Historedia
Episode 2 of 2

Transfer Ceremony

When
October 18, 1867
Where
Sitka
Part of
The Alaska Purchase: the United States buys Alaska from Russia

The formal transfer of Alaska occurred in Sitka on October 18, 1867, establishing the Department of Alaska.

On October 18, 1867, USS Ossipee arrived at Sitka with Russian Commissioner Captain Alexis Pestchouroff and American Commissioner General Lovell Rousseau. The United States flag was raised, marking the transfer of control from Russia to the United States. This date is celebrated as Alaska Day.

Sources

  1. Alaska Purchase Wikipedia, revision of 2026-10-04
  2. Department of Alaska Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-06
  3. Sitka, Alaska Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-26

Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.