Battle of Nuʻuanu

Battle of Nuʻuanu
Part of Unification of Hawaii

Windward side of the Pali
Date May 1795
Location Oʻahu, Hawaii
Result Kamehameha I victory
Belligerents
Kamehameha I's army Oʻahu army
Kaʻiana's defector army
Commanders and leaders
Kamehameha I
John Young		 Kalanikupule
Kaʻiana †
Strength
10,000- 16,000 Unknown
Casualties and losses
300 — 10,000 for both combatants[1]
Unification of Hawaiʻi

The Battle of Nuʻuanu (Hawaiian: Kalelekaʻanae; lit. the leaping mullet), fought in May 1795 on the southern part of the island of Oʻahu, was a key battle in the final days of King Kamehameha I's wars to unify the Hawaiian Islands. It is known in the Hawaiian language as Kalelekaʻanae, which means "the leaping mullet", and refers to a number of Oahu warriors driven off the cliff in the final phase of the battle.[2] There are "varied and sometimes conflicting histories of the Battle of Nuʻuanu."[3]

Contents

Prior to the battle

Oʻahu

Around the year 1792 (the exact date is unknown; the landing could have been as late as March 1793), Captain William Brown, an English merchant, landed in the harbor of Honolulu. As a Maritime Fur Trader and gun seller, he made several voyages before from the Pacific Northwest coast to the Hawaiian islands. Captain Brown landed several ships on the island; the ones noted are the Prince Lee Boo and the Jackall.[4]

After landing, he made an agreement with Kahekili II (the chief of the island at that time) that he would offer his military assistance against Kamehameha for use of the harbor. Likewise, Kamehameha requested military assistance and the use of artillery from Captain George Vancouver and in exchange "ceded" the island of Hawaii to Great Britain in February 1794.

The two rival chiefs never met again, as Kahekili II died in mid-1794. At this point, Kahekili's son, Kalanikupule, had control of the island of Oʻahu and his half-brother, Kaeokulani, had control of the islands of Kauai (through his wife), Maui, Lanai, and Molokai.

After Kahekili's death, Kaeokulani decided to visit Kauai, his home island. In order to accomplish this, he had to travel through the way of Oʻahu. Kalanikupule then set up trenches and earthworks on the windward side of Oʻahu, where Kaeokulani's canoes would pass. Both sides fought, but the battle was stopped by Kalanikupule and the two chiefs met to mourn over the death of Kahekili.

Kaeokulani then discovered a plot to be thrown overboard by his chiefs on the way to Kauai. To resolve the issue, he proposed war against Kalanikupule. He ordered his men to make a land march to where Kalanikupule was stationed. In the early part of December 1794, Kaeokulani's army was confronted by Kalanikupule's, along with the artillery of Captain Brown's ships. With Kaeokulani being outnumbered and outmaneuvered, his forces fled and scattered to the mountains. Nevertheless, Kaeokulani's army was destroyed.

Kalanikupule had received prior warnings of the impending invasion from the chiefs of Maui and Molokai and had begun building several lines of fortifications on Oʻahu. He had already begun buying muskets and cannons from European traders, but had far fewer than Kamehameha. He was also assisted by one of Kamehameha's chiefs, Kaiana, who defected before the battle began. Kaiana had fallen out of favor with Kamehameha's inner circle and feared that he was being plotted against. On the voyage to Oʻahu, his army split off from the Hawaiian armada and landed on the north side of the island. There, they began cutting notches into the Nuʻuanu mountain ridge, which would serve as gunports for Kalanikupule's cannons.

Kamehameha

Kamehameha I had begun his campaign to unify Hawaii in 1783, but prior to 1795 had only managed to unify the Big Island. However, in 1794 a civil war broke out when the chief of Oahu, Kahekili II, died. The civil war was fought between his half-brother Kaʻeokulani and his son Kalanikupule. Kalanikupule ultimately won, but emerged from the war greatly weakened.

During this time, Kamehameha had been equipping his army with modern muskets and cannon, as well as training his men in their use under direction of British Sailor John Young.[5] In February 1795 he assembled the largest army the Hawaiian islands had ever seen, with about 12,000 men and 1,200 war canoes (at this time, the British estimated the entire population of the Hawaiian Islands at less than 300,000; modern anthropologists believe it was closer to one million). Kamehameha initially moved against the southern islands of Maui and Molokai, conquering them in the early spring. Then he invaded Oahu.

Battle

The Battle of Nuʻuanu began when Kamehameha's forces landed on the southeastern portion of Oʻahu near Waiʻalae and Waikiki. After spending several days gathering supplies and scouting Kalanikupule's positions, Kamehameha's army advanced westward, encountering Kalanikupule's first line of defense near the Punchbowl Crater. Splitting his army into two, Kamehameha sent one half in a flanking maneuver around the crater and the other straight at Kalanikupule. Pressed from both sides, the Oʻahu forces retreated to Kalanikupule's next line of defense near Laʻimi. While Kamehameha pursued, he secretly detached a portion of his army to clear the surrounding heights of the Nuʻuanu Valley of Kalanikupule's cannons. Kamehameha also brought up his own cannons to shell Laʻimi. During this part of the battle, both Kalanikupule and Kaiana were wounded, Kaiana fatally. With its leadership in chaos, the Oahu army slowly fell back north through the Nuʻuanu Valley to the cliffs at Nuʻuanu Pali. Caught between the Hawaiian Army and a 1000-foot drop, over 400 Oahu warriors either jumped or were pushed over the edge of the Pali.

Aftermath

Though he escaped the battle, Kalanikupule was later captured and sacrificed. This battle was the climax of Kamehameha's campaign, after this battle his kingdom was for the first time referred to as the Kingdom of Hawaii. The islands were still not united. He had to capture the remaining neighboring islands of Kauai and Niihau. First he had to put down an uprising on the Big Island, and then he began his preparations for the conquest of Kauai. However, before this battle could be fought the king Kaumualii of Kauai submitted to Kamehameha, giving him effective control over the Hawaiian Islands.

Notes

  1. ^ Schmitt, Robert C.; et al. (1969). "Catastrophic Mortality in Hawaii". The Hawaiian Journal of History, Volume 3 - 1969. Honolulu: Hawaiian Historical Society. pp. 67–68. "Even where figures on battle deaths are unavailable, according to Stokes, the data are notoriously unreliable and subject to wild exaggeration. Estimates for losses in the battle of Nuʻuanu (1795), for example, have ranged from 300 to 10,000." 
  2. ^ cartography by Rob James. (2004). The Battle of Nuʻuanu. Cartography by Rob James. Kamehameha Schools Press. ISBN 0-87336-083-4. "At times this battle has been referred to by Hawaiians as "Kalelekaʻanae," meaning "the leaping ʻanae (mullet)." This name refers to the way many Oʻahu armies of Kalanikupule and some of their families chose to or were forced by the Hawaiʻi Island warriors of Kamehameha to jump to their deaths from the steep pali (cliffs) at the back of Nuʻuanu Valley rather than accept defeat." 
  3. ^ cartography by Rob James. (2004). The Battle of Nuʻuanu. Cartography by Rob James. Kamehameha Schools Press. ISBN 0-87336-083-4. "This map and text represent one interpretation of the varied and sometimes conflicting histories of the Battle of Nuʻuanu." 
  4. ^ Daws, Gavin (1968). "The Way to Nuʻuanu". Shoal of Time. Toronto, Ontario: The Macmillan Company. pp. 37. ISBN 0824803248. 
  5. ^ Hawaiian Almanac and Annual for 1911 (1910) Thomas G. Thrum, Compiler and Publisher. p. 100

this section is missing lots of information re: bringing kauai into the kameamea fold.

References

External links

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