1868, AK: A greenhorn and the Lingít
A year after the USA took over Alaska from the Russians, a letter arrived in one of the eastern states from one of the first Army personnel to be stationed in the territory’s southeastern Panhandle.
Having come from Fort Steilacoom near modern Tacoma, WA, the troops arrived on Tongass Island, AK, to build Fort Tongass, in Lingít (a.k.a. Tlingit) territory.
Two medicines? Image credit: Wikipedia
Thus, the letter writer shows familiarity with Chinuk Wawa. His name, by the way: J.C. Carter, A[cting].A[ssistant]. Surgeon, U.S. Army. He was one of the two “citizen surgeons” in the contingent sent to establish Fort Tongass, thus a civilian, I take it.
There’s evidence that some southeast Alaska Indigenous people already knew Chinook Jargon by that time, from having visited the PNW’s greatest metropolis, Victoria, BC.
So the writer’s references to “Bostons” and “King George men” (Americans and British) aren’t unexpected, and are believable enough, if pretty common and bland. Lots of English-speakers in that era knew about these 2 terms, even without themselves knowing how to talk Jargon.
But it gets better: this Tongass correspondent supplies us with a bit more Chinook, while helping us calibrate how well he knew it:
In paying professional visits to the Indians I always take my friend R. with me, whom I pass off for a doctor also, and they say, “Hi yer ! Boston‘s got mox medicines !”! (two doctors). The language they speak is a sort of Indian Patois, not the genuine Chinook tongue, which is quite difficult to acquire.
— from “Life in Alaska”, in the Bedford County (PA) Press and Everett Press of July 29, 1868, page 2, columns 2 and 3
Because Carter is one of the rare few to claim Chinook Jargon isn’t easy to learn, he must’ve been a greenhorn, oops, I mean to say a cheechako. He must not have picked up very much of it down in Washington Territory.
Even so, he quotes an additional word or two of CJ there. Nice to find some of the earliest scraps of Chinuk Wawa in Alaska!
Bonus fact:
Fort Tongass didn’t last long at all, closing in 1870, but while it was there, we’re told that the soldiers put out a newspaper titled in Chinook Jargon: the Tongass Wa-Wa.
Unfortunately, no copies of it are known to exist…
