Scutd-doo's son, Lowan, had earlier been killed by soldiers following an altercation in which he bit off a finger of the wife of the quartermaster of Fort Wrangell.

In the summer of 1868 a detachment from Battery I of the 2nd Regiment of Artillery established a small outpost at Fort Wrangell (which was previously a trading post) in a 200 by 200 feet area, surrounded by a 10-foot log wall with elevated platforms, a 12-pounder mountain howitzer, and a 6-pounder cannon.

Americans generally characterized the Tlingit legal framework as based on "revenge"; in actuality it was more complex and involved "peace ceremonies" which included compensation in either goods or human lives.

[2][3] Leon Smith was a former steamboat captain and Confederate volunteer who served during the American Civil War as Commander of the Texas Marine Department.

During the war, Smith's rank was variously described as naval lieutenant, captain, and commodore or army major, and colonel, but he was not actually commissioned.

Smith lived outside the fort, and was involved in late October 1869 in the beating of a Stikine he suspected (wrongly) of hitting his son.

The party apparently also involved liquor, although subsequent reports by the Army omit this fact since serving alcohol to natives was against Federal law.

[1][2] The following day, the 27th of December, saw additional skirmishes between the Stikine and the garrison, and the army fired explosive shells from the 12-pounder mountain howitzer at the village as well.

[2] On 28 December, an army court-martial was convened in the fort, with the jury consisting of Lieutenants Borrowe and Loucks, Smith's partner William K. Lear, and Acting Assistant Surgeon H. M.

Russell Estlack argued that after the army departed Alaska in 1887, its "dismal record during the occupation was mainly the punishment of Indians for quarrels the soldiers initiated by their own acts.