THE GARRISON ITSELF, meanwhile, was in chaos. When the attack began, only about 750 soldiers were in the fort; most of the others were on leave or quartered in nearby villages. The besieged soldiers tumbled into the fort from the roof and told of planes with no engines appearing silently out of the night sky.
When did Alaska become a state? Alaska was formally recognized by the U.S. as one of its states on the third day of January in 1959. To know more about the history of the place, it is best to look at the important events that happened in the state from the 1700s to the 1900s.
Alaska was unexplored in 1867 when Secretary of State William Seward arranged for its purchase from the Russians for $7,200,000 (about two cents per acre). The purchase was widely ridiculed as âSeward's Folly.â Alaska is the largest state in the union (1/5 of the entire USA) and is twice as big as Texas. In 1880, Alaskas population consisted of 33,426, of which only 430 were not natives. The Gold Rush of 1898 brought a mass influx of more than 30,000 people.