigny: A.A. Baranov

and with the upper story jutting out 2 feet over the lower. Two sentry

towers could give clear awareness of any approaching attack from any direction.

Cook houses, barns, and other outbuildings were also erected; and all were

enclosed within a palisade of logs. The men had built in an atmosphere of

the utmost tension, for from all sides came rumors that the various tribes

of the Tlingit conferacy had been severely critical of the Sitkan chief for

permitting them to build, and there was every other evidence of unremitting

hostility. The Russians, however, hoped by precept and example to allay

suspic i ons in future years. In June, Baranov returned to Kodiak, leaving

Medvednikov in command of 50 of his most able Russians, together with 400

Aleut males and 50 women.

        Baranov intended this to be his last major work on behalf of the Company.

He had no supplies from home for two years, but there had been news which

was all bad. Such wealth as he had had in Russia was gone. One of his former

partners in the glass factory in Irkutsk had misappropriated the funds and

Baranov was in debt. His brother, Pyotr, still had the trading business in

Anadyr but it amounted to little. Baranov was still supporting his Russian

wife, and it was high time he looked after his personal interests, unless,

as he expressed it, he expected to die in poverty. Tsar Paul, the news ran,

was still unfriendly to the Company, and in Irkutsk there had been only dis–

organization since the death of Shelekhov. Baranov's requests to be replaced

went unanswered. In 1802, he still had no answer; there had been no ship from

Russia for four years. Everyone believed the Company had actually been dis–

solved. The second visit of Joseph O'Cain with a ship the previous year had

been, except for the trading with the Yankees at Sitka, the colony's only

source of civilized clothing, food, and such luxuries as tea and sugar.

021      |      Vol_XV-0086                                                                                                                  
EA-Biog. Chevigny: A.A. Baronov

        Then came startling news. One Ivan Banner, who had been delayed by

shipwreck, came with documents announcing the formation of the Russian–

American Company. In 1799, Nikolai Rezanov, a young nobleman who had

married a Shelekhov daughter, had persuaded unstable Tsar Paul to sign

the charter for a new corporation modeled to an extent on the design of the

British East India Company. All of Shelekhov's old dreams were comprised in

this charter; the Company was to be controlled by merchants but was, in

effect, Imperial Russia's instrument for colonization and development as

well as exploitation. All existing trading companies in the Pacific had

to merge with the new corporation or go out of business. The Company could

maintain a navy, a standing army, make treaties to a limited extent, and its

jurisdiction extended from the Siberian coast to America and southward to an

undetermined degree. Baranov was appointed Governor ( glavnui pravityal ),

given a substantial share of stock in the new company, and was awarded the

cross of St. Vladimir.

        As Banner had been on his way with this news, other tremendous events

had taken place. Tsar Paul had been assassinated. The new Tsar, Alexander I,

was a friend of Rezanov and had not only confirmed the charter granted by his

father but had given it additional powers and had himself, together with other

members of the imperial family, bought stock in the Russian-American Company.

There was now no longer question about imperial intentions in the Pacific.

But any elation that Baranov might have felt about all this and the recognition

at long last given him for his efforts was wiped out in the news that came

to him two months later, in July. Captain Henry Barber, the very shipmaster

whose trading activities had caused the greatest amount of hostility among

the Tlingits, came into St. Paul harbor with the only survivors of the Fort

022      |      Vol_XV-0087                                                                                                                  
EA-Biog. Chevigny: A.A. Baranov

St. Michael garrison. The place had been surprised, burnt to the ground,

and all but a handful of its people massacred. To complete the sorry

episode, Captain Barber demanded and received of Baranov a huge ransum in

furs for the survivors.

        The retaking of Sitka became for Baranov an obsession beside which the

building of the Phoenix had been a mere whim. But his best men had been

lost, morale was shattered among those who remained, and even if the men

had been willing most of their armament had been lost at Sitka. In the

midst of his scheming came word that by special ukase, the tsar had lifted

him forever from the low class in which he had been born and granted him

minor nobility with the title of Collegiate Councilor. There would now

be no having to stand, cap in hand, before higher authority. His gratitude

was boundless, and to the directors of the Company he wrote that he intended

to reward his imperial benefactor with the retaking of his property or die

in the attempt.

        Succor once more came in the form of Joseph O'Cain, who arrived in his

own vessel, the O'Cain , with the news that he had formed a partnership with

the Winships of Boston who also intended, if Baranov approved, to form a

business alliance with the Russians that would keep them dependably supplied

and effect a line of communication between Russian America, Hawaii, and

Canton. O'Cain had for sale, in addition to the necessaries of life, the guns,

cannon, and ammunition Baranov would need for the retaking of Sitka, but

Baranov had no furs with [ ?] which to buy. The disaster to Sitka had dis–

organized hunting for two years. The resourceful O'Cain suggested an

arrangement that was to become the principal method of hunting furs on the

American coast for the next twenty years. He would convey a fleet of bidarkas

and their Aleuts for a winter of hunting along the California coast; half the

023      |      Vol_XV-0088                                                                                                                  
EA-Bigo. Chevigny: A.A. Baranov

catch would be the Company's. Spanish law forbade encroachments of any

kind along California, but Baranov consented, stipulating that only Russian

overseers could give orders to the Aleuts, that the Aleuts had to be paid,

and that in the event of loss of any man his family had to becompensated

at the rate of $250 Spanish. The following year O'Cain returned with the

crew of Aleuts intact and a profit of $80,000 Spanish as the Russians' share,

more than enough to buy the cargo and equipment Baranov needed for the

retaking of Sitka.

        There had been news that Rezanov would visit the colonies in person,

coming in one of two frigates that for the first time were carrying the

Russian colors around the world. Baranov, however, did not wa ti it for this

possible assistance but, in September of 1804, gathered his flotilla of

two schooners, two crude new sloops, and several hundred canoes at Yakutat

for the advance. By good fortune, one of the two frigates reported on the

way, the Neva, arrived on the scene, and Captain Lisianski offered the

services of his crew and his guns. Baranov was determined to banish the

Tlingits from Sitka Island. After a prolonged siege and various attack, one

of which Baranov led in person and in which he was wounded, the site of

Sitka village was taken and here, on an elevated eminence some distance

from the old location, Baranov determined to plant his new post. He called

it New Archangel.

        Once more an achievement was to be his last. When Rezanov came, in

1805, Baranov insisted upon being relieved of his command, and Rexanov wrote

to the directors there was no doubt that the old man wished this. There is

reason to think that Baranov planned to visit Boston, among other places, as

the guest of his friend O'Cain. News of the death of his Russian wife told

024      |      Vol_XV-0089                                                                                                                  
EA-Biog. Chevigny: A.A. Baranov

Baranov that now there was no further bar eventually to having his children

educated in Russia. The decree of legitimatization acknowledged the noble

blood of his Indian wife, titling her the "Princess of Kenai." This

guaranteed the education of his children in the nobles' schools. He retired

to Kodiak, to await the results of Rezanov's return visit to St. Petersburg

and also the return of O'Cain, who had gone to Canton to sell furs for him.

He left New Archangel in command of Ivan Kuskov, entrusting to his most

able lieutenant the task of building the strongest and largest redoubt that

could be made of wood. Once more, however, there were disappointments.

Rezanov was killed crossing Siberia, O'Cain was lost at sea. The Napoleonic

wars were raging in Europe and the Company directors wrote it was doubtful

when a competent successor could find his way to America. Brooding under

the feeling that these events might be a sign on the part of Providence

showing it was wrong for him to try to leave, Baranov reluctantly returned

to New Archangel in 1808 to carry on as Governor.

        The structure built by Kuskov was America's only true castle, even

though built entirely of wood. It had bastions and papapets guarded by

60 guns that commanded the harbor entrance, and surmounting it was the

governor's residence. Various shipmasters brought articles of fine furniture,

including a piano, and one of Baranov's prides was his library. It was a

collection to have astonished anyone, for in it were the books Rexanov had

brought to America with the idea he would found a university at Kodiak,

and several items of great artistic value which Rezanov, who had meant to

comprise in his journey to the Pacific the task of opening Japan to trade,

had brought as gifts to the Mikado from the Tsar. The household consisted

of Baranov, his wife, his two children, his nephew Ivan Kiglinov who

025      |      Vol_XV-0090                                                                                                                  
EA-Biog. Chevigny: A.A. Baranov

functioned as his secretary, a German governess for Irina, his servant

Richard, and one Abram Jones, a young Bostonian whohad come to New Arch–

angel as sailor on an O'Cain vessel but remained as tutor to Baranov's

children.

        Baranov seldom left his castle. He had become quite bald, his long

years of privations had taken their toll in the form of arthritis, and

his sight was dimming. He received [ ?] the shipmasters in a fine office,

and tales of his banquets were told all over the trade world. It is from

this period in Baranov's life that Washington Irving took the word portrait

he presents in Astoria . But that there was considerable truth in the stories

was attested to by Captain John Ebbets who said, apropos of the drinking

that was insisted upon at the banquets, "It is as much as one's health is

worth to do business with him." Baranov had always used liquor in great quantities,

maintaining that it fortified him against the climate, but there is no

evidence that his drinking had ever interfered with his ability to conclude

a bargain. Indeed, it was said, ruefully by some, that Baranov's ability

to stay sober was the real secret of his success as a trader. Nor did Baranov

ever deny anyone else the privilege of drinking, if the supply was available.

A feature of life in the old days at St. Paul had always been the barrel in

which kvass-yeast kept in a state of fermentation a concotion of sugar,

cranberries, whatever local fruits were available, rye, meal, flour, and

water; everyone had always been welcome to partake of this, which was looked

on as a preventative for scurvy. So there is little doubt that, now there

was a plentiful supply of such favorite beverages as New England rum, life

at New Archang e l, particularly when there were visitors, was a merry one.

        The significant position of New Archangel in world trade at this period

is now largely forgotten by historians. It is no exaggeration to call it the

026      |      Vol_XV-0091                                                                                                                  
EA-Biog. Chevigny: A.A. Baranov

only city of importance on the western coast of North America. It must be

borne in mind that San Francisco and other Spanish settlements were closed

by Spanish law to trade. This left New Archangel, except for Honolulu, the

only major port-of-call on the American side of the Pacific. New Archangel

had a shipyard, presided over by a master-builder named Lincoln who had

entered Baranov's service, into which vessels could put for repairs. A

foundry supplied even some of the California missions with their bells.

It was a pivotal point in the trade with the Orient on which Massachusetts

had found freedom from the monopoly of shipping by the British East India

Company. For, from the Russians, they could buy furs with which to buy the

tea from the Chinese that New England had come to value fully as much as

the Russians.

        Nevertheless, Baranov hoped for the end of the Napoleonic wars and

to be relieved of his command. He did not feel adequate to the task of

heading the Russian-American Company. Rezanov's plan had been on an order of

statesmanship that he did not feel competent to fulfill, and the orders from

the directors called for expansion into areas where he did not feel he had

the diplomacy to tread. But in the absence of anyone of any greater ability

he did the best he could. He initiated the drive to penetrate southward

along the west coast of America to Mexico, by ordering expeditions to explore

the mouth of the Columbia River and to look for a site for an outpost even

in California. He was not quick enough in the first instance, however, and

John Jacob Astor and his company established Astoria on the site which

Rezanov had had in mine on the Columbia River. There was more success in

California; after his preliminary survey, Ivan Kuskov established, two miles

north of San Francisco, the famous Fort Ross, in 1812.

        Hawaii was next on the agenda as a site for a foothold. Baranov was on

027      |      Vol_XV-0092                                                                                                                  
EA-Biog. Chevigny: A.A. Baranov

excellent terms with King Kamehameha, who looked on him as a brother king

in the Pacific and had repeatedly sent him valuable presents and tokens of

affection and esteem. It was important that much be accomplished during

the period when Europe was busy with Napolean. The preoccupation of Europe

with the task of defeating the French dictator meant that in the Pacific

Russia could seize the advantage without too much interference or notice

being taken.

        In 1809, however, an event occurred which, because it finally robbed

Baranov of initiative and gave him at long last a sense of futility, in

large measure was the real reason for the Russian failure to male full use

of the opportunity in the Pacific. It has been noted that the men sent to

Baranov were seldom of good caliber. They had often been drawn from the

Siberian convict class. Now there was a new element, political offenders,

revolutionists. Baranov discovered a plot in the New Archangel garrison to

seize control of several ships and depart for the south seas. The plot

also called for the assassination of Baranov together with his children.

It was accompanied by manifestos and other pronouncements of a kind Baranov

had never seen. They accused him of being a cruel despot, an arbitrary

ruler, and an exploiter of human souls. The old man felt that at New Archangel

they all lived in ease and luxury, and he had come to look upon himself as

a kindly father to the Company's people. He was heartbroken and never fully

recovered from the discovery of the opinion in which he was held by some.

He became listless and indifferent to the pressure of the need for action.

Had it not been for Kuskov's personal ambition to be the commander of an

important post, Fort Ross would probably not have been founded, at least

not at that juncture.

028      |      Vol_XV-0093                                                                                                                  
EA-Biog. Chevigny: A.A. Baranov

        Financially, the Company was doing very well. The sea otter were

now largely coming from the California coast, caught by the Aleuts in

their canoe fleets, convoyed by the Yankees who also functioned on shares.

There was much friction with the Spanish government over this, and often

there were captures of Aleuts and Russians with internment at Santa Barbara

and other missions. But this meant that one more fur area was being depleted.

It was imperative that the Company develop other resources. Even through

Baranov's gloom there penetrated the obvious necessity of establishing in

Hawaii, in order to have a trading station there and a permanent post on

the Canton trade route.

        He came out of his lethargy in 1813. Two men, sent by the Company to

succeed him, had both died on the way. One had been his old friend General

Ivan Koch; Bornovolokov, the second, went down with the Neva . Seemingly

they all died, when they set out to take him away — Rezanov, O'Cain, and

now there were these new deaths. There was no doubt in Baranov's mind the

will of God kept him in America. Soem of his old energy returned. Because

of the War of 1812, between the United States and Britain, many Yankees

shipmasters were willing to sell their vessels, to prevent their falling into

the bands of the British, and to go into his service. He instituted a

vigorous direct trade with Canton, cultivated the Spanish in both California

and the Philippines, and kept his eye out for the right man to perform the

delicate task of establishing in Hawaii. He thought he found him in Dr. Georg

Scheffer, a plausible young man of German birth who was somewhat of a linguist,

a ship's surgeon, and had had various adventures about the world. He had lived

in Moscow, where he was said to have been a staff surgeon with the police

department, and had been active at the seige of Moscow by Napoleon. Unfor–

tunately, it proved a sorry choice.

029      |      Vol_XV-0094                                                                                                                  
EA-Biog. Chevigny: A.A. Baranov

        The Scheffer expedition to the Hawaiian Islands was Baranov's only

great failure. The mission should have been one of extreme delicacy.

Kamehameha had always refused, despite his desire to maintain good relations

with all the world and his encouragement of foreign shipping, to permit

permanent foreign establishments on his islands. Both because Scheffer was

a physician and Baranov's representative, however, the king received him

cordially and granted him and his retinue grounds for an estate on Oahu Island.

But Scheffer ambitiously believed he saw the opportunity for a direct con–

tact between himself and the Russian Emperor, and after intriguing with

the one chief on the islands whom Kamehameha had never altogether subdued,

Kaukualii, Scheffer wrote to St. Petersburg asking for direct help to conquer

the king. Long since, the king had placed himself under the protection of

England's King George; Russia and Britain were at this time allies, and,

naturally, all that could follow was immediate disavowal by the Russian

foreign office not only of Scheffer but of any intention whatever, by the

Russian-American Company or any other Russian instrument, to encroagh in

the Hawaiian Islands. On the islands, Scheffer's shifty friend Kaumualii,

deserted him on hearing this, and Scheffer and his Russians were forced to

evacuate Kauai Island before a hostile force of natives who almost killed

them all. The episode cost the Company more than a quarter million rubles,

lost forever the opportunity for a foothold in the islands, and cost Baranov

the friendship of the old king. More, it all gave certain enemies of the

Russian-American Company the opportunity they had been seeking.

        Baranov's lowly birth, despite the august souce of the decree elevating

him socially and officially, was never forgotten by those fortunate enough

to have been born to a higher station. The need to humble himself to those

of higher status than his in the complicated social hierarchy of Russian

030      |      Vol_XV-0095                                                                                                                  
EA-Biog. Chevigny: A.A. Baranov

life had always been a heavy cross to Baranov and often a definite setback

to his effectiveness as a leader. However, he came to believe that his

achievements, if not his new rank, entitled him to respect and he brooked

no more of what he had had to endure in former years. In 1814, the arrogance

and insolence of Captain Lozarev, commander of the frigate Suvarov , which

was in Company service and subject to Baranov's orders when in colonial

waters, provoked a quarrel so violent that at one point both the frigate

and the New Archangel bastions trained their guns on each other in prepara–

tion for a real fight. Both sides preferred charges before the Admiralty

in St. Petersburg, and although Lozarev was found guilty on a few counts,

the episode, together with the Scheffer affair, wrote the bitter end

to Baranov's career.

        The Navy had never been notably friendly to the Company. The feeling

was strong about merchants heading an enterprise whose operations were

largely maritime. Many of the higher officers of the Admiralty had seen

service with the British, but they were also largely from the upper Russian

classes and deeply ingrained with a sense of contempt for merchants. For

example, in the writings of Admiral Krusenstern, who never saw the colonies

but bitterly attacked them, we sense the dominant spirit. The Napoleonic

wars gave enormous impetus to the development of the Russian Navy, but at

the end of the war the navy personnel saw little future ahead for their

training and talents, unless it was in the Pacific in Company service. From

time to time there were official measures taken to make trained naval

officers and navigators available to the Company, but few among the takers

of the offer had been men of genuine ability and more often, like Lozarev,

they proved more trouble than they were worth. What the Navy really wanted

was to control the Company. The Lozarev affair brought their resentment into

the open, and the Scheffer episode weakened the Company's position. It did

031      |      Vol_XV-0096                                                                                                                  
EA-Biog. Chevigny: A.A. Baranov

seem as if the empire might be better served by men trained in official life.

        By the terms of its charter, the Company had to apply for renewal

every twenty years. Knowing that the government planned an investigation

of conditions in the Pacific before granting renewal, the Company directors,

in 1818, ordered one of their own. Captain V. I. Golovnin, commander of the

Okhotsk naval district, compiled one report for the government; it raked

the ashes of the past as far back as Shelekhov's earliest days. Golovnin

analyzed Shelekhov's early claims in order to show, he stated, the composi–

tion of the merchant mind and the essential dishonesty which was its

main component. The Company chose as its investigator another naval officer,

Captain Leontii Hagemeister, for reasons now entirely beyond ascertaining.

        Perhaps the directors were playing politics with the Admiralty, perhaps

they genuinely suspected that Baranov had been stealing from the Company.

It is difficult now to decide from the record whether the intention to inves–

tigate Baranov's personal affairs as well as his official acts was entirely

Hagemeister's idea or the director's. Hagemeister stood well in official

circles. He had seen Pacific service and had once been proposed as successor

to Baranov. But once, at Hawaii, he had almost alienated King Kamehameha by

his brusque manner, long before the Scheffer episode, and there are other

evidences of his poorness at diplomacy. With the two frigates, Suvarov and

Kutusov , he arrived at New Archangel in November of 1817. His chief officer

was Lt. Simeon Ivanovich Yanovski, who had been under Lozarev at the time

of the famous quarrel. Yanovski was a young man of excellent family whose

ancestry was Polish; he seems to have had the polish and diplomacy that

Hagemeister lacked. The colony was tense on their arrival, for the rumor

was out that they had come to do Baranov damage if possible. Instead of

032      |      Vol_XV-0097                                                                                                                  
EA-Biog. Chevigny: A.A. Barnov

broaching the subject of his mission at once, Hagemeister attempted to pump

various old employees, adding the impression he thought Baranov a thier

who had amassed millio sn ns and had deposited them in various banks about the

world through his foreign shipmaster friends.

        A complication arose in the fact that an attachment sprang up quickly

between Yanovski and Irina, Baranov's daughter, who was now of marriageable

age and said to be very attractive. Hagemeister at length let his cat out

of the bag but in such a manner as to prostrate old Baranov. Two months

of inquiry had failed to revealanything of the kind he suspected, and per–

emptorily he told the old man he was relieved of command, ordering him to

produce his books of accounts forthwith. When he recovered, Baranov stated

he was not a thief, had no fortune other than that represented by his Company

shares and such property as he owned in America. As for the books, so many

of them had been kept in the old days on so many different kinds of paper

and by so many different bookkeepers, including himself, that it would take

a long time and require his help in making the audit. There was nothing to

do by but accept Baranov's offer.

        The date of this occasion is January 22, 1818. Baranov dearly loved

his daughter, had brought her up with every care he could lavish on her.

It is not too much to assume that the opportunity to have her marry so

obviously desirable a man as Yanovski influenced him to take this cooperative

attitude, even in the face of these otherwise insulting circumstances.

The marriage took place in the church Baranov had had built at New Archangel

and the couple left for a wedding trip to Kodiak and Alaska Peninsula, which

Yanovski wished to explore. With the help of Kyrill Khlebnikov, the Company's

chief accountant at Sitka, Baranov set to work to segregate the Company's

colonial wealth. The task took eight months. As each item passed in review,

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EA-Biog. Chevigny: A.A. Barnov

old times came back to Baranov's memory and it is these reminiscences which

Khlebnikov later made the basis for his short but definitive biography.

Baranov's portrait was also painted at this time, by the painter Tikhanov,

who was aboard a visiting Russian warship.

        In the twenty-eight years of his administration, the report showed,

the original colony had expanded to twenty-four establishments. The north

island establishments were: St. Paul village, four other stations on

Kodiak, a sealing station on the Pribylof Islands, four other stations on

Okamuk, Atka, Bering, and Unalaska islands. The north mainland stations

were: Katmai, the three old forts on Cook Inlet, Resurrection Harbor,

and Fort Constantine and Fort St. Helena on Prince William Sound. On the

south mainland were two small forts near St. Elias, New Archangel with a

small settlement nearby, and Fort Ross in California. The census showed

391 men and 13 women of Russian blood, and 244 men and 111 women of mixed

blood. Eight thousand three hundred and eighty-four male natives were

available for Company service. One hundred and ninety-eight of the Russians

were at New Archangel, 27 at Fort Ross with about 60 natives.

        The worth of New Archangel alone was two and one half million rubles.

(To approximate this worth in terms of 1947 American dollars, these sums

would have to be multiplied by about fifty.) The total worth of the

Company in America was estimated at seven million rubles. Nine vessels

had been built in America, 5 bought of foreigners, and 4 frigates purchased

in Europe. In twenty-one years Baranov had received shipments worth two

million eight hundred thousand rubles but had sold at Canton three million

six hundred and forty-eight thousand rubles' worth in trade, and through

Irktusk sixteen million six thousand six hundred and ninety-six rubles'

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EA-Biog. Chevigny: A.A. Baranov

worth. It was an impressive tribute to Baranov's ability as a business man.

The net profit for the year 1817 alone was close to one and a quarter million

rubles. Russian-American Company shares were quoted at 592.53, with a par

value of 100. "In the cash accounts, involving millions," wrote Khlebnikov,

"I found not one discrepancy." Of all the supply accounts, the only one

showing discrepancy was the item of liquor.

        Of Baranov's reputed wealth in foreign banks there was not a trace.

He was proven a poor man. He had given away, to Kuskov, to Banner, to other

old friends and employees, as well as to the school at Kodiak, a good share

of his earnings. His yearly income is difficult to estimate but it would

seem to have come to about eight thousand rubles, and he had held on to

little of it.

        The report was presented in September, 1818, to Lt. Yanovski, who had

been appointed Baranov's successor. Hagemeister had named him, perhaps

realizing that he himself could never, so long as the colony remained

fiercely loyal to Baranov, govern in person.

        Perhaps the bitterest disappointment for Baranov was the realization

that the Company had neither another post for him nor even a pension.

Delarov, the Shelekhov manager he had replaced at Kodiak in 1791, had served

as a director for many years, but Baranov seemed faced with the need to live

on his meager savings. He aged rapidly in the weeks that followed as he con–

sidered various plans and quickly changed his mind about each. For a time he

thought of going to Hawaii to spend his last days with his distant friend the

old king, Kamehameha, with whom he had resumed cautious friendly relations

some time before. Then he thought of rejoining his brother, who was still

an Anadyr trader. He thought of retiring to Ozerskoye redoubt, and then

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EA-Biog. Chevigny: A.A. Baranov

thought of living out his days on Kodiak. But it was necessary that Baranov

leave America, if anyone, however well-intentioned, meant to govern success–

fully. It was Capt. Golovnin, one of Baranov's severest critics, who

solved his two most pressing worries. He promised to sponsor his son, Antipatr,

at the naval cadet school in St. Petersburg, and prevailed upon the Company

directors to do their duty and offer the old man at least an advisory post

with an opportunity to reside in St. Petersburg where he could enjoy the

honors due him.

        Baranov left America forever on December 1, 1818. Once he had made

his decision to leave, such hurried operations were made to get him away

that he could not even visit Kodiak. Anna Grigoryevna was there, sent there

after the attempt to assassinate the family, but he could not go to see

her. It seems strange that Baranov's children did not intervene in this

somewhat cruel contravention of sentiment. Anna was provided for, however,

with a pension. He boarded the Kutusov with his nephew, Ivan Kuglinov, and

they sailed with Hagemeister in command.

        Perhaps fearing to have the old man meet Kamehameha at long last and

decide after all to remain in Hawaii, something which would certainly have

caused a disturbance, Hagemeister passed Honolulu without a stop and anchor

was not cast until, after a ten-week passage, they touched Batavia. Here

the frigate remained thirty-six days while Hagemeister attempted to

establish commercial relations. The change in climate, the inactivity, had

their effect.

        They buried Baranov at sea, in the Strait of Sunda between Java and

Sumatra. The date, by the Russian calendar, was April 13, 1819.

        The name of Baranov survives only in the mountains and other geographic

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EA-Biog. Chevigny: A.A. Baranov

places named after him, and in the numerous legends which attach to it.

No male descendants survived. Yanovski left America in 1821 and the

prediction of the old monk, Father Herman, that his wife would not long

survive St. Petersburg life, came true. Although she bore one or two

ddaughters, she had but one son and he entered the church, becoming the

Archmonk Christopher. Antipatr also failed to survive city life for

long, dying unmarried.

        After Yanovski there were many governors at Sitka, mostly from the

navy and each higher in rank than the last, until Prince Maksoutov was in

command. But something vital had gone with Baranov. The Russian-American

Company had two more charter renewals, but, although its neighbors prospered,

it went progressively down hill, until it was decided it was a useless

instrument both of business and empire, and all of its holdings were sold

to the United States in 1867. During his lifetime, Baranov saw both

the rise and wane of Russia's only colonial venture beyond the seas.

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EA-Biog. Chevigny: A.A. Baranov

---

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Baranov, A.A. Misc. papers in Nat'l. Archives, Washington, D.C.

Berkh, V.N. Khronologiskaya istorya otkrytya Aleutskikh ostrovov ili

podvigi Rossiiskavo kupechestva (Chronological history of the

discovery of the Aleutian Islands, or the exploits of the

Russian commercial companies), St. Petersburg, 1823.

Davidov, G. Dvukratnoye Puteshestvye iv Ameriku Morskikh Ofitserov Khvostova

i Davidova (Two Voyages of the Naval Officers Khvostov and Davidov

to America), St. Petersburg, 1810.

Golovnin, V.M. Obsor Russkikh Kolonii iv Severnoi Amerikye (Report on the

Colonies in North America); Memories of a Captivity in Japan,

London, 1824; Puteshetvye Ross. Imp. shlyupa Diani iz Kronshtata

iv Kamchatku, St. Petersburg, 1819.

Khlebnikov, K.T. Zhizneopisanye Aleksandra Andrevicha Baranova, glavnavo

pravitelya Russkikh kolonii iv Amerikye (Biography of Aleksandr

Andrevich Baranov, chief manager of the Russian colonies in

America), St. Petersburg, 1835.

Politovski, N. Kratkoye Istoricheskoye Obozrenye Obrazovanya i deistvya

[ ?] Rossiisko-Amerikansko Kompani (Short Historical review of

the formation and proceedings of the Russian-American Company),

St. Petersburg, 1861.

Tikhmenyev, P. Istoricheskoye Obozrenye Obrazovanya Rossiisko-Amerikanskoi

Kompanii i deistvii eya do nastoishchnavo vremenii (Historical

Review of the formation of the Russian-American Company and its

proceedings down to the present times), St. Petersburg, 1863.

----.. Materialui dlya istorii russkikh zaselenii po beregam Vostotchnavo

okeana (Materials for a history of the Russian settlements on the

eastern ocean), Press of the Ministry of Marine, St. Petersburg, 1861.

Encyclopedia articles on Baranov exist in all major Russian encycl. works.

English primary-sources are fragmentary but important, notably Vancouver's

Voyages. First-hand portraits exist in D'Wolf, J., Voyage to the North

Pacific and a journey [ ?] through Siberia , Cambridge, 1861.

        Two important bibliographies have been collated listing all source material:

Wickersham, J. A Bibliography of Alaskan History, Cordova, 1927, and

Golder, F. Guide to Materials for American History in Russian Archives,

Washington, D.C., 1917.

        The Nat'l Archives at Washington contain many documents taken from Sitka in 1867

relating to Baranov.

Chevigny.,H. Lord of Alaska, is the only full-length biography of Baranov

in English (Vikings, 1942).

       

Hector Chevigny