Images of Old Hawaiʻi

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Battle of Kuamo‘o

“An extraordinary event marked the period of Liholiho’s rule, in the breaking down of the ancient tabus, the doing away with the power of the kahunas to declare tabus and to offer sacrifices, and the abolition of the tabu which forbade eating with women (ʻAi Noa, or free eating.)”  (Kamakau)

“The custom of the tabu upon free eating was kept up because in old days it was believed that the ruler who did not proclaim the tabu had not long to rule….The tabu eating was a fixed law for chiefs and commoners, not because they would die by eating tabu things, but in order to keep a distinction between things permissible to all people and those dedicated to the gods”. (Kamakau)

Following the death of Kamehameha I in 1819, King Kamehameha II (Liholiho) declared an end to the kapu system.  In a dramatic and highly symbolic event, Kamehameha II ate and drank with women, thereby breaking the important eating kapu.

This changed the course of the Hawaiian civilization and ended the kapu system (and the ancient organized religion), effectively weakened belief in the power of the gods and the inevitability of divine punishment for those who opposed them, and made for the transformation.

Forty years had passed since the death of Captain Cook at Kealakekua Bay, during which time the kapu system was breaking down; social behavior was changing rapidly and western actions clearly were immune to the ancient Hawaiian kapu (tabus).

Kamehameha II sent word to the island districts, and to the other islands, that the numerous heiau and their images of the gods be destroyed.

Kekuaokalani (Liholiho’s cousin) and his wife Manono opposed the abolition of the kapu system and assumed the responsibility of leading those who opposed its abolition.  These included priests, some courtiers and the traditional territorial chiefs of the middle rank.

Kekuaokalani demanded that Liholiho withdraw his edict on abolition of the kapu system.  Kamehameha II refused.

Keōpūolani (Liholiho’s mother,) ali‘i kapu (sacred chief), confronted Kekuaokalani.  She tried to negotiate with him so as to prevent a battle that could end with her son’s losing the kingdom.

The two powerful cousins engaged at the battle of Kuamo‘o. The battle was fought about December 20, 1819 (Emerson, Bishop).

The royal army, led by Kalanimōkū, numbered by nearly fifteen-hundred warriors, some of them bearing firearms.  Kekuaokalani had fewer men and even fewer weapons than the king’s better-armed forces.

“Kekuaokalani was killed on the field, and Manono, his brave and faithful wife, fighting by his side, fell dead upon the body of her husband with a musket-ball through her temples.”  (Kalākaua)

The Journal of William Ellis (1823): Scene of Battle with Supporters of Idolatry – “After traveling about two miles over this barren waste, we reached where, in the autumn of 1819, the decisive battle was fought between the forces of Rihoriho (Liholiho), the present king, and his cousin, Kekuaokalani, in which the latter was slain, his followers completely overthrown, and the cruel system of idolatry, which he took up arms to support, effectually destroyed.”  (Ellis)

“The natives pointed out to us the place where the king’s troops, led on by Karaimoku (Kalanimōkū), were first attacked by the idolatrous party. We saw several small heaps of stones, which our guide informed us were the graves of those who, during the conflict, had fallen there.”  (Ellis)

“We were then shewn the spot on which the king’s troops formed a line from the seashore towards the mountains, and drove the opposing party before them to a rising ground, where a stone fence, about breast high, enabled the enemy to defend themselves for some time, but from which they were at length driven by a party of Karaimoku’s (Kalanimōkū) warriors.”  (Ellis)

“The small tumuli increased in number as we passed along, until we came to a place called Tuamoo (Kuamo‘o)…”  (Ellis)

“Thus died the last great defenders of the Hawaiian gods.  They died as nobly as they had lived, and were buried together where they fell on the field of Kuamo‘o.”  (Kalākaua)

“Small bodies of religious malcontents were subdued at Waimea and one or two other points, but the hopes and struggles of the priesthood virtually ended with the death of Kekuaokalani.”  (Kalākaua)

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Women Warriors

“The famous battles of conquest were fought by that Great Lonely One (Kamehameha I) and his war instructor (Kekūhaupi‘o)”. Of note is the Battle of Nuʻuanu.

“(C)hiefesses accompanied their husbands on this war expedition, as well as the young male and female aliʻi. Most of these chiefesses who went with their husbands were adept at shooting a musket …”

“Four ships joined Kamehameha’s expedition. They were well armed and filled with his various armies which, perhaps by the counting of this time, numbered eight thousand warriors.”

“There were sixty-five ali‘i in the chiefly corps who were in command over the various armies. The ali‘i wahine who accompanied Kamehameha on this expedition and the young male and female ali‘i numbered two hundred or more. It is said that the total count of those on this expedition came to 8,624.”

“(T)here were a total of sixteen haole on this expedition. Most of them were fugitives from ships, and included those foreigners who had taken the ships from Kalanikūpule and given them to Kamehameha.”

“Kalanikūpule’s armies were in the upland above Honolulu, and Kamehameha’s forces were on the seaward side. Kamehameha’s men were well supplied with muskets and cannons”

“Kalanikūpule’s men were also supplied with these foreign weapons, however, not as well because they had lost those foreign weapons on board Captain Brown’s ships which the foreigners had taken at that time Kalanikūpule had first thought of attacking Kamehameha.” …

“In the beginning of this battle, the female aliʻi on Kamehameha’s side used their muskets, firing their bullets amongst the warriors on Kalanikūpule’s side.”

“Those on Kamehameha’s side were better skilled with the muskets, and perhaps these warriors furnished with the foreign weapons were electrified (ho‘ouwila ‘ia paha) by seeing the fearlessness of these aliʻi wahine.”

“As Kalanikūpule’s warriors were moving in a group, it was extremely easy for those aliʻi wahine to shoot at them. This battle, which was not hand-to-hand, was in the morning. Because so many deaths were inflicted on Kalanikūpule’s warriors, terror began to grow in many of them.”

“While Kamehameha was standing proudly at the Nuʻuanu Gap, he was surrounded by the various aliʻi wahine who had assisted in his victory. They held their muskets which they had been taught to use by Kaʻiana, yet here at the hands of these chiefly pupils, death on the battlefield had been meted out to him.”

“It can be declared that Hawai‘i did not lack for fearless-hearted chiefesses, and it is appropriate that we proudly preserve the memory of their support of Kamehameha in those victorious battles.” (Desha)

A woman warrior of note was Manono; she fought side-by-side with her husband, Kekuaokalani, in the battle following the fall of the kapu, initiated by Kaʻahumanu and Keōpūolani, and supported by Liholiho, son of Kamehameha I (he rose to be King Kamehameha II following the death of his father.)

“No characters in Hawaiian history stand forth with a sadder prominence, or add a richer tint to the vanishing chivalry of the race, than Kekuaokalani and his courageous and devoted wife, Manono, the last defenders in arms of the Hawaiian gods.” (Kalākaua)

“Kekuaokalani is referred to by tradition as one of the most imposing chiefs of his day. He was more than six and a half feet in height, perfect in form, handsome in feature and noble in bearing. Brave, sagacious and magnetic, he possessed the requirements of a successful military leader”. (Kalākaua)

Kekuaokalani, having earlier received a wound, fainted and fell and, unable to stand, “sat on a fragment of lava, and twice loaded and fired a musket on the advancing party. He now received a ball in his left breast, and, immediately covering his face with his feathered cloak”. (Ellis)

“In the midst of these scenes of blood the eye rests with relief upon numerous episodes of love, friendship and self-sacrifice touching with a softening color the ruddy canvas of the past.” (Kalākaua)

“Manono, during the day, fought by his side, with steady and dauntless courage.” (Ellis)

“He finally fell with a musket-ball through his heart. With a wild scream of despair Manono sprang to his assistance”. (Kalākaua)

“But the words had scarcely escaped from her lips, when she received a ball in the left temple – fell upon the lifeless body of her husband, and expired.” (Ellis)

“Thus died the last great defenders of the Hawaiian gods. They died as nobly as they had lived, and were buried together where they fell on the field of Kuamoʻo.” (Kalākaua)

“It is painful to contemplate the death of Kekuaokalani, of Manono a wife who seems to have been unusually affectionate, and of the many friends and adherents who fought with acknowledged steadfastness and courage and fell on the field of battle.” (Dibble)

“Manono is said to have been an interesting woman, and she certainly gave evidence of attachment and affection. … Not even the horrors of savage fight could prevent her from following the fortune and sharing the dangers of her husband.” (Dibble) (Artwork of Manono and Kekuaokalani is by Brook Parker.)

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Manono

Manono was born on Maui in the 1780s; her father was Kekuamanoha, and her mother was Kalola-a-Kumukoʻa, a wife of Kamehameha. Through her father, she was a granddaughter of Kekaulike, the Mōʻi (King) of Maui.

From her mother’s side, she was the great-granddaughter of King Keawe of Hawaiʻi.  Her half-siblings from her father’s first marriage were Kalanimōkū, Boki and Wahinepio. She was cousin of Kaʻahumanu, Kalākua Kaheiheimālie, Keʻeaumoku II and Kuakini (Governor of Hawaiʻi.)

At the time of Cook’s arrival (1778-1779) (while the Colonists were battling the British on the continent,) the Hawaiian Islands were divided into four kingdoms: (1) the island of Hawaiʻi under the rule of Kalaniʻōpuʻu, who also had possession of the Hāna district of east Maui; (2) Maui (except the Hāna district,) Molokaʻi, Lānaʻi and Kahoʻolawe, ruled by Kahekili; (3) Oʻahu, under the rule of Kahahana; and at (4) Kauaʻi and Niʻihau, Kamakahelei was ruler.

Separate Kingdoms ruled separate parts of the Islands.  However, conquest was in the air and battles and negotiations for power and control were going on.

When Keōua, the father of Kamehameha, died, he commended his son to the care of Kalaniʻōpuʻu, who received him, and treated him as his own child.  (Dibble)  Following Kalaniʻōpuʻu’s death in 1782, the kingship was inherited by his son Kīwalaʻō; Kamehameha (Kīwalaʻō’s cousin) was given guardianship of the Hawaiian god of war, Kūkaʻilimoku.

Dissatisfied with subsequent redistricting of the lands by district chiefs, civil war ensued between Kīwalaʻō’s forces and the various chiefs under the leadership of his cousin Kamehameha.

In the first major skirmish, the battle of Mokuʻōhai (a fight between Kamehameha and Kiwalaʻo in July, 1782 at Keʻei, south of Kealakekua Bay on the Island of Hawaiʻi,) Kiwalaʻo was killed.  With the death of his cousin Kiwalaʻo, the victory made Kamehameha chief of the districts of Kona, Kohala and Hāmākua, while Keōua, the brother of Kiwalaʻo, held Kaʻū and Puna, and Keawemauhili declared himself independent of both in Hilo.  (Kalākaua)

Kamehameha, through the assistance of the Kona “Uncles” (Keʻeaumoku, Keaweaheulu, Kameʻeiamoku & Kamanawa (the latter two ended up on the Islands’ coat of arms;)) succeeded, after a struggle of more than ten years, in securing the supreme authority over that island (and later, the entire Hawaiian Islands chain.)

Prior to his death on May 8, 1819, Kamehameha decreed that that his son, Liholiho, would succeed him in power; he also decreed that his nephew, Kekuaokalani, have control of the war god Kūkaʻilimoku (a similar scenario to Kalaniʻōpuʻu and Kiwalaʻo/Kamehameha.)

At a young age Manono fell in love with and married Kekuaokalani, the young kahu (priest) of Kūkaʻilimoku from the island of Hawai’i. The couple lived in the mountains on the island of Maui tending to their taro patches and raised their four children.  (Cupchoy)

Following the death of Kamehameha I in 1819, King Kamehameha II (Liholiho) declared an end to the kapu system.   “An extraordinary event marked the period of Liholiho’s rule, in the breaking down of the ancient tabus, the doing away with the power of the kahunas to declare tabus and to offer sacrifices, and the abolition of the tabu which forbade eating with women (ʻAi Noa, or free eating.)”  (Kamakau)

The people were divided about keeping the traditional social structure or abandoning it. Kekuaokalani, Liholiho’s cousin, opposed the abolition of the kapu system and assumed the responsibility of leading those who opposed its abolition. These included priests, members of his court and the traditional territorial chiefs of the middle rank.

Kekuaokalani demanded that Liholiho withdraw his edict on abolition of the kapu system.  (If the kapu fell, the war god would lose its potency.)  (Daws)  Kamehameha II refused.

After attempts to settle peacefully, “Friendly means have failed; it is for you to act now,” and Keōpūolani then ordered Kalanimōkū to prepare for war on Kekuaokalani. Arms and ammunition were given out that evening to everyone who was trained in warfare, and feather capes and helmets distributed.  (Kamakau)

The two powerful cousins engaged at the final Hawaiian battle of Kuamoʻo – a battle for tradition versus the modern.

In December 1819, just seven months after the death of Kamehameha I, opposing heirs met in battle on the lava fields south of Keauhou Bay.  Liholiho had more men, more weapons and more wealth to ensure his victory. He sent his prime minister, Kalanimōku, to defeat his cousin.

Kekuaokalani marched up the Kona Coast from Kaʻawaloa and met his enemies at Lekeleke, just south of Keauhou.  The first encounter went in favor of Kekuaokalani. At Lekeleke, the king’s army suffered a temporary defeat.

Regrouping his warriors, Kalanimōkū fought back and trapped the rebels farther south along the shore in the ahupuaʻa of Kuamoʻo.    (Kona Historical Society)

“No characters in Hawaiian history stand forth with a sadder prominence, or add a richer tint to the vanishing chivalry of the race, than Kekuaokalani and his courageous and devoted wife, Manono, the last defenders in arms of the Hawaiian gods.”  (Kalākaua)

“Kekuaokalani is referred to by tradition as one of the most imposing chiefs of his day. He was more than six and a half feet in height, perfect in form, handsome in feature and noble in bearing. Brave, sagacious and magnetic, he possessed the requirements of a successful military leader”.  (Kalākaua)

Kekuaokalani, having earlier received a wound, fainted and fell and, unable to stand, “sat on a fragment of lava, and twice loaded and fired a musket on the advancing party. He now received a ball in his left breast, and, immediately covering his face with his feathered cloak”.  (Ellis)

“In the midst of these scenes of blood the eye rests with relief upon numerous episodes of love, friendship and self-sacrifice touching with a softening color the ruddy canvas of the past.”   (Kalākaua)

“Manono, during the day, fought by his side, with steady and dauntless courage.”  (Ellis)

“He finally fell with a musket-ball through his heart. With a wild scream of despair Manono sprang to his assistance”.   (Kalākaua)

“But the words had scarcely escaped from her lips, when she received a ball in the left temple – fell upon the lifeless body of her husband, and expired.”  (Ellis)

“Thus died the last great defenders of the Hawaiian gods.  They died as nobly as they had lived, and were buried together where they fell on the field of Kuamoʻo.”  (Kalākaua)

“It is painful to contemplate the death of Kekuaokalani, of Manono a wife who seems to have been unusually affectionate, and of the many friends and adherents who fought with acknowledged steadfastness and courage and fell on the field of battle.”  (Dibble)

“Manono is said to have been an interesting woman, and she certainly gave evidence of attachment and affection. … Not even the horrors of savage fight could prevent her from following the fortune and sharing the dangers of her husband.”  (Dibble)

It is said that Kalanimōkū left the body of Kekuaokalani on the lava rocks after this battle instead of having it buried according to his rank of a chief because Kekuaokalani’s ancestor, Alapaʻi-Nui-a–Kaʻu-au-a had drowned Kalanimōkū’s ancestor, Kauhi-ai-moku-a-kama, at Puhele, Kaupo district, Maui.  (Kamakau)

After Kalanimōkū’s departure, Kekuaokalani’s loved ones retrieved his body; later the iwi of Kekuaokalani were brought from Koaiku Cave in Kaʻawaloa to Pohukaina on the grounds of ʻIolani Palace in Honolulu.  (Parker, Alu Like)

Kekuaokalani’s feathered cloak was taken as a battle prize of Kamehameha II.  The cloak became one of the three feathered cloaks that legitimized Liholiho’s claim to power.  After the death of Kamehameha II, the cloak did not have the same symbolic power to his brother, Kamehameha III, and it was given to Captain John H Aulick of the American Navy in 1841. His descendants gave it to the Smithsonian Institution in 1869.  (Smithsonian)

The image ‘Kekuaokalani and Manono Battle at Kuamoʻo Dec. 1819’ by Brook Kapukuniahi Parker was the inspiration for this summary.  Front and center is Manono, standing beside her husband Kekuaokalani.  In the back, a kahuna holds Kūkaʻilimoku, the Hawaiian war god, first entrusted to Kamehameha I, who passed it on to Kekuaokalani.

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Kekuaokalani and the Kapu

Pāʻao (ca 1300,) from Kahiki (Tahiti,) is reported to have introduced (or significantly expanded,) a religious and political code in old Hawaiʻi, collectively called the kapu system. This forbid many things and demanded many more, with many infractions being punishable by death.

Anything connected with the gods and their worship was considered sacred, such as idols, heiau and priests. Because chiefs were believed to be descendants of the gods, many kapu related to chiefs and their personal possessions.

Certain objects were also kapu, and to be avoided, either because they were sacred or because they were defiling.  Seasons and places could also be declared kapu.

Certain religious kapu were permanent and unchangeable, relating to customary rites, observances, ceremonies, and methods of worship, and to the maintenance of the gods and their priests.

The social order of old Hawaiʻi was defined by these very strict societal rules, do’s and don’ts.

Prior to his death on May 8, 1819, Kamehameha decreed that that his son, Liholiho, would succeed him in power; he also decreed that his nephew, Kekuaokalani, have control of the war god Kūkaʻilimoku.

(Kamehameha had experienced a similar transfer of powers; following Kalaniʻōpuʻu’s death in 1782, the kingship was inherited by his son Kīwalaʻō; Kamehameha (Kīwalaʻō’s cousin) was given guardianship of the Hawaiian god of war, Kūkaʻilimoku.)

Following the death of Kamehameha I in 1819, King Kamehameha II (Liholiho) declared an end to the kapu system.   “An extraordinary event marked the period of Liholiho’s rule, in the breaking down of the ancient tabus, the doing away with the power of the kahunas to declare tabus and to offer sacrifices, and the abolition of the tabu which forbade eating with women (ʻAi Noa, or free eating.)”  (Kamakau)

“The custom of the tabu upon free eating was kept up because in old days it was believed that the ruler who did not proclaim the tabu had not long to rule….The tabu eating was a fixed law for chiefs and commoners, not because they would die by eating tabu things, but in order to keep a distinction between things permissible to all people and those dedicated to the gods”. (Kamakau)

Kekuaokalani, Liholiho’s cousin, opposed the abolition of the kapu system and assumed the responsibility of leading those who opposed its abolition. These included priests, some courtiers, and the traditional territorial chiefs of the middle rank.
 
Kekuaokalani demanded that Liholiho withdraw his edict on abolition of the kapu system.  (If the kapu fell, the war god would lose its potency.)  (Daws)

Kamehameha II refused.  After attempts to settle peacefully, “Friendly means have failed; it is for you to act now,” and Keōpūolani then ordered Kalanimōku to prepare for war on Kekuaokalani. Arms and ammunition were given out that evening to everyone who was trained in warfare, and feather capes and helmets distributed.  (Kamakau)

The two powerful cousins engaged at the final Hawaiian battle of Kuamoʻo.

In December 1819, just seven months after the death of Kamehameha I, the allies of his two opposing heirs met in battle on the jagged lava fields south of Keauhou Bay.  Liholiho had more men, more weapons and more wealth to ensure his victory. He sent his prime minister, Kalanimōku, to defeat his stubborn cousin.

Kekuaokalani marched up the Kona Coast from Kaʻawaloa and met his enemies at Lekeleke, just south of Keauhou.  The first encounter went in favor of Kekuaokalani. At Lekeleke, the king’s army suffered a temporary defeat.

Regrouping his warriors, Kalanimōku fought back and trapped the rebels farther south along the shore in the ahupuaʻa of Kuamoʻo.    (Kona Historical Society)

Kekuaokalani showed conspicuous courage during the entire battle. He kept on advancing and even when shot in the leg he fought on bravely until afternoon, when he was surrounded and shot in the chest and died facing his enemies.  (Kamakau)

His wife Manono fought and died at his side.

Liholiho ordered the bodies of his men to be buried beneath the terraced graves at Lekeleke; Kekuaokalani’s dead warriors were buried there, as well, and Liholiho pardoned all surviving rebels. It was estimated that hundreds of people were killed in this battle, the last fought in Kona.

The burial ground of the fallen warriors of the battle of Kuamoʻo is at Lekeleke at the southern terminus of the present day Aliʻi Drive.

The battle of Kuamoʻo effectively crushed any hope of reviving traditional Hawaiian religion and its accompanying kapu system.  This changed the course of their civilization and ended the kapu system (and the ancient organized religion,) and made way for the transformation to Christianity and westernization.

Liholiho and the others did not know that at the time that the kapu was broken and battle was waged, the first of the Protestant missionaries were on the ocean on their way to the Islands.

 On October 23, 1819, the Pioneer Company of American Protestant missionaries from the northeast US set sail on the Thaddeus; after 164-days at sea, on April 4, 1820, the Thaddeus arrived and anchored at Kailua-Kona.

These included two Ordained Preachers, Hiram Bingham and his wife Sybil and Asa Thurston and his wife Lucy; two Teachers, Mr. Samuel Whitney and his wife Mercy and Samuel Ruggles and his wife Mary; a Doctor, Thomas Holman and his wife Lucia; a Printer, Elisha Loomis and his wife Maria; and a Farmer, Daniel Chamberlain, his wife and five children.

With the missionaries were four Hawaiian students from the Foreign Mission School, Thomas Hopu, William Kanui, John Honoliʻi and Prince Humehume (son of Kauaʻi’s King Kaumuali‘i.)

Within five years of the missionaries’ arrival, a dozen chiefs had sought Christian baptism and church membership, including the king’s regent Kaʻahumanu.  The Hawaiian people followed their native leaders, accepting the missionaries as their new priestly class.  The process culminated in Hawaiian King Kamehameha III’s adoption of Christianity and a Biblically-based constitution in 1840.  (Schulz)

Over the course of a little over 40-years (1820-1863) (the “Missionary Period”,) about 180-men and women in twelve Companies served in Hawaiʻi to carry out the mission of the ABCFM in the Hawaiian Islands.

The image shows the Kuamoʻo Lekeleke Burial Memorial.  More images are added to a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.

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