Images of Old Hawaiʻi

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Timeline Tuesday … 1890s

Today’s ‘Timeline Tuesday’ takes us through the 1890s – Kapi‘olani Hospital is formed, Kalākaua dies, Overthrow, Annexation, Pali Road is completed and the first Beachboys organization is formed. We look at what was happening in Hawai‘i during this time period and what else was happening around the rest of the world.

A Comparative Timeline illustrates the events with images and short phrases. This helps us to get a better context on what was happening in Hawai‘i versus the rest of the world. I prepared these a few years ago for a planning project. (Ultimately, they never got used for the project, but I thought they might be on interest to others.)

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Timeline-1890s
Timeline-1890s

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Camp Sague

The Spanish-American War was a conflict in 1898 between Spain and the United States, effectively the result of American intervention in the ongoing Cuban War of Independence.  Back then, Spain had interests in the Pacific, particularly in the Guam and Philippines.  Although the main issue was Cuban independence, the ten-week war was fought in both the Caribbean and the Pacific.

At the time, there was no assigned garrison in the Islands until August 15, 1898, when the 1st New York Volunteer Infantry regiment and the 3rd Battalion, 2nd US Volunteer Engineers landed in Honolulu for garrison duty.  They setup camp (‘Camp McKinley’) at Kapiʻolani Park.

Later (November 8, 1898,) approximately 200-soldiers of the 1st New York sailed from Honolulu to Hilo to inspect sites for a possible permanent military post. (Greguras)  The troops landed at Waiākea in Hilo and stayed in a large warehouse for one night.

“The mariners under Christopher Columbus were no more anxious and certainly no happier to set foot on land in 1492 than were the New York Volunteer troops which left Honolulu last Tuesday morning on the Kinau, to feel the terra firma of Hilo under them this morning.”

“To say that the trip over was rough is putting it mild. In fact, judging from the number of men who cast their bread upon the (rough) waters, it could not have been worse. After leaving Diamond Head shoal the Kinau tossed, rolled and pitched so heavily that at times many of the men made frantic efforts to reach life preservers.”

“Miss Anna Rose, who was a passenger on board the steamer won the hearts of all the boys by her kindly interest and solicitation in their welfare. She cheered and comforted the sick, brought them little delicacies and in diverse other ways did she make herself the most popular person on board.”

“In appreciation of her service the band serenaded Miss Rose a number of times. She was also voted unanimously the queen of the First New York Volunteers.”  (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, November 14, 1898)

A highlight of their visit was a hike to Kilauea volcano.  “The march to the Volcano was begun at noon on Monday last. There was a heavy downfall of rain, but the boys kept up their spirits. A halt for lunch was made eight miles from Hilo, and camp for the night was then made at Kilohana at 3:30 o’clock in the afternoon. Shelter for the night was found in Mr Lee’s barn and in the church.”

“The march next day was resumed, at 10 o’clock. A halt was made at Mountain View hotel, where Mr Hambly entertained the boys at lunch. All the way the boys were the recipients of hospitality and greetings. Mrs. Trowbridge served sandwiches as the troops marched passed her house.”

“Tuesday night was spent at Wailiʻili the home of Mr. Hitchcock. Eight miles beyond, the Volcano house was reached, and here hot lunch was served by Mr. Waldron, and a mile and a half beyond shelter tents were pitched and the men went into camp.”

“The Volcano house has been thrown open to the boys during their stay and the band has given several concerts. Friday morning the entire command went, to the Volcano.”   (Hawaiian Star, November 21, 1898)

The camp which the soldiers established at the Volcano was named Major Sague Camp.  (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, November 21, 1898)  Sague of the 1st New York was in command of the detachment. The troops were in this camp for only three days, returning to Honolulu on December 5th.

A November 24, 1898 letter from a member of Company I of the 1st N.Y. indicates the camp was near the crater of the volcano, about two miles from the Volcano House “in a large (koa) grove with lots of dead wood on the ground.”  (Stenzel)

Back in Hilo, “A very interesting affair was the raising of the flag at Riverside Park, formerly known as Reed’s Island, on Thursday. Mr. Pratt had arranged the matter almost extemporaneously, which made the whole occasion perhaps more enjoyable than if it had been a formal and long prearranged ceremony.”

“The commanding  officers of this portion of the 1st New York Volunteers, kindly asented to give a military air to the flag raising by the presence of the troops and regimental band, while Queen Anna graciously consented to hoist the American emblem.”

“The troops marched up Waiānuenue street about 2:30, seized the ravine which bounds that side of Reed’s Island without opposition and scaled the opposite cliffs, preceeded by the Queen who proved her physical powers again. The flag was hoisted to the music of the ‘Star Spangled Banner’.”

“A large crowd of townspeople viewed the ceremonies from the Island and from the opposite banks. The day was one of the most perfect which even Hilo affords the occasion was one of great interest to the Hiloites.”  (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, November 15, 1898)

Another important event was the Thanksgiving luau; “the New York soldiers at Hilo were given a big Thanksgiving luau by Mr and Mrs CC Kennedy at the big sugar plantation in Waiakea.”

“The tables were arranged in the big sugar room of the mill, which had been elaborately decorated with palms, flowers and flags.  Instead of table cloths the food stuffs, prepared, cooked and served in Hawaiian style, were placed upon ti leaves, which literally covered the tables.”

“The services of all the young ladles in the city were engaged to wait on the soldiers, while to the married ladles fell the responsibility of arranging the tables for the feast.”

“At each plate – wooden – was a handsomely printed souvenir menu of what comprised the feast. The delicacies placed before the boys to eat, as printed on the menu, were: fish, from the Waiākea ponds; Taro; Pig, wrapped in ti leaves; Sweet Potatoes; Breadfruit; Beef, wrapped in ti leaves; Turkey, Kukui nuts, Rolls, Taro Pudding, Hawaiian Pudding, Mince Pie, Fruits, Soda Water, Lemonade, Coffee, Poi and Cigars.”

“When all had eaten until they could eat no more the tables were cleared away, the floor prepared for dancing and this was the order of the afternoon. For the dancing the military band furnished the music, while the music for the evening dance, in the same place, was furnished by the Wela Ka Hao orchestra.”

“Returning to camp the men were loud in their praises for Mr and Mrs Kennedy and all the good people who assisted In trying to make the Thanksgiving day feast a most pleasant event.”  (Hawaiian Gazette, November 29, 1898)

In the end, Sague, in expressing his appreciation on behalf of all soldiers, noted, “Hilo is all right. When we were in San Francisco the boys had a continual round of feeding.”

“Let me say on behalf of this detachment of the First New York Volunteers that since passing out of the Golden Gate, Hilo is the only place where they have felt at home. It is the only place they have been where cordiality has been expressed by word and deed.”

“The boys will remember it and in the 600 to 800 letters which leave the camp and go to the relatives and friends in the Empire State the praises of Hilo and Hilo people will be sung. On behalf of the boys who are here let me thank you all for your generous treatment.”  (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, November 21, 1898)

Following the war, Sague returned home to Poughkeepsie, NY and in 1906 was elected Mayor of the city, “whose administration has stimulated Poughkeepsie to the attitude of a wide awake American city.”  (Vassar Miscellany, February 1, 1912)

On April 5, 1905, Major John K Sague Camp, United Spanish War Veterans, was organized in Poughkeepsie; Sague served as its first commander. (Poughkeepsie New Yorker, July 7, 1941)  (Greguras)

The image shows Camp Sague at Volcano. (Greguras)  In addition, I have added others similar images in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.

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The First Filipino

The Philippines is an archipelago comprising of more than 7,100-islands.  It is thought that the earliest inhabitants of the islands arrived 40,000 years ago.  Folks from Borneo, Sumatra and Malaya migrated to the islands; the original people were ancestors of the people known today as Negritos or Aeta.

In the tenth century, Muslim traders came from Kalimantan (Indonesia.)  Later, Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan was the first European to visit the Islands, in his expedition around the world on behalf of Spain (1521.)

Other Spanish expeditions followed, including one from New Spain (Mexico) under López de Villalobos, who in 1543 named the islands ‘Las Islas Felipenas’ (Islands belonging to Philip,) for Felipe, the Prince of Asturias (Spain) (title given to the heir to the Spanish throne;) he later became Philip II of Spain.  (The name Philippines stuck.)

The Philippine Islands became a Spanish colony during the 16th-century and were under Spanish control for the next 330+ years.   Spanish called natives Indios.

Natives called themselves based on where they are geographically located, like Cebuanos of Cebu and Tagalog of Manila. The Philippine islands are scattered; there was no unity.  The reference of being a Filipino, back then, was more of a geographic name than united citizens of a nation.     (Abenaza)

Then, conflict arose – there was opposition to Spanish colonialism in the Islands.  In steps José Protacio Rizal.

According to historians, there was no ‘Filipino’ before Rizal.  Prior to Rizal people were simply protecting their territory, pushing their own personal interests. They were just people of their own lands. None of them fought for the Philippines, nor fought as Filipinos.  This is what makes Rizal the First Filipino. He was first in seeking unity in the Philippines.  (Abenaza)

Rizal was born on June 19, 1861, in the town of Calamba, Laguna. He was the seventh of 11 children (2 boys and 9 girls.) Both his parents were educated and belonged to distinguished families (his father was Filipino, his mother Chinese.)  (Montemayor)

In 1877, at the age of 16, he obtained his Bachelor of Arts degree with an average of “excellent” from the Ateneo Municipal de Manila. He passed the Surveyor’s examination on May 21, 1878 (but because of his age, 17, he was not granted license to practice the profession until December 30, 1881.)

In 1878, he enrolled in medicine at the University of Santo Tomas but had to stop in his studies when he felt that the Filipino students were being discriminated upon by their Dominican tutors. On May 3, 1882, he sailed for Spain where he continued his studies at the Universidad Central de Madrid and received a degree in medicine.   (Montemayor)

In 1886, he studied at the University of Heidelberg and wrote his classic novel Noli me Tangere, which condemned the Catholic Church in the Philippines for its promotion of Spanish colonialism.

Immediately upon its publication, he became a target for the police who even shadowed him when he returned to the Philippines in 1887.  He wrote a second novel, El Filibusterismo (1891), and many articles in his support of Filipino nationalism and his crusade to include representatives from his homeland in the Spanish Cortes.  (LOC)

“During the years 1890-93, while traveling in the archipelago, I everywhere heard the mutterings that go before a storm. It was the old story: compulsory military service; taxes too heavy to be borne, and imprisonment or deportation with confiscation of property for those who could not pay them; no justice except for those who could afford to buy it …  these and a hundred other wrongs had goaded the natives and half-castes until they were stung to desperation.”  (Worchester; Anderson)

Dr. Rizal returned to the Philippines in 1892 and created the La Liga Filipina, a political group that called for peaceful change for the islands. Implicated in the rebellion, he went into exile for four years.

Meanwhile, Katipunan (Supreme Select Association of the Sons of the People) became an offshoot of La Liga Filipina and things started to get rough.  Rizal quickly denounced the movement for independence when it became violent and revolutionary.

Although Rizal did not participate with Katipunan, in 1896, he was captured, convicted and executed by firing squad (December 30, 1896 – he was 35-years old.)

The insurrection continued for two years after his death; Spain fought to maintain its empire not just in the Philippines but also in Cuba and Puerto Rico.  In 1898, this led to the Spanish-American War, when the US officially entered the conflict by declaring war on Spain (with emphasis and concerns mostly directed at conflicts in Cuba, in their war for independence.)

William McKinley was US president and the causal event was the explosion of the battleship USS Maine in Havana Harbor, Cuba on February 15, 1898.  However, many in America suspected that the US had colonial aspirations of its own.  The Spanish‐American War ended 5-months after it began resulting in the US gaining the Philippines, Guam, Puerto Rico and Hawaiʻi.

After its defeat in the Spanish-American War of 1898, Spain ceded its longstanding colony of the Philippines to the United States in the Treaty of Paris.

On February 4, 1899, just two days before the US Senate ratified the treaty, fighting broke out between American forces and Filipino nationalists who sought independence rather than a change in colonial rulers.

The ensuing Philippine-American War lasted three years, into the spring of 1902. President Teddy Roosevelt proclaimed a general amnesty and declared the conflict over on July 4, 1902, although minor uprisings and insurrections against American rule periodically occurred in the years that followed.  (State Department)

In 1907, the Philippines convened its first elected assembly, and in 1916, the Jones Act promised the nation eventual independence. The Philippine Islands became an autonomous commonwealth in 1935, and the US granted independence in 1946.  (State Department)

While it is not clear if Rizal ever made it to Hawaiʻi, here are some ties of these events to the Hawaiian Islands.

US foreign policy advocated the taking of the Caribbean Islands and the Philippine Islands for bases to protect US commerce.   Meanwhile, Hawai’i, had gained strategic importance because of its geographical position in the Pacific.  Honolulu served as a stopover point for the forces heading to the Philippines.

On August 12, 1898, the United States ratified the Hawaiʻi treaty of annexation.  At the time, there was no assigned garrison in the Islands until August 15, 1898, when soldiers landed in Honolulu for garrison duty.  They set up camp in the large infield of the one-mile race track at Kapiʻolani Park.

Their camp was named ‘Camp McKinley,’ in honor of the president.  Camp McKinley remained in existence until Fort Shafter was opened in late June, 1907.  The garrison was either artillery or coast artillery troops during this period.

In Hawaiʻi, shortage of laborers to work in the growing (in size and number) sugar plantations became a challenge.  Of the large level of plantation worker immigration, the Chinese were the first (1852,) followed by the Japanese (1885,) then, the Filipinos (1906.)

After the turn of the century, the plantations started bringing in Filipinos.  Over the years in successive waves of immigration, the sugar planters brought to Hawaiʻi 46,000-Chinese, 180,000-Japanese, 126,000-Filipinos, as well as Portuguese, Puerto Ricans and other ethnic groups.

Comprising only 19-percent of the plantation workforce in 1917, the Filipinos jumped to 70-percent by 1930, replacing the Japanese, who had dwindled to 19-percent as the 1930s approached.  (Aquino)

According to the 2010 census, Filipinos and part-Filipinos is the State’s second largest racial group.  The three largest racial groups in Hawaiʻi are (1) Caucasian (564,323;) (2) Filipinos and part-Filipinos (342,095) and (3) Japanese or part-Japanese (312,292.)

To commemorate José Rizal, statues and monuments have been erected in Hawaiʻi and elsewhere.

The image shows the José Rizal statue on College Walk on Nuʻuanu Stream in Honolulu. In addition, I have included other images in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.

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by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Tripler Army Medical Center

Some suggest the building got its pink color because the color and other design elements were borrowed from the Royal Hawaiian Hotel down in Waikīkī.

However, an engineering booklet related to its design notes, “the layout of the buildings was planned to create an easy, informal environment, avoid an institutional atmosphere and create the impression of a residential community.”  (army-mil)

“Therefore, the hospital building, nurses’ quarters, fire house, chapel, bachelor officers’ quarters and mess, theater and enlisted men’s barracks will be of pink stucco finish.” (army-mil)

Let’s step back a bit.

In 1898, the Spanish American war was going on, including in the Pacific (primarily in the Philippines) – Hawaiʻi became involved.  The US Army set up Camp McKinley in Kapiʻolani Park and soon realized an urgent need for a hospital in Hawaiʻi.

The Army’s first medical facility in Hawaiian Islands opened in 1898; it was a 30-bed hospital for soldiers and sailors in transit to and from Manila located in the Independence Park Pavilion (an old dance pavilion at the intersection of King Street and Sheridan.)  Field medical tents at Fort McKinley added support to the hospital.

Casualties were streaming into Hawaiʻi from the war in the Philippines. The hospital on King Street rapidly grew into a 100-bed operation and was visited by more than 21,000 troops during the Philippine Insurrection following the war with Spain.

Later, in 1907, Department Hospital, a wooden post hospital facility consisting of a single hospital building and mess hall, was constructed at Fort Shafter.

Department Hospital was re-designated “Tripler Army Hospital” on June 26, 1920, named after Brigadier General Charles Stuart Tripler (1806-1866) – in honor of his contributions to Army medicine during the Civil War (he authored of one of the most widely-read manuals in Army medical history, the “Manual of the Medical Officer of the Army of the United States.”)

Then, the US Army Health Clinic, Schofield Barracks, a 500-bed hospital, was completed in 1929. It was activated as the Station Hospital, Schofield Barracks, Territory of Hawaiʻi.

The attack on Pearl Harbor led to the construction of Tripler Army Medical Center. At the outbreak of World War II, the hospital at Fort Shafter had a 450-bed capacity which, over the years, expanded to 1,000 beds through the addition of one-story barracks-type buildings.

Plans for a new Tripler hospital atop Moanalua ridge were drawn in 1942, construction was authorized in June 1944; the ground was broken August 23, 1944; actual construction began in 1945: and construction was completed in 1948.

When it was completed, Tripler was the tallest building in the Pacific region.  (Three additional wings to the hospital were completed in 1985 with other additions/renovations over the years.)

Tripler was dedicated on September 10, 1948 and has been a visible and valuable landmark in Hawaiʻi.  It is the largest military medical treatment facility in the entire Pacific Basin.

In 1961, Tripler US Army Hospital became known as US Army Tripler General Hospital, and finally in 1964, the name changed to Tripler Army Medical Center.

In a cooperative agreement with the Department of Veterans Affairs in 1992, the Spark M Matsunaga Medical Center was added at Tripler.

Located on a 375-acre site, Tripler Army Medical Center’s geographic area of responsibility spans more than 52-percent of the earth’s surface, from the western coasts of the Americas to the eastern shores of Africa (encompassing three million square miles of ocean and more than 750,000-square miles of land mass.)

Nearly 800,000-beneficiaries in the Pacific Basin are eligible to receive care at Tripler; this includes active-duty service members of all branches of service, their eligible families, military-eligible retirees and their families, veterans, and many residents of Pacific Islands.

In a typical day, more than 2,000-patients are seen in outpatient clinic visits, more than 1,500-prescriptions are filled, more than 30-surgical procedures are performed, and more than 30 patients are admitted. There are more than 200-births each month.  (In August 1955, 427-babies are born at Tripler, setting a record for one-month deliveries.)

The image shows the initial Tripler Hospital at Fort Shafter (army-mil.)  In addition, I have added other related images in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.

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