In what is now Southeast Alaska, the Tlingit severely outgunned the Russians and other fur-trading interests from the late 18th century until the exhaustion of the fur supply in the 1830s and 1840s. With revenue from the lucrative sea otter trade, the Tlingit were able to acquire state-of-the-art small arms and even some small cannon. This superiority in arms showed up in the defeat of the Russians at Yakutat and at the first Battle of Sitka in 1802.

Even at the Second Battle of Sitka in 1804, the Russians faced long odds until they successfully interdicted the supply of gunpowder to the Tlingit defenders, who were besieged in a particularly defensible fort. This interdiction, coupled with heavy bombardment from shipboard artillery, forced the Tlingit to evacuate the fortress under cover of darkness.

Until the late 1840s, and even to some degree until the end of the Russian period, the ability of the Tlingit to blockade the Russian presence at Sitka meant the Russians had to work cautiously in Southeastern Alaska.