Alaska Day

What the day marks

Alaska Day marks an anniversary, not a season or a saint's feast. On 18 October 1867 the land Russia called Russian America became part of the United States. The sale had been agreed in March, but the handover in Sitka came months later, once the commissioners arrived. Today the date is written into Alaskan law, so state offices close and employees are paid for the day off. The holiday looks back at one afternoon in Sitka, and at the long consequences that followed for the people already living there.

The transfer at Sitka

In October 1867 the commissioners reached Sitka and arranged the formal handover. The ceremony began at half past three in the afternoon, at Fort Sitka. About 250 United States Army soldiers marched to the governor's house on Castle Hill. The Russian flag was lowered, and the American flag was raised by George Lovell Rousseau, the general's son and private secretary. Guns on the ships, including the Ossipee, fired salutes. Captain Pestchouroff told the American officer that the Emperor of Russia was handing over the territory. General Lovell Rousseau later sent Secretary of State William H. Seward his report of the day.

Calendars and the date

The United States counted its dates by the Gregorian calendar, while Russia still used the Julian calendar, which ran twelve days behind in the nineteenth century. The same afternoon therefore carries two dates: 18 October in American records, and 6 October, often called Old Style, in Russian ones. A few accounts give 7 October instead, because Sitka and St. Petersburg lie eleven hours apart. The purchase agreement itself had been signed earlier that year, in Washington, D.C., on 30 March 1867.

How it is kept

Alaska's territorial legislature made Alaska Day a holiday in 1917, and it has stayed on the books since. State employees are paid for the day. Sitka is where the observance runs strongest: schools let students out early, many businesses shut, and the town puts on a parade. Part of the programme is a reenactment of the 1867 flag ceremony, with the raising and lowering acted out once more. Other Alaskan communities mark the date with smaller events and discussions.

A contested meaning

Not everyone treats the date as a plain celebration. Some Alaska Native people observe it with mixed feelings or in protest, arguing that it honours events which harmed their communities and their sovereignty. Native organisers say the land had been home to Indigenous peoples for thousands of years, so Russia had no right to sell it, and they call a sale made without Native consent illegitimate. Some have described the transfer and the treatment that followed as cultural genocide. Peter Bradley, formerly of Sitka, proposed renaming the holiday Reconciliation Day. Local authorities still keep 18 October as a legal holiday.

How Alaska Day is kept

Alaska Day is a single day, 18 October. State employees have it as a paid holiday, so government offices are shut. In Sitka, schools finish early and many businesses close. The day usually opens with a parade through town, followed by a reenactment at the site of the 1867 ceremony, where the lowering of the Russian flag and the raising of the American flag are acted out again. Speakers and historical talks are common. Some Alaska Native organisers hold separate gatherings, discussions or protests on the same date.

When and where

Alaska Day is fixed to 18 October, the same date each year, which is when the flag ceremony took place in 1867. Because the United States used the Gregorian calendar and Russia the Julian, Russian records of the same afternoon show 6 October. Seward's Day, a separate state holiday, remembers the treaty signing in Washington, D.C. and falls in March.

Alaska Day is a state holiday in Alaska, and Sitka is its centre. The 1867 handover happened there, and the parade and reenactment are held there each year. Smaller observances and discussions take place in other Alaskan towns, and Alaska Native groups organise their own gatherings on the date.

What Alaska Day means

For many Alaskans the date stands for the moment their home changed hands and joined the United States. The image people return to is the two flags, one coming down and the other going up. For Alaska Native peoples the same image carries a different weight: it marks the start of a period when their land was treated as property to be traded, and their consent was not asked for. Keeping the date, whether in celebration or in protest, is a way of arguing about what the transfer still means.

Questions people ask about Alaska Day

See also

Independence DayThe United States' national day of parades, barbecues and fireworks, kept each July 4Talking stickA carved staff that shows who may speak at a Northwest Coast gatheringState of the Union addressThe US president's yearly report to Congress and the nation, given in the House chamberFlag DayAn annual American observance marking the 1777 adoption of the national flag

Good reading and sources

• Primary Documents in American HistoryLibrary of Congress, Article
• Primary Documents in American HistoryLibrary of Congress, Article

• Alaska Day on WikipediaEncyclopedia
• More photos on Wikimedia CommonsPhotos and video
• Wikidata recordOpen data

It may contain mistakes. Traditions differ from one family, village and community to the next, and the people who keep them know them best. If something is wrong, tell us. Last refreshed 2026-10-05.