Shakes Grave
(Photo by Jimmy Emerson, DVM)
The grave of Kaawishté, the fifth Shakes of the Naan.yaa.áyi clan, is an important Wrangell landmark. Here’s more about the man and how his grave was a turning point in history.
This photograph from 1868 by Eadward Muybridge depicts two men standing on Shakes Island, home of the Naan.yaa.áyi clan. Some scholars believe that the man on the right is Kaawishté, Shakes V.
The LIfe of Kaawishté
Perhaps none of the men to bear the title of Shakes saw as much change as Kaawishté. He was born into one world and died in another.
His exact birthdate is unclear, but we know he was born in the early 1800s when the Tlingit still lived in Kaats’litaan on the southwest side of Wrangell Island. The village numbered over a thousand residents, each living a thoroughly traditional, Tlingit life. But dramatic change was coming.
When Russian fur traders established a post on Wrangell Island in the early 1830s, they brought economic opportunity and a changed way of life. To trade with the Russians, the Tlingit relocated near the north end of Wrangell Island and established Ḵaachx̱ana.áakʼw inside Etolin Harbor. The British soon leased the fort from the Russians. One consequence of the cultural exchange was epidemic disease, which spread rapidly and reduced the Indigenous population to a fraction of its former size.
Around this time, Kaawishté became the fifth leader of the Naan.yaa.áyi. He inherited the role following the death of his mother’s brother, the fourth Shakes, Keishíshk’. While the Naan.yaa.áyi clan was wealthy and powerful, Shakes was no dictator. He led by consensus of other clans and their leaders.
In 1860, Kaawishté allowed French-Canadian prospector Buck Choquette to marry his daughter, Georgiana, and to explore the Stikine River for gold. According to his descendant, Henry W. Clark, Kaawishté said:
“Kloshe tumtum mika (you are welcome) to search our great Stikine. I will let you have men and canoes to help you in your voyage, but now you must rest from your long journey while we tell you about our country and our people.”
Buck Choquette discovered gold and set off Alaska’s first gold rush in 1861. By the end of the 1860s, the gold rush was over, but the American era was beginning. The U.S. Army acquired Russia’s interests in Alaska and began constructing Fort Wrangel in 1868, just north of Ḵaachx̱ana.áakʼw. On the day after Christmas 1869, the U.S. Army fired cannons on Ḵaachx̱ana.áakʼw, destroying homes and sending civilians fleeing. That evening, Kaawishté still refused to surrender. William Tamaree recounted:
“Now, Chief Shakes, who is the head chief, gets mad. He rushes to Towatt’s house. He says, ‘Towatt, we are going to the fort. We will talk to the white chief. The soldiers have killed two of our men. We have killed one of theirs. We will take one soldier and we will kill him and then everything will be even.’ ”
The village survived the bombardment, and the Army eventually abandoned Fort Wrangel. In the years that followed, the village became overrun with gold-seekers amidst the Cassiar Gold Rush of 1874 who brought vice and debauchery. Attempting to bring order, the Army temporarily reoccupied Fort Wrangel but abandoned it again in June 1877.
Following the death of Kaawishté (Shakes V), his body was staged for a photograph. He is featured wearing his regalia and surrounded by artifacts of cultural patrimony, suggesting his power and wealth.
The Death of Shakes
The death of Kaawishté in 1878 came at a time of peak uncertainty about the future. Fort Wrangel was an abandoned outpost in the American frontier. The swelling population in Foreign Town led to a simmering conflict with Ḵaachx̱ana.áakʼw. A single U.S. Customs Collector waged a losing battle against bootlegging. Without a court in town, the townsfolk organized to hang John Boyd for shooting Thomas O’Brien in a saloon.
Some of the Tlingit families in Ḵaachx̱ana.áakʼw were recent converts to Christianity. They were members of a mission started by Tsimshian Methodist Philip “Clah” McKay. Like other missionaries, McKay argued that the tradition of cremation must end. He advocated for Western-style burial with headstones, leading to the founding of the Indian Cemetery in 1876. When Clah became ill and died at the end of 1877, he handed over control of his mission to Presbyterian Amanda McFarland.
Just a few months later, Kaawishté died in April 1878. When the Shakes family came to McFarland, they asked her what she thought should be done with his remains. In a letter to Sheldon Jackson dated May 11, 1878, McFarland wrote:
“Two weeks ago Shaaks (the head chief of these Indians) came home sick with hemorrhage of the lungs. He only lived a few days after getting home. He died on Wednesday, and they kept the body lying in state (or rather sitting for they had him sitting up) until Sabbath day. They sent for me to decide for them, whether they should burn the body or burry it. I told them if I was to decide the matter, I would say bury it.”
For Amanda McFarland, this was a big win. The Shakes family was wealthy, prominent, and well-connected. Their adoption of burial could influence others and signal a shift in the relationship between the missionaries and the Tlingit.
Rather than burying Kaawishté in the Indian Cemetery, his survivors selected a spot directly east of Shakes Island, on a prominent hillside looking west. His grave is surrounded by a tall four-post fence. Two carved killer whales sit atop the front two posts, facing each other, evoking Shakes’ clan symbol. The elevation and exceptionally wide, spacious area within the fence suggests Shakes’ importance.
The popularity of fences around Tlingit graves would take off. In 1898, Reverend Alvin C. Austin recalled:
“The one INDISPENSABLE thing is a fence around the grave. No man has performed his whole duty to the departed relative until this matter has been attended to. One young man who was living with a woman whom I urged him to marry, said he could not marry until he had built a FENCE AROUND HIS FATHER’S GRAVE.”
Shakes Grave has long been a popular destination for tourists. This photo shows an unidentified woman standing in front of Shakes Grave, circa 1910. (source: Wikipedia)
A Local Landmark
Known to locals simply as Shakes Grave, the site has been photographed, sketched, and described by visitors for nearly 150 years.
1893 Appleton’s Guide to Alaska: “Shake’s Grave, on the point reached by a foot-bridge, is an object of interest… When Shakes was laid away in a balconied pavilion on the Point, a bear was put on guard.”
1910, G. Waldo Browne and Nathan Haskell Dole: “The curious visitor is taken to see the grave of the historic old chief, Shakes, who was for nearly half a century the terror of the coast.”
January 4, 1923, the Stockton Review and Rooks County Record: “It has quite a large Indian village and about thirty passengers got off at midnight and started to Chief Shake's grave, which was rather shaky, as well as spooky at that time of the night, as I can testify being one of the number.”
September 12, 1923 Houston Chronicle: “Shakes’ grave was marked by a fence and some totems, but what attracted our attention was that there were strawberries growing on the grave; a good quantity of strawberries, and we were informed that they were ‘picked every two days.’”
June 29, 1955, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer: “Across the inner harbor at Wrangell, only a grassy hill, is a Russian-style wood fence, build around the grave of Chief Shakes V. The visitor sees it with a shock of recognition. For atop the fence on either end is a grinning, wooden killer whale.”
One mystery I could not solve was the identity who may have been buried in the grave next to Kaawishté. Old photographs clearly show another, smaller four-post fence next to Kaawishté, suggesting a second grave. No public records I could find mention who may also have been buried here.
Life Grows On
The design of Kaawishté’s grave has remained remarkably unchanged over the years. When one piece of it wears away, a new generation is called upon to replace, restore, and renew it. At some point, the flat-top fence became a pointy picket fence. In the past, reaching Shakes Grave meant scaling a stumpy, brushy hillside. Today, a wooden staircase ascends up to the grave from Case Avenue below. A plaque on the fence describes the story of Shakes and his legacy. The grave is managed today by descendants of Shakes VI, Gush Tlein.
While the grave has not changed much, the world around it has. Homes, businesses, and power lines sprung up in front of the grave and obscured its view of Etolin Harbor and Shakes Island. Photos from the past suggest Shakes Grave was once in a clearing, but now a thick canopy of trees keep it permanently in the shade.
Since the beginning, the grave has been besieged by southeast Alaska’s wild underbrush. In 1946, art historian Katharine Kuh published a Report on Preservation of Indian Art in Southeastern Alaska. She included twelve Recommendations for Wrangell. Seventh on her list was an item relating to Shakes Grave, “The grass around Shakes grave should be cut. This, I am sure, the town will do, if the matter is brought to its attention.”
In 2023, Wrangell High senior Brodie Gardner helped organize volunteers to restore Shakes Grave. As she told the Wrangell Sentinel:
“I haven’t been up there in probably a few years, then I went up there and said, ‘Oh, my gosh. This is bad.’ From the road (the fence) looks completely fine, but the two you can’t see are completely down.”
The grave of Kaawishté connects Wrangell to the tumultuous decade of the 1870s. It represents a crossover point between Tlingit and Christian traditions and serves as a standing monument to an influential Tlingit leader.
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Wrangell Cemeteries
Researching history is amazing, but disturbing headstones is a bad idea. Before attempting to move or clean a headstone, consult with local government, tribal organizations, and next-of-kin to make sure you’re doing it the right way! You never want to be responsible for damaging a grave, even with the best of intentions. There are people in Alaska who are experts in this field, and you should seek out their advice!