Part I of Another Alaska

Secretary Seward was a man who wanted to see the United States stretch out her arms out across the world; as an advocate of imperialism and expansion, he had often proposed legislation to buy up or conquer foreign lands from Panama to the Caribbean. But the rapidly-escalating conflict with the Southern States now stood as an obstacle firmly in the path of his plans; though no major engagements had yet occurred, Seward knew that one was coming. Congress could hardly be bothered with expanding the Union if no Union remained to expand upon. Even as Seward had been planning one of the most ambitious territorial expansion proposals in history, armies in both North and South were drilling, marching and training to destroy each other, and he found that responding to the events of the war took nearly every ounce of his time and energy.

With these and other thoughts flowing in and out of his mind, Seward signed his name with an elaborate flourish and folded the letter. "John? I need you to bring this over to the White House. Give it to Mr. Lincoln's secretary. It's a letter regarding the appointment of Senator Cassius Clay to the position of Minister to Russia." The Secretary's voice betrayed his distaste for the senator.

John took the letter and turned to leave. "Hmm. That reminds me," Seward said. "Have any telegraph reports come in for me today? I didn't make it over to the office this morning."

"A whole load of them, sir. Generals O'Neill and McDowell, Eduard de Stoeckle, Secretary Welles..." his aide ticked off various names on his fingers as he exited the room.

Seward was already reading over the next document.

***June 1, 1861***

"Hi yi! Here we are, Sitka!" Alexandre Choquette exclaimed joyfully.

His companions joined him on the deck of the Tsaritsa, a northbound Russian ship that had stopped and picked them up in Wrangell. Alexandre, who was generally called "Buck" Choquette on account of his ever-present buckskin trousers, jacket and fur cap, continued to shield his eyes and squint across the blue waves. Occasionally he would catch a morning-fog-obscured glimpse of the masts of fishing boats, or of the Russian flag waving from Baranov Castle. "Georgiana, do you see it?" Buck turned to his wife.

Georgiana watched until her brown, almond-shaped eyes glimpsed the coastline, and her smile was genuine as she nodded to her husband; she had never been out to sea in anything larger than one of her tribe's fishing boats, and she had never traveled this far. The Tlingit Indian could hardly believe how fast her life had changed when she had accepted his marriage proposal a month ago. As the daughter of the powerful Chief Shakes, Georgiana had always assumed she would marry into another tribe of Tlingits, and it had never crossed her mind that a white fur trapper and explorer might so abruptly enter her world.

But she knew that Buck was no ordinary fur trapper. He spoke rudimentary Tlingit with astonishing ease, as well as English and his native French. She had only known her husband for eight weeks, but she was impressed by his charm and his easy grasp of her people's culture and customs. Georgiana was almost equally impressed by his apparent wisdom; Choquette had traversed the entire continent during his thirty-two years of life.

At the moment, however, she noted with only the ghost of a smile that her husband looked distinctly unwise.