Nonacceptance and the rationale behind the clans' response to the U.S. Army

During a break in the U.S. Army apology ceremony, Sik'nax̲.ádi clan leader John Martin walked over to a table in the audience, turned and handed U.S. Army Chaplain Phillip Rittermeyer a book. It was "The Sea Runners," by Ivan Doig, a novel about four indentured servants and their quest for freedom in a stolen canoe. Rittermeyer turned to those seated at his table and explained what happened.

"We met last night, and he wanted me to have this," the chaplain said, tapping the book to the table.

In a public event on Jan. 11 at the Nolan Center, the U.S. Army apologized for its 1869 bombardment of the Wrangell Native village. Four of the seven clans accepted the apology, but if there was a takeaway from the event, it was this: The apology was not the end of the clans' relationship with the Army. It was the beginning.

The all-day event was riddled with little moments like this one: a clan leader and an Army chaplain, snippets of novel connection, a collaborative relationship in its infancy, confirmed by such slivers of humanity.

"This is not the end but a beginning," Teehítaan clan leader Mike Aak'wtaatseen Hoyt said at the apology ceremony. "The beginning of a relationship being restored."

This mindset is partially why three clans did not fully accept the Army's apology - the Teehítaan, Kiks'adi and Naanya.aayí. But to understand why these clans did accept the apology in full is also to understand Tlingit apologetic tradition.

Carla Kat.x̲ún Casulucan is an elder in training in the Kaagwaantaan clan in Hoonah. Raised in a traditionally Tlingit home, Casulucan, whose father's first language is Tlingit, spoke with the Sentinel after the ceremony to explain the intricacies of a Tlingit apology.

"(The clans) are embracing the Army because they want to further their relationship, to better understand each other and heal the past wrongs. But you can't do that if you accept the apology," she explained. "Because if you've accepted it, it's a done deal. You can never bring it up again."

This logic is similar to the Tlingit understanding of debt. Last September, the clans took down the Three-Frog Totem on Shakes Island. The totem represented a debt, and in Tlingit tradition, once the totem falls, the debt is never to be mentioned from the moment the pole hits the earth. The Sentinel obtained special permission from the clans to report on that event.

Casulucan made another interesting point. She noted the linguistic differences between English and Tlingit make it difficult to draw a direct comparison between a concept as abstract as nonacceptance.

"The richness and complexities of Tlingit culture can be difficult to correlate to Western reasoning," she said.

This is in part why some of the clans' responses to Maj. Gen. Joseph Hilbert appeared vague.

Hoyt, for example, said the Teehítaan clan did not "fully accept" the apology. Lu Knapp, speaking for the Naanya.aayí, described the apology as "a first step." Richard Tashee Rinehart and the Kiks.adi said "this is a time we can start moving forward" - something that, per Tlingit apologetic tradition, would not be possible had the Kiks.adi clan accepted the apology flat out.

"That has a lot to do with why we didn't accept it," Rinehart said after the ceremony. "We don't feel like we're there."

The clans that did not explicitly accept the apology neither flat out rejected it. Their responses existed instead in a space in between, a warm acknowledgement of the Army's efforts with an eagerness to move forward together, rather than a response fashioned by a damning dismissal.

The clans met many times ahead of the Jan. 11 ceremony and clan leaders said the decision to either accept or not accept the apology was a long and thought-out process.

One reason why some clans opposed a complete acceptance is because they believe further reparations are required to restore the balance of the Army's 1869 bombardment. The biggest ask? Land.

"When (my father) was on his deathbed, I literally promised him that I'd keep fighting until we get our land," Rinehart said back in 2022.

Flash forward three years to the Army apology in 2025 and the Wrangell Native community remains landless. When the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act was passed in 1971, Wrangell was not designated as a village corporation or granted any land, though the legislation created more than 200 village corporations around the state.

Several speakers and attendees at the apology were quick to point out this fault, something that would need congressional action to be remedied. When asked about his thoughts on the apology, attendee Arthur Kaakẃ Yéis Larsen was blunt.

"About time," he said, "but we can't heal yet. We still need to get our land."

Rinehart is the chairman of Sealaska Corp., the regional Native corporation for Southeast. He knows the Army is not singularly responsible for alleviating Wrangell's landless status, but he believes there is more to be done as this relationship between the Army and the clans continues to evolve.

"I know it's not up to them on the land issue, but there are other things they could do. They could help us fund a new clan house," he said.

When WCA Tribal Administrator Esther Aaltséen Reese made the initial apology request to the Army, one item she included was funding for a bombardment museum that would resemble a Tlingit clan house. At the time, this request was denied by the Army.

But today, clan leaders like Hoyt are cautiously optimistic about future projects now that a relationship between the two entities has been established. In a conversation with Hilbert, Hoyt was rather honest with the general.

"You're here to apologize for something you had no hand in whatsoever. You weren't even alive. To get angry at you would make zero sense," Hoyt said. "But you do have a voice in terms of what happens next, and to that extent, we are going to voice our concerns."

While Hoyt remains grateful for the apology and the gifts the Army gave to clan leaders and representatives, he hopes that whatever comes next can benefit both the Wrangell community and the ongoing restoration of Tlingit tradition. Hoyt suggested the funding of Tlingit educational programs or further totem replications as possible next steps.

"I can't hold all of colonization against just this one entity, but at the moment, they're the representatives of the United States," he said. "I'm going to make my pitch to somebody, and the people that are listening happen to be the U.S. Army."