Nauhopoouah Hopoo

Hopu, “was born about the year 1795, in Owhyhee, one of the Sandwich Islands.  After my mother had left me, she went and told one of my sisters to take my life away ... (however, his) aunt took a blanket with her ... (took him in her arms and took him) into her own brother's house.”  (Hopu)

“Then her brother said unto his wife, this child shall be our son, for his name shall be called Nauhopoouah Hopoo, and we will be his feeders. So they nourished (him)”.  He lived with his uncle until he was four; then returned to his parents until he was eight (later living with his brother.)

“Among the American traders who frequently visit the Sandwich Islands, was Captain Brintnal, of New-Haven, (Conn.) who in 1807, touched and tarried some time at Owhyhee, one of these Islands.”  That year, Hopu and Henry ʻŌpūkahaʻia sailed with Captain Brintnall on the ‘Triumph.’

The Triumph set sail for the Pacific Coast of North America to pick up sealers, one of whom, Russell Hubbard, was a Yale student from Connecticut. Six months later the ship returned to Hawaiʻi, then went on to China, and finally New York. During the long voyage Hubbard tutored Henry and Hopu in English, and taught them about the Bible.  (Cook)

The ship returned to America by the way of China, and arrived at New-Haven early in the fall of 1809.  On their arrival on the continent, Hopu was given an additional name Thomas.

“After Hopoo had lived for a season in New-Haven, his disposition seemed inclined rove than to study.  He rejected an invitation of Obookiah to go with him to Andover and be taught.”  (ABCFM)  However, he learned to write and spell some basic words.  He chose the life of a sailor - he served on an American ship in the War of 1812.

After returning from his last voyage, he hired himself out in several families as a servant or coachman.  For about nine months, Hopu settled down with a Grangor family at Whitestown, NY. He lived with various families, until September 1815, when he returned to New-Haven, joined ʻŌpūkahaʻia and resumed his studies, including religious instruction.   (Narrative of Five Youth, 1816)

“In this place I become acquainted with many students belonging to the College. By these pious students I was told more about God than what I had heard before … I could understand or speak, but very little of the English language. Friend Thomas (Hopu) went to school to one of the students in the College before I thought of going to school.”  (ʻŌpūkahaʻia)

Hopu and ʻŌpūkahaʻia stayed together in school at Litchfield Farms from the late-1816 until April 1817, when they started their training at the Foreign Mission School in Cornwall. Of the four Hawaiian boys who came with the pioneer party, Hopu was best prepared to serve, for he had proved a good scholar, even in theology. (Kelley)

On October 23, 1819, the Pioneer Company of American Protestant missionaries set sail on the Thaddeus for the Islands.  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; 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.)  (Unfortunately, ʻŌpūkahaʻia died suddenly of typhus fever in 1818 and did not fulfill his dream of returning to the islands to preach the gospel.)

They reached Hawaii on March 30, 1820. When the boat which they had sent to a landing on the Kohala coast, returned to the vessel, these were the tidings given to the missionaries: “Kamehameha is dead; his son Liholiho is king. The tabus are at an end; the idols are burned; the temples are destroyed.  There has been war. Now there is peace.”  (HEA) They later landed in Kailua-Kona, April 4, 1820.

Hopu and Kanui remained with the Thurstons and Holmans at Kailua to serve as interpreters and aides to the king. Hopu was reunited with his father, who moved his family to Kailua, where Hopu cared for him teaching him to know Jesus and praying with him faithfully. He also served the king's household and aided Thurston by translating his teachings and preaching.  (Kelley)

Later at Lāhainā, “Hopu, in visiting the back part of Maui with the king, was particularly attracted by one of the daughters of the land.  When he returned to Honolulu, he brought to our cottage the girl of eighteen, wishing to commit her to me for special training.”  (Thurston)

Hopu declared “since the Almighty has excited in my heart such yearnings for her, I think it is his will that I marry her.” Lucy Thurston named her Delia.

“Their marriage (August 11, 1822) was publicly solemnized in the church. The king and principal chiefs were there.  (It was the first Christian marriage in the Islands.)”

“Hopu appeared as usual in his gentlemanly black suit. By his side stood Delia, dressed in a ... complete and fashionable dress in white, was added a trimmed straw bonnet. It was the first native woman's head that had been thus crowned.”  (Thurston)

After helping Bingham in Honolulu for some time, Hopu settled in Kailua where he kept busy teaching, holding Sabbath meetings for the governor, assisting in translating the Bible, and caring for his father (who died after four years at the age of 80. His funeral service was the first missionary one to be held in Hawaiʻi.)  (Kelley)

Throughout those early missionary years in Hawaiʻi, Hopu appears here and there preforming his duties; forcibly delivering a sermon, spreading cheer, comforting and aiding to those suffering.

Chester Lyman, visiting the islands in 1846 found Hopu working in a store in Honolulu. He reports he was over 50 and an interesting man.  He has been a consistent and useful man since he returned and is now one of the deacons of the Kailua Church where he resides.  (Kelley)  The image shows Thomas Hopu.

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ʻŌpūkahaʻia Leaves Hawaiʻi

Hostilities of Kamehameha’s conquest on Hawai‘i Island supposedly ended with the death of Keōua at Kawaihae Harbor in early-1792 and the placement of the vanquished chief’s body at Puʻukoholā Heiau at Kawaihae.

The island was under the rule of Kamehameha.  However, after a short time, another chief entered into a power dispute with Kamehameha; his name was Nāmakehā.

In 1795, Kamehameha asked Nāmakehā, who lived in Kaʻū, Hawai‘i, for help in fighting Kalanikūpule and his Maui forces on O‘ahu, but Nāmakehā ignored the invitation. Instead, he opted to rebel against Kamehameha by tending to his enemies in Kaʻū, Puna and Hilo on Hawai‘i Island.

Hostilities erupted between the two. The battle took place at Hilo.  Kamehameha defeated Nāmakehā; his warriors next turned their rage upon the villages and families of the vanquished. The alarm was given of their approach.

A family, who had supported Nāmakehā, the father (Ke‘au) taking his wife (Kamohoʻula) and two children fled to the mountains. There he concealed himself for several days with his family in a cave.  (Brumaghim)  The warriors found the family and killed the adults.

A survivor, a son, ʻŌpūkahaʻia, was at the age of ten or twelve; both his parents were slain before his eyes.  The only surviving member of the family, besides himself, was an infant brother he hoped to save from the fate of his parents, and carried him on his back and fled from the enemy.

But he was pursued, and his little brother, while on his back, was killed by a spear from the enemy. Taken prisoner, because he was not young enough to give them trouble, nor old enough to excite their fears, ʻŌpūkahaʻia was not killed.

He was later turned over to his uncle, Pahua, who took him into his own family and treated him as his child. Pahua was a kahuna at Hikiʻau Heiau in Kealakekua Bay.

When Captain Vancouver visited the islands in the 1790s, he provided the following description of Hikiʻau:
“Adjoining one side of the Square was the great Morai (heiau,) where there stood a kind of steeple (‘anu‘u) that ran up to the height of 60 or 70 feet, it was in square form, narrowing gradually towards the top where it was square and flat; it is built of very slight twigs & laths, placed horizontally and closely, and each lath hung with narrow pieces of white Cloth.”

“… next to this was a House occupied by the Priests, where they performed their religious ceremonies and the whole was enclosed by a high railing on which in many parts were stuck skulls of those people, who had fallen victims to the Wrath of their Deity. …. In the center of the Morai stood a preposterous figure carved out of wood larger than life representing the … supreme deity… .”

John Papa ʻI‘i wrote that in ca. 1812-1813, shortly after Kamehameha’s return to Hawai‘i, the king celebrated the Makahiki and in the course of doing so he rededicated Hikiʻau, “the most important heiau in the district of Kona”.

This is the same place where Captain Cook landed on the Island of Hawaiʻi, across the bay from Hikiʻau Heiau is where Cook was later killed.

ʻŌpūkahaʻia’s uncle, wanting his nephew to follow him as a kahuna, taught ʻŌpūkahaʻia long prayers and trained him to the task of repeating them daily in the temple of the idol. This ceremony he sometimes commenced before sunrise in the morning, and at other times was employed in it during the whole or the greater part of the night.

ʻŌpūkahaʻia was not destined to be a kahuna.

He made a life-changing decision – not only which affected his life, but had a profound effect on the future of the Hawaiian Islands.

“I began to think about leaving that country, to go to some other part of the globe. I did not care where I shall go to. I thought to myself that if I should get away, and go to some other country, probably I may find some comfort, more than to live there, without father and mother.”  (ʻŌpūkahaʻia)

In 1807, he boarded an American a ship in Kealakekua Bay, the Triumph, under the command of Captain Brintnal; also on Board was Thomas Hopu.  They set sail for New York, stopping first in China (selling seal-skins and loading the ship with Chinese goods.)

Also on Board was Russell Hubbard, a son of Gen. Hubbard of New Haven, Connecticut.  “This Mr. Hubbard was a member of Yale College. He was a friend of Christ. Christ was with him when I saw him, but I knew it not.  ‘Happy is the man that put his trust in God!’  Mr. Hubbard was very kind to me on our passage, and taught me the letters in English spelling-book.”  (ʻŌpūkahaʻia)

In 1809, they landed at New York and remained there until the Captain sold out all the Chinese goods.   Then, they made their way to New England.

“In this place I become acquainted with many students belonging to the College. By these pious students I was told more about God than what I had heard before … Many times I wished to hear more about God, but find no body to interpret it to me. I attended many meetings on the sabbath, but find difficulty to understand the minister. I could understand or speak, but very little of the English language. Friend Thomas (Hopu) went to school to one of the students in the College before I thought of going to school.”  (ʻŌpūkahaʻia)

ʻŌpūkahaʻia’s life in New England was greatly influenced by many young men with proven sincerity and religious fervor that were active in the Second Great Awakening and the establishment of the missionary movement.  These men had a major impact on ʻŌpūkahaʻia’s enlightenment in Christianity and his vision to return to Hawaiʻi as a Christian missionary.

He was taken into the family of the Rev. Dr. Dwight, President of Yale College, for a season; where he was treated with kindness, and taught the first principles of Christianity.  At length, Mr. Samuel J. Mills, took him under his particular patronage, and sent him to live with his father, the Rev. Mr. Mills of Torringford.

By 1817, a dozen students, six of them Hawaiians, were training at the Foreign Mission School to become missionaries to teach the Christian faith to people around the world.

ʻŌpūkahaʻia improved his English by writing; the story of his life was later assembled into a book called “Memoirs of Henry Obookiah” (the spelling of his name based on its sound, prior to establishment of the formal Hawaiian alphabet.)  ʻŌpūkahaʻia, inspired by many young men with proven sincerity and religious fervor of the missionary movement, had wanted to spread the word of Christianity back home in Hawaiʻi; his book inspired 14-missionaries to volunteer to carry his message to the Sandwich Islands (now known as Hawaiʻi.)

On October 23, 1819, the Pioneer Company of missionaries from the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) from the northeast United States, set sail on the Thaddeus for the Sandwich Islands (now known as Hawai‘i.)

There were seven couples sent to convert the Hawaiians to Christianity.   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; a Farmer, Daniel Chamberlain, his wife and five children.

Along with them were four Hawaiian youths who had been students at the Foreign Mission School at Cornwall Connecticut, Thomas Hopu (his friend on board the ship when he first left the Islands,) William Kanui, John Honoliʻi and Prince Humehume (son of Kauaiʻi’s King Kaumuali‘i and also known as Prince George Kaumuali‘i.)

Unfortunately, ʻŌpūkahaʻia died suddenly of typhus fever in 1818 and did not fulfill his dream of returning to the islands to preach the gospel.  (The bulk of the information here is from ʻŌpūkahaʻia’s “Memoirs of Henry Obookiah” and Papaʻula, 1867 in Brumaghim)

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

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American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM)

There are three prominent names associated with the history of Missions in America, Eliot of the 17th century, Brainerd of the 18th century and Mills of the 19th century.

John Eliot (c. 1604 – 21 May 1690) was a Puritan missionary to the American Indians. His efforts earned him the designation “the apostle to the Indians.”

David Brainerd (April 20, 1718–October 9, 1747) was an American missionary to the Native Americans who had a ministry among the Delaware Indians of New Jersey.

Samuel John Mills (1783-1818) was the key instigator of American foreign missions. He grew up in Torringford, Connecticut, where his father, also named Samuel John Mills (1743-1833,) was pastor of the Congregational Church.

In the early-1800s, the US was swept by religious revivalism and many people were converted in the wake of the newly born religious fervor.  The Second Great Awakening spread from its origins in Connecticut to Williamstown, Massachusetts; enlightenment ideals from France were gradually being countered by an increase in religious fervor, first in the town, and then in Williams College.

In 1806, Mills headed off to Williams College in Massachusetts; he shared his thoughts on a missionary life with a few friends at college.

In the summer of 1806, in a grove of trees, in what was then known as Sloan's Meadow, Mills, James Richards, Francis L Robbins, Harvey Loomis and Byram Green debated the theology of missionary service.  Their meeting was interrupted by a thunderstorm and they took shelter under a haystack until the sky cleared.

That event has since been referred to as the “Haystack Prayer Meeting” and is viewed by many scholars as the pivotal event for the development of Protestant missions in the subsequent decades and century.

The first American student missionary society began in September 1808, when Mills and others called themselves "The Brethren," whose object was "to effect, in the person of its members, a mission or missions to the heathen."  (Smith)  Mill graduated Williams College in 1809 and later Andover Theological Seminary.

In June 1810, Mills and James Richards petitioned the General Association of the Congregational Church to establish the foreign missions.  American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions was formed with a Board of members from Massachusetts and Connecticut.

In February, 1812, Rev. and Mrs. Judson, Rev. and Mrs. Newall, Rev. and Mrs. Nott, Rev. Gordon Hall and Rev. Luther Rice were commissioned as the Board's first missionaries and set sail for Calcutta, India. (williams-edu)

In 1818, following a brief stay in England, Mills sailed to the west coast of Africa to purchase land for the American Colonization Society, then embarked for the United States on May 22 - he died at sea on June 16, 1818.

The story of the Foreign Mission School (1817-1826) connects the town of Cornwall, Connecticut, to a larger, national religious fervor of the Second Great Awakening. Cornwall’s Foreign Mission School exemplified evangelical efforts to recruit young men from indigenous cultures around the world, convert them to Christianity, educate them, and train them to become preachers, health workers, translators and teachers back in their native lands.

The school’s first student was Henry ʻŌpūkahaʻia (Obookiah,) a native Hawaiian from the Island of Hawaiʻi who in 1809 (at the age of 16, after his parents had been killed) boarded a sailing ship anchored in Kealakekua Bay and sailed to the continent.   In its first year, the Foreign Mission School had 12 students, more than half of whom were Hawaiian.

The next year, the enrollment doubled to 24 and, in addition to Chinese, Hindu and Bengali students, also consisted of seven Native Americans of Choctaw, Abnaki and Cherokee descent. By 1820, Native Americans from six different tribes made up half of the school’s students.

Once enrolled, students spent seven hours a day in study. Subjects included chemistry, geography, calculus and theology, as well as Greek, French and Latin. They were also taught special skills like coopering (the making of barrels and other storage casks), blacksmithing, navigation and surveying. When not in class, students attended mandatory church and prayer sessions and also worked on making improvements to the school’s lands.

ʻŌpūkahaʻia died suddenly of typhus fever in 1818; the “Memoirs of Henry Obookiah” served as an inspiration for missionaries to volunteer to carry his message to the Sandwich Islands.

On October 23, 1819, a group of northeast missionaries, led by Hiram Bingham, set sail on the Thaddeus for the Sandwich Islands (now known as Hawai‘i.)  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.)

The Prudential Committee of the ABCFM in giving instructions to the pioneers of 1819 said: “Your mission is a mission of mercy, and your work is to be wholly a labor of love. … Your views are not to be limited to a low, narrow scale, but you are to open your hearts wide, and set your marks high. You are to aim at nothing short of covering these islands with fruitful fields, and pleasant dwellings and schools and churches, and of Christian civilization.”  (The Friend)

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.

Today, the Hawaiian Mission Children's Society, a nonprofit educational institution and genealogical society, exists to promote an understanding of the social history of nineteenth-century Hawai‘i and its critical role in the formation of modern Hawai‘i.

The Society operates the Hawaiian Mission Houses Historic Site and Archives, comprised of three historic buildings and a research archives with reading room. The Society also compiles the genealogical records of the American Protestant missionaries in Hawai‘i and promotes the participation of missionary descendants in the Society's activities.

Through the Site and Archives, the Society collects and preserves the documents, artifacts and other records of the missionaries in Hawai‘i's history; makes these collections available for research and educational purposes; and interprets the historic site and collections to reflect the social history of nineteenth century Hawai‘i and America.

The image shows the Foreign Mission School in Cornwall, Connecticut.    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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Pioneer Company

The coming of Henry Obookiah (ʻŌpūkahaʻia) and other young Hawaiians to the continent had awakened a deep Christian sympathy in the churches and moved the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) to establish a mission in the Hawaiian Islands.

Among the other Hawaiian students at the Foreign Mission School were Thomas Hopu, William Kanui, John Honoliʻi and Prince Humehume (son of Kauaiʻi’s King Kaumuali‘i.)

When asked “Who will return with these boys to their native land to teach the truths of salvation?”  Hiram Bingham and his classmate, Asa Thurston, were the first to respond and offer their services to the Board.  (Congregational Quarterly)

Bingham and Thurston were ordained at Goshen, Ct on September 29, 1819; it was the first ordination of foreign missionaries in the State of Connecticut.

On October 23, 1819, the Pioneer Company of American Protestant missionaries from the northeast US set sail on the Thaddeus for the Sandwich Islands (now known as Hawai‘i.)

There were seven American couples sent by the ABCFM to convert the Hawaiians to Christianity in this first company.

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.

Although a large part of the motivation for the Hawaiʻi missionary movement, Henry ʻŌpūkahaʻia unfortunately died of typhus fever in 1818 and didn’t return home to teach the gospel.  However, his book, “Memoirs of Henry Obookiah,” was the inspiration for this and subsequent Hawaiian missionary companies.

The Prudential Committee of the ABCFM in giving instructions to the pioneers of 1819 said: “Your mission is a mission of mercy, and your work is to be wholly a labor of love. … Your views are not to be limited to a low, narrow scale, but you are to open your hearts wide, and set your marks high. You are to aim at nothing short of covering these islands with fruitful fields, and pleasant dwellings and schools and churches, and of Christian civilization.”  (The Friend)

After 164-days at sea, on April 4, 1820, the Thaddeus arrived and anchored at Kailua-Kona on the Island of Hawaiʻi.  Hawai‘i’s “Plymouth Rock” is about where the Kailua pier is today.

By the time the Pioneer Company arrived, Kamehameha I had died and the centuries-old kapu system had been abolished; through the actions of King Kamehameha II (Liholiho,) with encouragement by former Queens Kaʻahumanu and Keōpūolani (Liholiho’s mother,) the Hawaiian people had already dismantled their heiau and had rejected their religious beliefs.

One of the first things Bingham and his fellow missionaries did was begin to learn the Hawaiian language and create an alphabet for a written format of the language.   Their emphasis was on teaching and preaching.

On July 14, 1826, the missionaries selected a 12-letter alphabet for the written Hawaiian language, using five vowels (a, e, i, o, and u) and seven consonants (h, k, l, m, n, p and w) in their "Report of the committee of health on the state of the Hawaiian language."   The report is signed by Hiram Bingham and Levi Chamberlain.

The arrival of the first company of American missionaries in Hawaiʻi marked the beginning of Hawaiʻi’s phenomenal rise to literacy. The chiefs became proponents for education and edicts were enacted by the King and the council of chiefs to stimulate the people to reading and writing.

By 1831, in just eleven years from the first arrival of the missionaries, Hawaiians had built 1,103 schoolhouses. This covered every district throughout the eight major islands and serviced an estimated 52,882 students.  (Laimana)

The proliferation of schoolhouses was augmented by the printing of 140,000 copies of the pīʻāpā (elementary Hawaiian spelling book) by 1829 and the staffing of the schools with 1,000-plus Hawaiian teachers.  (Laimana)

Interestingly, these same early missionaries taught their lessons in Hawaiian, rather than English.  In part, the mission did not want to create a separate caste and portion of the community as English-speaking Hawaiians.  In later years, the instruction, ultimately, was in English.

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.

Today, the Hawaiian Mission Children's Society, a nonprofit educational institution and genealogical society, exists to promote an understanding of the social history of nineteenth-century Hawai‘i and its critical role in the formation of modern Hawai‘i.

The Society operates the Hawaiian Mission Houses Historic Site and Archives, comprised of three historic houses and a research archives with reading room. The Society also compiles the genealogical records of the American Protestant missionaries in Hawai‘i and promotes the participation of missionary descendants in the Society's activities.

Through the Site and Archives, the Society collects and preserves the documents, artifacts and other records of the missionaries in Hawai‘i's history; makes these collections available for research and educational purposes; and interprets the historic site and collections to reflect the social history of nineteenth century Hawai‘i and America.

The image shows the early Mission house and Chapel in Honolulu (the precursor of today’s Kawaiahaʻo Church.)  More images are added to a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.

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War of 1812 – The Star Spangled Banner National Anthem

Often overlooked, twenty-nine years after the end of the American Revolution, conflict between the new United States and Britain flared up, again.

The War of 1812 broke out for a variety of reasons, including Britain’s seizure of American ships, forced taking of American sailors into the British navy and restriction of trade between the United States and France.

In June 1812, James Madison became the first US president to ask Congress to declare war (he sent a war message to the Congress on June 1, 1812 and signed the declaration of war on June 18, 1812.)  (The conflict ended with the Treaty of Ghent, in 1815.)

The tensions that caused the War of 1812 arose from the French revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars (1792–1815).

During this nearly constant conflict between France and Britain, American interests were injured by each of the two countries' endeavors to block the United States from trading with the other.

In Hawaiʻi, the issue of interest was the export of sandalwood - the War of 1812 interfered with trade in the Pacific.

Exports were interrupted by the battling nations as warships were sent to protect their own commerce and destroy that of the enemy.  Hawaiʻi was blockaded during the war.

In addition, several Hawaiians served with the US in the war, including Humehume (Prince Kaumualiʻi, son of King Kaumualiʻi,) Thomas Hopu and William Kanui (all three were also on the Thaddeus with the first missionary company to Hawaiʻi, in 1820.)

A lasting legacy of the War of 1812 was the lyrics of “The Star-Spangled Banner,” the US national anthem.  They were penned by the amateur poet Francis Scott Key after he watched American forces withstand the British siege of Fort McHenry (named for James McHenry, Secretary of War, 1796 - 1800.)

Following the Burning of Washington and the Raid on Alexandria, Key set sail from Baltimore aboard the ship HMS Minden, flying a flag of truce on a mission approved by President James Madison. Their objective was to secure the exchange of prisoners.

On September 13, 1814, nineteen British ships aimed their cannons and guns on the fort.  Amazingly, an estimated 1,500 to 1,800 British cannonballs failed to cause any significant damage to a fort which was unable to fire back on the ships because they were positioned just out of range of the American guns.

During the rainy night, Key had witnessed the bombardment and observed that the fort's smaller "storm flag" continued to fly, but once the shell and rocket barrage had stopped, he would not know how the battle had turned out until dawn.  By then, the storm flag had been lowered and the larger flag had been raised.

Key was inspired by the American victory and the sight of the large American flag flying triumphantly above the fort.  That morning, we penned the poem that eventually became our country’s National Anthem.

The flag, with fifteen stars and fifteen stripes, came to be known as the Star Spangled Banner Flag and is today on display in the National Museum of American History in the Smithsonian Institution.

The song gained popularity throughout the nineteenth century and bands played it during public events, such as July 4th celebrations.

On July 27, 1889, Secretary of the Navy Benjamin F. Tracy signed General Order #374, making "The Star-Spangled Banner" the official tune to be played at the raising of the flag.

I was fortunate to have attended a Coastal States Organization meeting in Baltimore, Maryland while I served as Director at DLNR.  I took the time to visit Fort McHenry to better see and understand what it looked like.

Here is a link to the best rendition of The Star Spangled Banner:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wupsPg5H6aE

I have added more images related to Fort McHenry and the Star Spangled Banner in the Photos section on my Facebook page.

http://www.facebook.com/peter.t.young.hawaii

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