Robert William Wilcox

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Robert William Wilcox led unsuccessful rebellions to restore the monarchy. He was tried and acquitted each time. Wilcox served as the first Delegate to Congress for the Territory of Hawai'i.

This article is about the Hawaiian revolutionary; for the English martyr, see Bl. Robert Wilcox

Robert William Kalanihiapo Wilcox (February 15, 1855-October 23, 1903), nicknamed the Iron Duke of Hawaiʻi, was a native Hawaiian revolutionary, soldier and delegate to the United States Congress for the Territory of Hawaiʻi. Considered a menace to the government of the Republic of Hawaiʻi, Wilcox is today recognized as a hero by some of the people of Hawaiʻi for his instigation of the Wilcox rebellions.

[edit] Education

Wilcox was born in 1855 on the island of Maui. His parents sent him to Haleakala Boarding School in the town of Makawao. Upon completion of his studies, Wilcox became a teacher at a Maui country school.

[edit] Military career

In 1880, Wilcox was elected to the royal legislature in Honolulu on the island of Oʻahu. He represented the citizens of Wailuku and its neighboring Maui towns. In 1881, Wilcox left the island for Turin, Italy to study at the Royal Military Academy. By the time he completed his training in 1885, he achieved the rank of sublieutenant of artillery. Impressed with his military skills, Italian officials sent Wilcox to the Royal Application School for Engineer and Artillery Officers.

[edit] Planned Rebellion of 1888

In 1887, in the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi, King David Kalākaua had signed the Bayonet Constitution stripping the rights of Asians to vote in elections, and placing income and property requirements on voters limiting the electorate to wealthy native Hawaiians, Americans, and Europeans. Wilcox had been studying abroad at the expense of the Kingdom, and the Reform Party which took power in 1887 ended the costly program. On August 29, 1887, Wilcox received his orders to return home. Returning to Hawaiʻi in October, he began a career as a surveyor with the patronage of Charles B. Wilson, but soon quit. Wilcox along with Charles Wilson and Sam Nowlein, participated in planning a coup to replace Kalākaua with Liliʻuokalani, but the plot was never executed. On February 11, 1888, Wilcox left Hawaiʻi for San Francisco, intending to return to Italy with his wife.

[edit] Rebellion of 1889

Instead of returning to Italy, Wilcox took up residence in San Francisco, California, and worked as a surveyor while his wife earned extra money teaching French and Italian. When he decided to return to Hawaiʻi in the spring of 1889, his wife, Gina Wilcox, refused to go with him, and took their daughter back to Italy.

Wilcox planned and executed an attempt to have Kalākaua sign a new constitution on July 30, 1889. Kalākaua, apparently aware of the plot, avoided the palace, afraid that the rebellion would replace him with Liliʻuokalani. Stymied, Wilcox was finally confronted by the Honolulu Rifles. After a pitched battle, Wilcox surrendered. He was tried for treason but acquitted. Following his uprising, Wilcox was elected to the royal legislature where he served from 1890 to 1894.

[edit] Rebellion of 1895

Following the Hawaiian Revolution, Wilcox was brought into a conspiracy in support of the queen to effect a counter-revolution against the newly created Republic of Hawaiʻi. The key conspirators in the plans for rebellion were Sam Nowlein, head of the Queen's guard, Charles T. Gulick, advisor to both Kalākaua and Liliʻuokalani, and William H. Rickard, a sugar planter of British parentage. Royalist and republic forces clashed at the base of Diamond Head Jan. 6 and 7, 1895. Another skirmish took place in Moʻiliʻili Jan. 7. Manoa was the scene of action Jan. 9. Casualties were minor, the only fatality being C.L. Carter, a member of a prominent island family. The rebel forces were quickly routed by government forces, and Wilcox spent several days in hiding before being captured. All royalist leaders had been arrested by Jan. 16, when the Queen was taken in custody at Washington Place and imprisoned in ʻIolani Palace. Wilcox was arrested and tried for treason. He was sentenced to death but was pardoned by President Sanford B. Dole.

[edit] Congress

After the Newlands Resolution was adopted in 1898 and the Hawaiian Organic Act created the office of Delegate to Congress for the new territory, Wilcox organized a campaign to get elected. Helping transform previously anti-annexation native Hawaiian political clubs into the Hawaiian Independent Party (later called the Home Rule Party), he advocated for "Equal rights for the People". He hoped that his seat in Washington, DC could be used to advocate for native Hawaiians, a community he feared would be neglected by the American government. Wilcox served in Congress from November 6, 1900 to March 3, 1903, and was succeeded by Prince Kūhiō (Republican) after the Home Rule Party tore itself apart.

Robert second wife was Princess Theresa Owana Kaohelelani Laanui of the Kamehameha Dynasty. They had a son, Prince Robert Kalanikupuapaikalaninui Wilcox and a daughter, Princess Virginia Kahoa Kaʻahumanu Kaihikapumahana Wilcox. His daughter from his first marriage died shortly after his breakup with Gina Wilcox.

[edit] Memorial

Wilcox's grave.

The same year he left Congress, Wilcox died on October 23. He was buried at the Honolulu Catholic Cemetery. In 1993, a bronze statue of Wilcox was unveiled at Fort Street Mall. The statue now stands prominently in downtown Honolulu at Wilcox Park, also named in his honor.

[edit] References

• Andrade Jr., Ernest (1996). Unconquerable Rebel: Robert W. Wilcox and Hawaiian Politics, 1880-1903. University Press of Colorado. ISBN 0870814176. 
• Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress