Images of Old Hawaiʻi

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Henry Nicholas Greenwell

William Thomas Greenwell (1777–1856) and Dorothy Smales (1789–1871) of Lanchester, Durham, England had a son, Henry Nicholas Greenwell on January 9, 1826.

Henry was educated in the Durham Grammar School and at Sandhurst, the British military college.  As fourth son he had little chance of inheriting the family estate called Greenwell Ford.

After graduating from the Royal Military Academy, in 1843, at the age of 17, he became an Ensign in the 70th Regiment of Foot, and a Lieutenant in 1844.  Part of his military work included helping feed folks starving during the Potato Famine in 1847.

Finding the military life insupportable, at the age of 23 he left for Australia to make a new start, arriving there on July 4, 1848.  In early-1849, he decided Australia was not for him, then got a partner and planned to make a profit by buying goods in Australia and selling them in San Francisco.

“On arrival, all hands took off for the gold fields, leaving the partners to unload the goods themselves. During this process, HNG was severely injured and was forced to go to Honolulu for treatment. He arrived on January 2, 1850 … On recovery he discovered that his partners had run out on him”.

He worked as an agent for HJH Holdsworth in his importing and retail business, and opened a branch of the business at Kailua (Kona) in September of 1850. (Kona Echo, April 1, 1950; Melrose, Kinue)

The Greenwell store was built around 1851 at Kalukalu (Kealakekua, near Konawaena High School) and originally served as a store and post office.  (Greenwell also served as the area’s postmaster as well as the area’s general merchandiser.)

The HN Greenwell Store is now a museum set in the 1890s timeframe, with costumed interpreters and period merchandizing.  (Admission is $7 for adults, $5 for seniors (60+ years old), $3 for children (5-12 years old) and children under 5 years old are free.)

Greenwell started to buy land, gradually acquired extensive land holdings, and got into the cattle and sheep business on a large scale.  (In 1879, he acquired the lease on Keauhou from Dr Georges Trousseau.)

Greenwell grew oranges.  “At last we reached a cross-road store, back of which is a vast orange-grove. This is the home of Mrs. HN Greenwell, and is known as Kalu Kalu, South Kona. We drew rein in front of the store and called for some refreshments. … The oranges were the largest and sweetest I ever saw.”

“In a large wareroom the people were packing the oranges in boxes for shipping. There were several hundred barrels of the fruit in a pile, and men and women were wrapping the oranges separately in tissue-paper and placing them in boxes. I was told that the Greenwell plantation produced the largest sweet oranges in the world, and from my own experience I believe the statement true.”  (Musick)

He also grew coffee and is recognized for putting “Kona Coffee” on the world markets.  In 1873, at Weltausstellung 1873 Wien (World Exhibition in Vienna, Austria (1873,)) Greenwell was awarded a “Recognition Diploma” for his Kona Coffee.  Greenwell descendants continue the family’s coffee-growing tradition in Kona. (Greenwell Farms)

Writer Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain) seemed to concur with this when he noted in his Letters from Hawaiʻi, “The ride through the district of Kona to Kealakekua Bay took us through the famous coffee and orange section. I think the Kona coffee has a richer flavor than any other, be it grown where it may and call it what you please.”

“’Coffee-trees are often planted with a crowbar,’ it is said. Strange as this may seem, it is nevertheless true. A hole is drilled through the rock, or lavacrust, and the soil thus reached; the tree, a small twig dug up from the forest, is planted in this hole, and it grows, thrives, and yields fruit abundantly.”  (Musick, 1898)

At one point Greenwell was accused of 2nd degree murder; he pled not guilty, testimony in support of his plea was made and he was ultimately found not guilty.

Henry married Elizabeth Caroline Hall on April 9, 1868, and they had six sons and four daughters, William Henry Greenwell June 7, 1869,) Dora Caroline (Carrie) Greenwell (October 15, 1870,) Arthur Leonard Greenwell (December 7, 1871,) Elizabeth (Lillie) Greenwell (April 11, 1873,) Christina Margaret (September 16, 1874,) Francis Radcliffe (Frank or “Palani”) Greenwell (August 26, 1876,) Wilfrid Alan Greenwell (November 7, 1878,) Julian Greenwell (September 2, 1880,) Edith Amy Greenwell (August 28, 1883) and  Leonard Lanchester Greenwell (December 4, 1884.)

Greenwell died May 18, 1891.  His significant land holdings were eventually divided into three main ranches and were run by grandsons of his.

In the North (Honokōhau area,) son Frank first managed and then grandsons Robert and James Greenwell;) relatively central (Kalukalu,) son William, then grandson Norman managed and in the South (Captain Cook,) son Arthur, then grandson Sherwood managed.  (The latter two ranches were sold, Lanihau Properties/Palani Ranch are still controlled by Greenwells.)

The image shows Henry Nicholas Greenwell.  In addition, I have added other images in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.

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Tauʻā

William Ellis (August 24, 1794 – 1872) applied to train as a Christian missionary for the London Missionary Society and was accepted to the school.  After attending Homerton College he was ordained in 1815; later that year, he married Mary Mercy Moor (November 9, 1815.)  He served the London Mission in the Society Islands, Hawaiian Islands and Madagascar.

From 1816, when he first entered on his missionary career, until 1825, he devoted himself to “service of the Lord as a missionary” among the South Pacific Islands.

“It was the morning of the Sabbath when we embarked.  Our friends in Gosport were preparing to attend public worship, when we heard the report of a signal-gun. The sound excited a train of feeling, which can be understood only by those who have been placed in similar circumstances. It was a report announcing the arrival of that moment which was to separate, perhaps for ever, from home and all its endearments, and rend asunder every band which friendship and affection had entwined around the heart.”  (Ellis on departing for the South Pacific)

First landing in Eimeo (Moorea,) and travelling throughout the area, he served the London Mission for the next 6-years in the Society Islands (so named by Captain James Cook in honor of the ‘Royal Society,’ “as they lay contiguous to one another.”)

After an initial brief visit in 1822 to Hawaiʻi, arrangement were made between the American Board of Commissions for Foreign Mission, London Missionary Society and local chiefs, Ellis returned to Hawaiʻi to join the American mission there.

On April 16, 1822, the schooner Mermaid, arrived at Honolulu from Tahiti; on board were Ellis, other English missionaries and Auna and Matatore, Tahitian chiefs and teachers. After providing support for a few months to the American missionaries in the Islands, they returned to Tahiti, giving up their original plan of visiting the Marquesas Islands.

February 4, 1823, Ellis returned to the Islands, bringing his wife with him as well as Tahitian teachers, including Tauʻā. (Ellis remained at this time for about eighteen months; then returned to England, with his family.)

Tauʻā, originally known as Matapuupuu, was born in about 1792 and was by birth a raʻatira or landowner.  He had been a principal Arioi (secret religious order of the Society Islands,) and succeeded his elder brother as chief priest of Huahine.  (Gunson)

In August 1813 he joined John Davies’s school at Papetoʻai, and later accompanied Ellis to Huahine, where he became a prominent church member and was appointed deacon. He was also appointed first Secretary of the Huahinean Missionary Society.  His speeches at prayer meetings and May meetings were reported with some pride.  (Gunson)

Shortly after Ellis and Tauʻā arrived in Hawaiʻi, the Second Company of American missionaries arrived, bringing the Reverend William Richards and the Reverend Charles Stewart (April 1823.)

About this time, Queen Mother Keōpūolani (mother of Kamehameha II and III) began to accept many western ways.  She wore western clothes, she introduced western furniture into her house and she took instruction in Christianity.

But her health began to fail, and she decided to move her household from the pressures of the court circle in Honolulu to the tranquility of Waikīkī. With her she took Hoapili (her husband) and Nahiʻenaʻena (her daughter.)

Each Sunday the missionaries walked across the hot plain from Honolulu to Waikīkī to hold divine service and to instruct the Queen Mother in Christian doctrine. Keōpūolani decided, however, that these Sunday meetings did not suffice; she asked that a religious instructor be attached to her household. Her choice was Tauʻā; the mission approved.  (Sinclair)

In May of 1823, Keōpūolani decided to make her last move, this time back to the island of her birth, Maui.  She chose Lāhainā, with its warm and sunny climate – another place traditionally a favorite with the chiefs.  (Sinclair)

Before leaving, Keōpūolani requested the Americans to assign teachers to go with her. She wanted a mission established in Lāhainā, and further instruction in reading and writing for herself; she also wished to have a man of God to pray with her. The Honolulu mission selected Charles Stewart and William Richards to accompany the queen.  (Sinclair)

Immediately on their arrival in Lāhainā, she requested them to commence teaching, and also said, “It is very proper that my sons (meaning the missionaries) be present with me at morning and evening prayers.”

They were always present, and sung a hymn in the Hawaiian language.  Often in conversation she would introduce the subject which had been discussed, and ask important questions respecting it.  (Memoir of Keōpūolani)

She became more attentive to the Gospel as she was resting. It was Tauʻā who became the teacher she relied on as perhaps they were able to converse with each other in the Polynesian language.  (Mookini)

Tauʻā proved a faithful teacher, and he did much to establish her in the Christian faith.  He answered several of her questions on the subject of Christianity.

She said to Tauʻā, “My heart is much afraid I shall never become a Christian.” He replied, “Why, what is in the way?”  She said, “I think I am likely to die soon.”  He replied, “Do you not love God?” She answered, “O yes, I love – I love him very much.”  Tauʻā then communicated farther instruction to her. At the close of the conversation she said, “Your word, I know, is true.  It is a good word; and now I have found, I have obtained a Saviour, and a good King, Jesus Christ.”

She asked him for advice about her having two husbands (at the time she was married to Kalanimōku and Hoapili.) Tauʻā  answered: “It is proper for a woman to have one husband, man to have one wife.”   She then said: “I have followed the custom of Hawaiʻi, in taking two husbands in the time of our dark hearts. I wish now to obey Christ and to walk in the right way. It is wrong to have two husbands and I desire but one. Hoapili is my husband, hereafter my only husband.”  (Memoir of Keōpūolani)

To Kalanimōku she said: “I have renounced our ancient customs, the religion of wooden images, and have turned to the new religion of Jesus Christ. He is my King and my Savior, and him I desire to obey. I can have but one husband. Your living with me is at an end. No more are you to eat with my people or lodge in my house.”  (Mookini)

She was asked, “How do you feel, as you are about leaving the world?”  She answered, “I remember what my teachers told me.  I pray much to Jesus Christ to be with me and take me to himself.  I am now about to leave my three children, my people and my teachers.  But it is not dark now.  It would have been, had I died before these good times.  You must pray for me, and all the missionaries must pray for me. I love you. I love them. I think I love Jesus Christ, and I trust he will receive me.”  (Memoir of Keōpūolani)

In Keōpūolani’s earnest inquiries after truth, and the increasing experience of its power on the heart, Mrs. Ellis had, in common with other members of the Mission, ever taken a lively interest, and she shared with her companions at Lāhainā in the hallowed joy which was felt by the growing meetness for heaven which the first convert in Hawaiʻi had manifested, as the signs of her approaching dissolution became more frequent and decisive.  (Mary Mercy Ellis Memoir)

In the presence of the royal family and the chiefs, Ellis delivered a short address to explain the meaning of baptism; he sprinkled Keōpūolani with water in the name of God – Ellis administered the rite of baptism to Keōpūolani. She had earlier chosen Harriet, the name of Mrs. Stewart, to be her baptismal name.  (Sinclair)

The King (Liholiho, her son) and all the heads of the nation listened with the most profound attention, and when they saw that water was sprinkled on her in the name of God, they said, “Surely she is no longer ours, she formerly gave herself to Jesus Christ.  We believe she is his, and will go to dwell with him.”  (Memoir of Keōpūolani)

The ceremony was performed at five in the afternoon of September 16, 1823; at six o’clock the Queen was dead.

The funeral ceremonies, after the Christian manner, were held two days later with chiefs, missionaries and foreigners surrounding the corpse. (Mookini)

It was a season of much spiritual enjoyment to all present, it was peculiarly solemn and impressive; especially from the number of native chiefs and others who were present, some of whom were among the most earnest inquirers after truth, and all of whom seemed much affected, and anxious to ask the meaning of an observance to them so new and strange.  (Mary Mercy Ellis Memoir)

After her death, Tauʻā joined the household of Hoapilikane and remained with that chief until his death in 1840. He then joined the household of Hoapiliwahine.  (Tauʻā died in about 1855.)

The image shows the initial burial tomb for Keōpūolani; she was later reburied there in Waineʻe Church cemetery (now known as Waiola Church) in Lāhainā.

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US Marine Hospital

“Lāhainā (anciently called Lele, from the short stay of Chiefs there) is pleasantly located on the western shore of West Maui … It may be considered as the second port of the Hawaiian Islands, as, next to Honolulu, it is most generally frequented by the whaling fleet which touch at the islands in the spring and fall for recruits and refreshments.”

“This town was selected by Kamehameha III and his chiefs to lie the seat of government of the group … It has two churches, a hospital, a “palace,” which from the anchorage looms up and appears a stately building … There are three ship chandlery stores, some fifteen retail stores, and three practicing physicians.”  (The Friend, April 30, 1857)

“As near as we can ascertain, the first whale ships that visited these islands and touched at this port were the “Bellina,’ Capt, Gardner, and (unknown) Capt. Worth, which was some where about 1819.”

The central location of the Hawaiian Islands between the continent and Japan whaling grounds brought many whaling ships to the Islands.  Whalers needed food and the islands supplied this need from its fertile lands.

Several hundred whaling ships might call in season, each with 20 to 30 men aboard and each desiring to resupply with enough food for another tour ‘on Japan,’ ‘on the Northwest’ or into the Arctic.   (Thrum)

Between the 1820s and the 1860s, the Lāhainā Roadstead was the principal anchorage of the American Pacific whaling fleet.  During that time, up to 1,500 sailors at a time were on the streets of the small town.

One reason why so many whalers preferred Lāhainā to other ports was that by anchoring in a roadstead from half a mile to a mile from shore they could control their crews better than when in a harbor.

“To whale ships no port at the islands offers better facilities for all their business (with the exception of heavy repairs) than does Lāhainā.  As it is on this island, and but a short distance that the extensive potato fields are located that have furnished an almost inexhaustible supply … and fine herds of cattle …”    (The Friend, April 30, 1857)

About this same time (1831,) Joaquin Armas came to Islands from Mexico (California) to catch cattle for Kamehameha III.  His later reward for years of service to the King was several parcels of land, including a site in Lāhainā.  (Pyle)

It is suggested that in 1833 Kamehameha III commissioned the construction of a two-story stone building on a property left to Armas, about a mile from the central core of Lāhainā, to serve as a store and inn to cater to visiting sailors.  (Lāhainā Restoration Foundation)

During Armas’ occupation, on January 24, 1841, the first Catholic mass on Maui was celebrated in the house.  (Bergin)  Armas left the Islands in 1844.

On February 4, 1844, Milo Calkin was appointed US Vice Commercial Agent for the port of Lāhainā by William Hooper, acting United States Commercial Agent.  One of his duties was to arrange for medical care for sick sailors.

In the beginning, sick and destitute sailors were being boarded out at some private establishment and being given medical care by a physician hired by the Agent.  Calkin soon requested the ability to contract for a hospital to attend to the growing numbers.  (HABS)

By August 1844, the US Marine Hospital was opened on the Armas site.  Back then, the hospital business was divided into three major sections. The Commercial Agent (Calkin was the first) was responsible for recommending seamen to the hospital, keeping necessary papers and books, and handling the financial transactions.

A physician of the hospital (the first in Lāhainā was Dr Charles Winslow) had a contract with the US States Government which guaranteed him exclusive treatment of American seamen at US expense.

The third person involved in the hospital management was the purveyor (the first at Lāhainā was John Munn,) supplying food, clothing, shelter, maid service, laundry service and assorted other necessities.  All of these services were charged to the US government.  (Pyle)

The hospital (sometimes referred to as the ‘Seamen’s Hospital’) continued until 1862.  A couple things caused it to close – (1) demand was dwindling (in 1859, an oil well was discovered and developed in Titusville, Pennsylvania; within a few years this new type of oil replaced whale oil for lamps and many other uses – spelling the end of the whaling industry) and (2) a festering scandal surfaced accusing misuse of government funds.

Part of the scandal started with some questions about the exorbitant amounts charged by Dr Winslow.  Winslow evidently made his fortune in Lāhainā and left.  In a November 19, 1847 letter (Rev Baldwin to EB Robinson, “…. tomorrow morning they (Winslow) embark … for the U. States. Dr. W. came out four years since from Nantucket—has had the Seamenʻs hospital here and other practices who have probably yielded him $20,000 or more, and now feels rich enough to go home.”

Calkin was not only Commercial Agent, he was a successful ship chandler; however, he abruptly dissolved his business in February, 1846 and departed from Hawaiʻi in November of that same year.  “It seems unlikely that Calkin was actually involved in the fraud, but he must have known about it.”  (Pyle)

After Charles Bunker of Massachusetts arrived as US consul to Lāhainā in 1850 (which had recently been elevated to a Consulate from an Agent) costs at the consulate skyrocketed. By 1852, officials at the Treasury Department had become suspicious. The costs to care for seamen at Lāhainā were nearly double per person than those in Honolulu.  (US Archives)

The situation continued for a few more years, but when the total amount spent for the hospitals in Honolulu, Lāhainā and Hilo reached more than $150,000 per year, an investigation was demanded by the Treasury Department.

US Commissioner in Hawaii, James W Borden, investigated the workings of the United States hospital and consular system in Honolulu, Lāhainā and Hilo.

In part, Borden reported, “A careful examination of the evidence will, I believe, satisfy you that the Physician as well as the Purveyor, in this respect, and also in that of obtaining from the seamen blank receipts, have been engaged in defrauding the Government, and I have therefore no hesitation in recommending the removal of them both …” (Borden, April 27, 1860; US Archives)

“It is a notorious fact that … many of our citizens deprecated the system which has been so long pursued by the consuls in the expenditures of the fund so wisely appropriated by Congress for the relief of sick and disabled American seamen, and the exaction of illegal fees and unjust charges from the seamen…”  (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, February 28, 1861)

“The testimony disclosed the long mooted fact, that the consulates of Honolulu and Lāhainā have a large patronage and that therefore the temptation to illegal practices is consequently very great; that the offices of physician and purveyor, highly lucrative positions …”

“…they possessed power to embarrass the operations of the merchants and shipmasters … therefore, the corrupt and unwarranted practices of the consuls has been heretofore winked at by them…”  (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, February 28, 1861)

The US Marine Hospital (Seamen’s Hospital) in Lāhainā officially closed on September 10, 1862.

In 1865 the Anglican sisters founded St. Cross School for Girls at the Marine Hospital premises, at first leasing the property and finally purchasing it in 1872. The Sisterhood opened a similar school – St Andrew’s Priory – on May 30, 1867.  The Lāhainā school continued to operate until 1877.

After the school closed, the building was used for many years as a vicarage for the Anglican ministers and was later exchanged with Bishop Estate for another piece of property in 1909.  (HABS)  It has also been used as a private home and a meeting room for civic groups. Today, the property is leased for business use.  (Lāhainā Restoration Foundation)

The image shows the US Marine Hospital (Seamen’s Hospital.) (National Library Of Medicine)  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 Stitching

Since I started these summary posts, I have received a variety of questions and comments (from many) asking about this or that.

One such included a call from someone at Punahou School who had received the stitching noted in the image; someone saw it for sale in a store on the continent, bought it and gave it to Punahou.

They felt there were Punahou ties.  They asked me what I thought.

First, the center poem: “Friends are like melons; shall I tell you why? To find one good, you must one hundred try.”

I found it was written by Claude Mermet, a French poet who was born in Saint-Rambert-en-Bugey a little before 1550 and died in Saint-Rambert en Bugey in 1620.  (Obviously this is about friends and friendship, but no obvious Hawaiʻi tie … but is there?)
 
Then, the names … who is listed, who put this together and why was it done?

Some obvious Hawaiʻi ties come up – and lots of association back to Kauai with the likes of Rice, Wilcox and Isenberg … including their connections to Punahou.

It is still an untold story.

So, through this, hopefully more can be known of the Who, Why and When of the piece.  Let us know what you know about this.

It’s interesting … someone finds a piece of stitchery on the continent, sees connections to the Islands, but a mystery remains as to Who, Why and When ….

Here’s a summary and interconnecting linkages between the people noted on the stitchery we have seen thus far:

Wm H Rice
William Hyde Rice (born at Punahou,) son of William Harrison Rice (October 12, 1815-May 27, 1862) (business manager of Punahou School) and Mary Sophia Hyde Rice; husband of Mary Waterhouse Rice)

Mary W Rice
(Mary Waterhouse (July 26, 1846-June 28, 1933;) married William Hyde Rice; Punahou 1861 and 1862) John Thomas Waterhouse Sr., father of Mary.

Mary E Scott
(Mary Eleanor Rice (November 25, 1880-January 22, 1923;) daughter of William Hyde Rice and Mary Waterhouse Rice; married Walter Henry Scott

Anna C Wilcox
(Anna Charlotte Rice (1882- 😉 daughter of William Hyde Rice and Mary Waterhouse Rice; married Ralph Lyman Wilcox (son of Samuel Whitney Wilcox and Emma Washburn Lyman Wilcox))

Emily D Rice
(Emily Dole Rice (May 1844 – June 14, 1911;) daughter of William Harrison Rice (1813–1863), and Mary Sophia Hyde; married George De la Vergne) (Punahou 1863 and 1864)

R L Wilcox
(Ralph Lyman Wilcox (1876–1913;) son of Samuel Whitney Wilcox and Emma Washburn Lyman Wilcox;) married Anna Charlotte Rice)

Dora R Isenberg
(Mary Dorothea “Dora” Rice (1862-1949) Maria Rice, sister of William Hyde Rice married Paul Isenberg; Paul and Maria Isenberg had two children, Mary Dorothea Rice Isenberg and Daniel Paul Rice Isenberg (1866-1919).

Emma Wilcox
(Emma Washburn Lyman (September 16, 1849 – July 28, 1934;) daughter of David Belden Lyman (1803–1868) and Sarah Joiner (1806–1885;) married Samuel Whitney Wilcox) (her son, Ralph Lyman Wilcox, married Anna Charlotte Rice)

Susan S Fisher
Harry Fisher (1903-1905) (?)

Rebecca W Watt
Rebecca Waterhouse (?)
Rebecca Wilcox (?)
Rebecca Watt (1803-1915)

It’s ‘all in the family,’ kind of; and, it’s interesting how a piece of fabric can start to call attention to and remind us of stories about people and life in the Islands, especially on Kauai and at Punahou … but, there is still more to be known about the piece.

I have already done some posts on some of the people noted here, and will be doing some more in the future.  There is an obvious link to Punahou and Kauaʻi.

Any help others can provide on Who, Why and When (or anything more) this was done is appreciated.

The image shows the stitching.  In addition, I have added other images in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.

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Alfred Stedman Hartwell

“Who would be free themselves must strike the blow…. I urge you to fly to arms and smite to death the power that would bury the Government and your liberty in the same hopeless grave. This is your golden opportunity.” (Frederick Douglass; NPS)

“Organization directed by cautious aggression and manly defense will do for the race infinitel more than the policy of eternally stretching forth our hands without doing anything toward filling them, and of complaining because others are not watching our interest while we are asleep.”  (Washington Bee, April 1, 1899)

The American Civil War (1861-1865) started because of uncompromising differences between the free and slave states over the power of the national government to prohibit slavery in the territories that had not yet become states.

The event that triggered war came at Fort Sumter in Charleston Bay on April 12, 1861. Claiming this United States fort as their own, the Confederate army on that day opened fire on the federal garrison and forced it to lower the American flag in surrender.

The real fighting began in 1862.  For three long years, from 1862 to 1865, Robert E Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia staved off invasions and attacks by the Union Army of the Potomac commanded by a series of ineffective generals until Ulysses S Grant came to Virginia from the Western theater to become general in chief of all Union armies in 1864.     (McPherson)

In the early years, African Americans were not permitted to fight in the war.  In early 1863, President Lincoln wrote to Andrew Johnson (military governor of Tennessee and later Lincoln’s vice president) that, “The colored population is the great available yet unavailed of force for restoring the Union.”

“The bare sight of fifty thousand armed and drilled black soldiers upon the banks of the Mississippi would end the rebellion at once; and who doubts that we can present that sight if we but take hold in earnest.”

Two months later, War Department General Order #143 sanctioned the creation of the United States Colored Troops (USCT,) and African American units began to be integrated into the Union Army.   (civilwar-org)

In Massachusetts, on January 26, 1863, Governor John Albion Andrew received permission to begin recruitment of African-Americans to man regiments of volunteer infantry. The 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry was formed; because of excessive enlistments, a second regiment, the 55th, was formed.

The USCT were commanded by white officers.  Captain Alfred Stedman Hartwell was assigned to the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry; when the 55th was formed, Hartwell was made its lieutenant colonel.  In the fall of 1863, Hartwell earned the rank of colonel of the 55th.

Hartwell was born at Dedham, Massachusetts.  He graduated from Harvard in 1858; was a tutor at Washington University, St Louis, 1858-61, and in the latter year enlisted in the Army.

The 55th fought in many battles, serving primarily in South Carolina and Florida.  However, throughout his leadership, Hartwell had growing concern about the inadequacy of pay given to the African American soldiers.

“They felt their manhood was at stake. They were regarded as good enough to be killed and wounded, and to work in the trenches side by side with white soldiers, so they said they would wait until they got their dues.”  (Hartwell; Soodalter)

Hartwell pressured his superiors on behalf of his troops. “I can hardly write, talk, eat or sleep,” he wrote, “I am so anxious and indignant that pay is not forthcoming … for my men. Can anything be done to hasten this thing? No man staying at home can imagine how great and terrible is the wrong done these men, and the distress they suffer.”  (Soodalter)

Finally, on August 22, 1864 the War Department sent word that all African American troops would be compensated with equal pay, retroactive to their date of enlistment.  That year, when he was twenty-eight years old, Hartwell was brevetted for gallantry and promoted to Brigadier-General.

Hartwell was wounded three times and had his horse blown out from under him. He was removed from the field, treated and sent home to recuperate.  He rejoined his regiment in January of 1865 and served for the remainder of the war. (Fisher)

By the spring of 1865, all the principal Confederate armies surrendered, and when Union cavalry captured the fleeing Confederate President Jefferson Davis in Georgia on May 10, 1865, resistance collapsed and the war ended. The long, painful process of rebuilding a united nation free of slavery began.   (McPherson)

By the end of the Civil War, roughly 179,000 black men (10 percent of the Union Army) served as soldiers in the US Army, and another 19,000 served in the Navy.  (National Archives)

When the war was over, Hartwell left the Army and returned to Harvard where he received his law degree the following year. He then began private practice in Boston.

In 1868, King Kamehameha V was offered Hartwell the position of “First Associate Justice of the Supreme Court and Vice Chancellor of the Kingdom of the Hawaiian Islands.”

“After some weeks of deliberation I decided to come, and on August 15, 1868 started on the long trip, intending an absence of two or three years only, to obtain the new experience, not then knowing that I was making a permanent change of my home.”  (Hartwell)

“After we had rounded Diamond Head and were beginning to take in the wonderful beauty of Honolulu, ever fresh and young … As we neared the wharf, we saw the crowd which was waiting to greet friends returning from abroad.”  (Hartwell )  He arrived in the Islands on September 30, 1868.

“I began at once to study the Hawaiian language with such success that in holding the circuit court at Lahaina at the December term of 1868 I charged the native jury in their own language, briefly to be sure, but I believe they understood the charge, which is more than can always be said of the juries who listen to the elaborate present day instructions.”

“…  the charm of the semi-tropical life was in the hospitality and friendliness of the people, native as well as foreign, shown to the stranger within their gates no less than to each other.”

“On January 10, 1872, my wedding day (to Miss Charlotte Elizabeth Smith, daughter of James W Smith of Kauaʻi,) my father died, but I did not know of his death until we got to San Francisco in the latter part of February, on our wedding journey to South Natick.”    (On June 11, 1872, his birthday, his sister died.)

The Hartwells had seven daughters and one son: Bernice Hartwell, Mabel Rebecca Hartwell, Edith Millicent Hartwell, Madeline Perry Hartwell, Charlotte Lee Hartwell, Juliette Hartwell, Charles Atherton Hartwell and Alice Dorothy Hartwell.

He served as editor of the Hawaiian Gazette, member of the Board of Trustees for the Planters’ Labor and Supply Company, and president of the Pacific Cable Company. He supported the idea that the United States should acquire a permanent lease with Hawaiʻi for a naval base at Pearl Harbor.

After the overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy in January of 1893, Hartwell served on the Annexation Commission. When Hawaiʻi was annexed by the US on July 7, 1898, he traveled to Washington to advise Secretary of State John Hay regarding Hawaii’s future.

On June 15, 1904, he was appointed Associate Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Hawaii. He served in that capacity until August 15, 1907 when he was sworn in as Chief Justice.

In February 1911, he resigned and set sail for Europe. His vacation was cut short by illness and he returned to Hawaiʻi. He died at his home in Honolulu on August 30, 1912. His grave is the westernmost grave of a Civil War general on American soil (at Oʻahu Cemetery.) (Fisher)

The image shows Alfred Stedman Hartwell in his US Army uniform.  In addition, I have included other related images in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.

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