Watched Days

On 18 October 1867 the United States took Alaska from Russia at Sitka. The same afternoon got written two different ways: 18 October on the American (Gregorian) calendar, 6 October on the Julian calendar Sitka had been living on. Then the calendars changed and days fell off the year.

Even the record splits on how many. The National Archives says Alaskans “lost 11 days”; the Julian-Gregorian gap in 1867 was 12. About two cents an acre, and a date nobody can write down once.

The Russian flag would not come down. A witness wrote that the double eagle “entangled its claws around the spar,” and two soldiers climbed and slipped off before a third pulled it loose.

The record book keeps the time. Here it cannot agree what time it kept.

Source: Wikipedia, Alaska Purchase and Alaska Day; U.S. National Archives, “Seward's time-traveling folly” (Pieces of History, 18 Oct 2010). Checked 18 October 2026.