Alaska Purchase

By the 1860s, the Russian-American Company, which managed Russia's colonies in Alaska, was losing money, so Russia decided to sell its American territory. On March 30, 1867, U.S. Secretary of State William H. Seward agreed to Russian Ambassador Eduard de Stoeckl's proposal to purchase Alaska, and President Andrew Johnson signed the treaty on May 28, agreeing to pay $7.2 million for Alaska, or two cents per acre. On October 18, 1867, representatives of the U.S., Russia, and the Russian-American Company arrived in Sitka on the USS Ossipee for the transfer ceremony. That afternoon, Russian and American troops assembled on the hill in front of the governor's house, and at 3:30 p.m. Prince Maksutov and General Rousseau took their positions near the flag. As the Russian double-headed eagle was lowered, it became tangled, then fell onto Russian bayonets once freed, and Prince Maksutov's wife fainted. General Rousseau's son then hoisted the American flag, marking the beginning of a new era.

Sitka, Alaska · United States