ailors, and Aleuts
flung themselves against the fortifications, but meeting a murderous
fire were driven back in disorder and only saved from disaster by the
protection of the fire of the ships. Ten men were killed and 26 wounded,
and among the wounded was Baranof.

Captain Lisianski then took command and moved his ships nearer the
shore. A canoe with reinforcements and a supply of powder for the
Indians approached among the islands but a shot from the "Neva" struck
it, the powder exploded, and the Indians who were saved from the wreck
were taken on board the Russian ship. The bombardment was steadily
continued until the 6th of October, when the Kolosh proposed to
surrender, and a parley was held, but during the night they evacuated
the fort and went over the mountains to the north. In the fort were left
the bodies of 30 warriors and also the bodies of five children who had
been killed to prevent their cries making the retreat known to the
Russians. The only remaining survivors were two old women and a little
boy. A few straggling warriors remained lurking about, seeking revenge,
and a few days later they killed eight Aleuts who were fishing on
Jamestown Bay.

How the Kolosh went over the mountains was long a mystery to the
Russians. They reached the shore of Peril Strait and crossing to the
north shore placed a fort near the entrance to Sitkoh Bay which was
stronger than their old fort at Indian River and where over 1,000 people
gathered. A tradition among the old Indians says that the fugitives
first went to Old Sitka, then over the mountains to the northeastern
side of the island. On the way they suffered extremely from fatigue and
hunger, and one Sitka Indian who lives on Peril Strait relates that his
father was a child at the time of the exodus. His father carried him
till exhausted, when he abandoned him, and his mother then took him up
and carried him the remainder of the way.

The property left in the fort by the Kolosh was taken out, the
fortification was burned and the canoes on the beach were broken to
pieces. There was enough remaining of the structure that some of the
remains of the foundation may yet be seen in the forest which has sprung
up around it in the Indian River Park, although more than a century has
since elapsed.

[Illustration: Sitka in 1805--From Lisianski's Voyage.]

Then began the restoration of the post, on the present site of Sitka,
and with energy and despatch the building of a new