Statewide County HI Archives News.....Historical Background of Military in Hawai'i -- Part I June 13, 2008 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/hi/hifiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Darlene E. Kelley http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00026.html#0006374 June 17, 2008, 5:05 pm Keepers Of The Culture, A Study In Time Of The Hawaiian Islands June 13, 2008 Contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Darlene E. Kelley http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00026.html#0006374 June 13, 2008 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Historical Collections of Hawai'i Keepers of the Culture A study in time of the Hawai'ian Islands by Darlene E. Kelley Historical Background of Military in Hawai'i -- Part 1. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Part 1- Historical Background of Military in Hawai'i. [ From the Russian Presence in Hawai'i ] Early in the 19th century, Russian fur traders established trading centers from Siberia into North American continent. Russian cargo vessels regularly transacted the northern Pacific Ocean. In January 1815, a Russian-American Company vessel, named Bering, that traded furs for food throughout the Hawai'ian Islands, was ship wrecked at Waimea, Kauai. The ship and the cargo were confiscated by Kaumualii, king of Kauai. The Russian-American Company sent an agent, Georg Anton Schaffer, a Germen surgeon of one of the Company's vessels, to diplomatically recover the company's lost properties. His mission was to gain the confidence of Kamehameha I to whom in 1810, Kaumualii had acknowledged soveneignty. Once the bond existed between Schaffer and Kamehameha I, he was to reveal the true reasons of his mission and request Kamehameha's assistance in securing compensation from Kaumualii for the confiscated cargo. Despite opposition from a group of American traders who had gained Kamehameha's trust, by early 1816, Schaffer had been successful in obtaining fishing rights, livestock, and a land grant to establish a post on Oahu. Kamehameha I, however, did not lend the anticipated assistance. So Schaffer tried an alternate plan. In May 1816, he went to Hawai'i, and then to Kauai, dealing directly with Kaumualii, he was successful in securing a contract guaranteeing payment for his confiscated cargo. On July 1, 1816, Schaffer also entered into a secret treaty with Kaumualii in which he pledged arms and ships for an invasion of the islands of Oahu, Lanai, Maui, and Molokai, which Kaumualii felt was his. In return, Kaumualii promised to the Russian, half of the island of Oahu and all the sandlewood on Oahu and Kauai. He was also permitted to build factories on all of Kaumualii newly conquered islands. At Hanalei ( Princeville ) Schaffer opened a trading post and started construction of a house. On September 12, 1816, he started the works of fortification of Fort Elizabeth on a bluff, overlooking the spot at the Waimea River. In October 1816, he started at Hanalei, two earthwork forts. One named Fort Alexander ( in honor of the Tzar ) and the other was known as Fort Barclay. Hanalei was renamed Schafferthal. Fort Elizabeth is the only Russian Fort in Hawai'i that is still visible today. It is situated on the east bank at the mouth of the Waimea River. Schaffer designed the fort and directed the works, that were constructed by Hawai'ian workers. While in construction, Schaffer received word that his crew had been expelled from Oahu for building a fort and for raising the Russian flag over it. Alarmed by all this activity, before the year was out, the natives of Hanalei had revolted and leveled the forts at Hanalei, and burning a distillery which had just been built, It also killed one of his Aleut workers. On May 8, 1817, the Russian were expelled from Hawai'i and the Hawai'ians took over the fort. They finished the fort and made modifications and additions. The fort was occupied by the Hawai'ians until it was dismantled in 1864 by order of the Hawai'ian governement. The hexagonal star-like fort had walls reaching 3,66 metres inheight and 91,44 meters in diameter and consisted of hree layers; an earthen embankment, a layer of lava rock, and a hard-packed earh layer with a stone walkway atop. The compound included a guardroom, magazine, barracks, canon emplacements and a trading post. Only the remains of the outer walls are left. +++++++++++++++++ Early Contacts and Good Will Visits. Association between Hawai'i and U.S. naval activities predates back to the early 19th century. Prince George P. Kaumualii Humehume, the son of the chief of the island of Kaua'i, traveled to the United States to be educated at Cornwall School in Massachusetts. He later enlisted in the U.S. Navy and served in the Tripoli Expedition as well as during the War of 1812. During that war, in 1814, Marine Lieutenant John Gamble was given command of a captured British ship, by Captain David Ported of the USS Essex. The 390-ton vessel was loaded with whale blubber. The ship which was captured by the Essex in Marquesas, was commanded by Sir Andrew Hammond. Along with the also captured Greenwich and Seringapatam, whose crews were placed on board. The British prisoners later mutinied, but Lieutenant Gamble, managed to put down the rebellion on his ship. He was wounded in the process, but he set course for the Sandwich Islands in search of a Hawai'ian crew. He reached " Wahoo " on the island of " Owyhee " on May 23, 1814. He was the first and only Marine Lieutenant to be given command of a U.S. Navel prize. The U.S. prize vessel was recaptured soon after its stop at Hawai'i, and Gamble and his crew captured. In comparison to the future importance of Pearl Harbor and Hawai'i, the first phase of naval activity in the Islands can be categorized as imformal visits and showing the flag. This is a period without a serious commitment to establishing a long-term presence in the Islands. U.S. Navy ships called at Hawai'i to gather provisions and sometimes lend support for the American merchants abroad. Navy ships were not the first American vessels in the Islands, but sailed in the wake of Yankee merchants, who had pioneered the transpacific route in the late 18th century. John Jacob Astor's sandlewwod trade ships were in the islands in the 1790's. Ships from New England sought far flung profits by rounding the Horn and trading for seal furs on the rugged Northwest Coast. From there they crossed to Asia, stopping at Hawai'i for necessary provisions and secondary trade. Reaching Canton in Southern China, they then began their passage home to New England across the Indian Ocean and around the globe. Many of these sealing vessels in the early 19th century wintered in the Islands rather than remain on the Northwest Coast. American whalers began operating in the mid-Pacific early in the century, sometimes coming into conflict with the Boston Missinaries in Lahaina and Honolulu. The flag followed commercial profits to Honolulu Harbor. The USS Dolphin is usually cited as the first commissioned U.S. warship to arrive in Hawai'i, January 1826. In 1826 in October that year, USS Peacock arrived, commanded by Captain Thomas ap Catesby Jones. Jones had been empowered to negotiate commerce and friendship with the Hawai'ian Kingdom. Captain Jones' visit produced early results, the first Treaty between the U.S. and the Hawai'an Kingdom. Signed on December 23, 1826, this treaty provided America with a most favored status, as well as a wartime neutrality promise from the Islands. Oddly enough, it is not clear that Jones' had the authority to negotiate this treaty, and it was never ratified by the U.S. Congress. Over the next two decades, other ships were ; Vincennes ( October 13, 1829 ) , Potomac ( July 22, 1832 ), Enterprise ( September 6, 1836 ), Peacock (September 7, 1836 ), Columbia ( October 10, 1839 ), John Adams ( October 10, 1839 ), Flying Fish ( September 19, 1840 ) Vincennes ( September 24, 1840 ), Peacock ( September 30, 1840), Porpoise ( October 7, 1840 ) Vincenes ( March 8, 1841 ), Porpoise ( March 24, 1841 ) St Louis ( April 6, 1841 ), Flying Fish ( June 14, 1841 ), Peacock ( June 16, 1841 ) , Yorktown ( October 9, 1841 ), Vincennes ( November 17, 1841 ), Porpoise (November 17, 1841 ), Flying Fish (November 17, 1841 ), Oregon (November 18, 1841 ), United States ( December 4, 1842 ), Boston ( February 13, 1843 ), Constellation ( July 6, 1843) United States ( August 3, 1843 ), Cyane ( September 4, 1843 ), Constitution ( November 16, 1845 ), Cyane ( March 1846. ). These visits generally expresed good will efforts of the American government, and Captains typically transported letters to and from the respective leaders of both nations. Claims for debts made by American merchants against the Hawai'ian ali'i or royalty proved to be a constant issue. Occasionally the Navy became involved in resolving disputes between missionaries, sailors, and citizens of the Kingdom. Lt. John Percival's ( Mad Jack ) first visit on the USS Dolphin captured various perspectives under contention. Arriving in January, he had assited British Capt Edwards in the salvage of the ship London, who had run aground on the north shore of Lana'i. Upon returning to Honolulu in early February, he found that in his absence, Missionary Hiram Bingham had managed to persuade Regent Queen Kaahumanu to ban all Hawai'i women from visiting the US warship, including some of the sailors wives. Attempts to convince governement officials that shore leave and women were practiced in all civilized countries, fell on deaf ears. The missionary group had also supported restriction on the sale of alchohol. Some of the Dophin's crew, while on shore leave, joined the various whalers and led a charge at the local missionaries, chasing them into their houses and breaking up some of their structures. Some Hawai'ians and a female chief, Lydia Namahana, were also involved in the fight against the sailors. Later Captain Percival made muted apoplogies, and Governor Boki rescinded the prohibtion during the rest of the Dolphin's stay. Recommendations were later made for the Captains' court martial. However, he could not understand why the English sailors, while on shore were allowed the priviledge of the women and alcohol.[ The crew repaired the Missionaries homes and 40 broken windows.] The strategic location of the Island did not escape many of these early commanders in the Pacific. Both Britain and America offered informal advice to the Kingdom, each Navy keeping a careful eye on the influence wielded by the other.HMS Blonde, returning the bodies of King Liholiho ( Kamehameha II ) and Queen Kamamalu, who had died in London from measles, commissioned the first survey of Pearl Harbor This was carried out by Scottish engineer, Lt. Charles R. Malden, who is credited in some sources for naming the shallow bays, " lochs." The first American survey of Pearl Harbor was not carried out until 1840, when Commander John Wilkes' six ship, U.S. Exploring Expedition, arrived in Hawai'i. In addition to paying close scrutiny to the government ad linage of the Islands, and the nature of New England society being recreated by the American Missionaries, Wilkes conducted an accurate charting of the inlet of the harbor of Ewa and the Pearl River. He noted that if the water upon the bar should be deepened, it would afford the best and most capacious harbor in the Pacific. This partial suvey of the entrance was completed a year before the Malden chart of Pearl Harbor was published. Duing the 1840's an increasing number of American whalers and merchant ships were anchoring at Honolulu O'ahu, Lihue Kaua'i, and Lahaina on Maui. So many Hawai'ian men were signing on board European and American ships, that laws were passed to limit nautical exodus from the Islands. In 1841, an editorial in The Polynesian, ( a journal for foreign residents in the Hawai'ian Kingdom) supported the construction of a naval base in the Islands to protect the interests of Americans, particularly in the whaling industry. British observers were quick to see this as further evidence of America's wish to annex the Kingdom, despite official denials by the U.S. government. American Secretary of State, Daniel Webster, on December 14, 1842, made it clear the United State's position on other countries seeking influence in Hawai'i, made this statement: " The United States have regarded the existing authorities of the Sandwich Islands as a government suited to the condition of the people, and resting on their own choice, and the President is of the opinion that the interests of all nations require that the Government should not be interfered with by foreign powers. Of the vessels, which visit the Islands, it is known that a great majority belong to the United States. The United States, therefore, are more interested in the fate of these Islands and in their government, than any nation can be: this consideration induces the Preident to be quite willing to declare, as the sense of the Government of The United States, that the Government of the Sandwich Islands as a conquest, or for the purpose of colonization, that no power ought to seek any undue control over the existing government, or any exclusive privileges of preference in matters of commerce. " Nonetheless in February 1843, Lord George Paulet, on board the HMS Garysfort, sailed into the harbor, dispensing with the normal salutes to the Kingdom. Ostensbly addressing grievances stemming from a commercial lawsuit, Paulet threatened vioence in an attempt to annex the Island for Britan. Formal cessation took place at the Honolulu Fort, with the strains of " God Save the Queen " playing in the background. In the harbor standing by, was the USS Boston, who had joined the USS Constitution, witnessed the incident and signified American's opposition to the move. Wind of Paulet's brash actions reached the Authorities in London and they disvowed his actions. On July 26, HMS Dublin arrived from the South American coast, and the independence of the Kingdom was immediately restored, and the British flag was lowered from the Hawai'ian palace. The USS Constitution did not only respond by showing the flag during this incident, but also appointed Lt. L.W. Curtis USMC, with the support of local figure Gerrit P. Judd, to complete a report on strategic sites on O'ahu for the construction of fortifcations for defense Pearl Harbor was the area recommended for gun emplacements to defend the town. Here it should be pointed out that this report was offically secretly instigated at the request of Dr. Judd, desiring information on how the Hawai'ian government might best defend itself from foreign aggression. Dr.Judd, though, medical missionary-politician-plantation owner, was an American statesman for the for the Island Kingdom. In a letter to Dr. Judd accompanying his report, dated at Mazatlan February 21, 1846, Lt Curtis requested to be allowed to supervise the construction of the defenses himself, including Paixhans guns and Martello towers. These were never built, and for the next 20 years the significance of Pearl Harbor vanished from US ship reports, a clear indication the lack of particular interest in aquiring this property at the time. It was not until the 1860's that Army and Navy engineers again began looking at the Pearl Harbor situation. During this time, though, the US remained committed to have influence over the Hawai'ian Islands. When France agitated for special concessions from the Hawai'ian government in the 1850's, American advisors directed the king to draw up a deed of cessation to the United States. Like the British incident earlier, this too, came to naught, but the Navy Department received orders to maintian the naval armament in the Pacific in order to guarentee the safety of the Hawai'ian goverment. Special commercial privileges were granted to Hawai'i in exchange for the exclusive material and military privileges secured to the United States. The Kingdom was technically neutral during the American Civil War, but the period in general served to strengthen the economic ties between Hawai'i and the American mainland. Admiral Matthew Galbraith Perry's squadron of black ships had opened Japan to American commerce. Though he did not stop in the Islands, this foot in East Asia highlighted Hawai'i as a strategic port-of-call. During the Civil War, the collapse of the South's agricultural exports initiated the plantation boom in distant locations in the Pacific. Projected trade with the East and agricultural exports focused attention on the Pacific region. The predatory activities of commerce raider CSS Shenandoah, with some 38 prizes to her name, proved that even in the distant Pacific region, Union commerce was quite vulnerable. Ships USS Vanderbilt, Tuscarora, Powhatan, and Monadnock were added to the Pacific Squadron during the War, bringing its total strength to 14 vessels. In 1865, the squadron was split into North and South Pacific elements. The North Pacific Squadron was responsible for Hawai'i and the West Coast. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Continued in part 2. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/hi/statewide/newspapers/historic13nw.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.poppet.org/hifiles/ File size: 17.4 Kb