Hui Aloha ʻĀina

When William McKinley won the presidential election in November of 1896, the question of Hawaiʻi’s annexation to the US was again opened. The prior president, Grover Cleveland, was a friend of Queen Liliʻuokalani and he was opposed to annexation.

McKinley met with a committee of annexationists from Hawaiʻi, Lorrin Thurston, Francis Hatch and William Kinney. After negotiations, in June of 1897, McKinley signed a treaty of annexation with these representatives of the Republic of Hawaiʻi. The President then submitted the treaty to the US Senate for approval.  (Silva)

On September 6, 1897, the Hui Aloha ʻĀina held a mass meeting at Palace Square, which thousands of people attended; Hui President James Kaulia gave a rousing speech, saying “We, the nation (lahui) will never consent to the annexation of our lands, until the very last patriot lives.”

Following Kaulia, David Kalauokalani, President of the Hui Kālaiʻāina, explained the details of the annexation treaty to the crowd. He told them that the Republic of Hawaiʻi had agreed to give full government authority over to the United States, reserving nothing.  (Hawaiʻi State Archives)

Between September 11 and October 2, 1897, Hui Aloha ʻĀina O Nā Kane and Hui Aloha ʻĀina O Nā Wahine prepared, circulated and obtained signatures under the petition language noted below (written in Hawaiian and English,) opposing annexation with the United States.

"To His Excellency William McKinley, President, and the Senate, of the United States of America, Greeting:  Whereas, there has been submitted to the Senate of the United States of America a Treaty for the Annexation of the Hawaiian Islands to the said United States of America, for consideration at its regular session in December, AD 1897; therefore,"

"We, the undersigned, residents of the District of (....), Island of (....), who are members of the Hawaiian Patriotic League of the Hawaiian Islands, and others who are in sympathy with the said League, earnestly protest against the annexation of the said Hawaiian Islands to the said United States of America in any form or shape."

Their 556-page petition totaled 21,269-signatures, 10,378-male and 10,891-female.  Of these 16,331 adults were adults and 4,938-minors.  (The petition is now stored at the US National Archives.)

(In his March 4, 1898 review and reporting on the petition, LA Thurston noted several “reasons for discrediting the petition”:
1. The petition certified that the minor petitioners are between 14 and 20 years of age; however the names of hundreds (677) noted ages under 14 years of age.
2. The ages of many petitioners who are under 14 were changed to 14 or above.
3. Many of the signatures are in the same handwriting (he called them “forgeries”.)
4. In a great number of instances, the ages are all in the same handwriting and in round numbers only.
5. The signatures of the petitioners 2 and 3 years of age were in good, round handwriting.)

A second petition, conducted by Hui Kālaiʻāina, is reported to have contained 17,000-signatures of people who supported the restoration of the Hawaiian monarchy (its whereabouts is unknown.)

The Hui Aloha ʻĀina held another mass meeting on October 8, 1897 and at that time decided to send delegates to Washington, DC to present the petitions to President McKinley and to the Congress.  (Silva)

Four delegates, James Kaulia, David Kalauokalani, John Richardson and William Auld, went to DC on December 6 to deliver the petition; the second session of the 55th Congress opened at that time. The delegates and Queen Liliʻuokalani planned a strategy to present the petition to the Senate.  (Hawaiʻi State Archives)

They chose the Queen as chair of their Washington committee. Together, they decided to present the petitions of Hui Aloha ʻĀina only, because the substance of the two sets of petitions was different. Hui Aloha ʻĀina’s was called “petition protesting annexation,” but the Hui Kālaiʻāina’s petitions called for the monarchy to be restored.  (Silva)

In the end, the motion to annex needed a two-thirds majority to pass (60-votes;) only 46-Senators voted for it (down from the 58 who supported it when they arrived.)   The annexation vote failed.

However, the win was short-lived.

Unfolding world events soon forced the annexation issue to the forefront again.  Cuba was in a war for independence from Spain.   The US entered the fight when the battleship USS Maine was attacked in Havana Harbor, Cuba on February 15, 1898, signaling the start of the Spanish-American War.

The war that erupted in 1898 between the US and Spain had been preceded by three years of fighting by Cuban revolutionaries to gain independence from Spanish colonial rule.

Spain also had interests in the Pacific, particularly in the Guam and Philippines.  Although the main issue was Cuban independence, the war was fought in both the Caribbean and the Pacific.

The pro-annexation forces saw a chance to use wartime urgency in their favor.

A mid-Pacific fueling station and naval base became a strategic imperative for the US. Hawaiʻi had gained strategic importance because of its geographical position in the Pacific and became a stopover point for the forces heading to the Philippines.

President William McKinley called for a Joint Resolution of Congress to annex the Hawaiian Islands, a process requiring only a simple majority in both houses of Congress.  (In 845, a Joint Resolution was used to admit Texas to the Union as a State; Hawaiʻi was not being annexed as a State, but rather, as a Territory.)

On May 4, 1898, nine days after the Spanish-American War began, Representative Francis G Newlands of Nevada introduced a Joint Resolution in the House of Representatives to annex the Hawaiian Islands to the United States.

The House approved the Joint Resolution on June 15, 1898 by a vote of 209 to 91; the Senate approved the resolution on July 6 by a vote of 42 to 21, with 26 senators abstaining.  (umn-edu)

House Joint Resolution 259, 55th Congress, 2nd session, known as the “Newlands Resolution,” passed Congress and was signed into law by President McKinley on July 7, 1898; the US flag was hoisted over Hawaiʻi on August 12, 1898.

The image shows the petition cover information.  In addition, I have included more related images in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.

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Camp McKinley

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.

William McKinley was president of the United States, and the causal event was the explosion of the battleship USS Maine in Havana Harbor, Cuba on February 15, 1898.

So, what does that have to do with Hawai‘i?

Well, 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.

Likewise, 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.

In July 1898, the joint 'Newlands Resolution' for annexation was adopted by Congress and signed by President McKinley.   At the time, there was no assigned garrison here 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.

The two commands were initially camped alongside each other as though they were one regiment in the large infield of the one-mile race track at Kapi‘olani Park.  The initial camp in the infield at the race track was unnamed.

As more members of the regiment arrived, the camp was moved about three or four hundred yards from the race track to an area called ‘Irwin Tract.’  The Irwin Tract camp was named "Camp McKinley," in honor of the president.

The site “was near the only ocean-bathing beach on the Island and the reported site of a proposed Sanitarium selected by the resident physicians in the immediate vicinity of the best residential quarter of the Island.  In addition it had shade in the park, a drill and parade ground on the racecourse, city water, and was accessible.”

The troops used the bathing facilities at the Sans Souci Resort which was located on the beach at the southeast corner of the park.

Camp Otis was a short-lived camp of Philippine expeditionary troops who arrived on the troop ship ‘Arizona’ on August 27, 1898 and were left in Honolulu when the ship went on to Manila.

The soldiers camped inside the racetrack at Kapi‘olani Park.  The camp was later moved east within the racetrack to a point “nearly opposite Camp McKinley.”  The camp was named after Major General Elwell S. Otis, US Volunteers, the commanding officer in the Philippines in 1898-99.

Camp Otis was abandoned about November 7, 1898 when the ‘Arizona’ returned and the troops departed for Manila.

Owing to the prevalence of malarial and typhoid fever, they moved the regiment to a camp to Wai‘alae, on the north side of Diamond Head, about three miles from “Camp McKinley.”

They temporarily occupied the Paul Isenberg estate which stretched from Kapahulu Avenue to Kāhala Beach.  A letter from one soldier camped there noted, “The tents are pitched on the sandy beach at Waialie (sic)…”

The 2nd Engineers ultimately built barracks and other buildings for the new Camp McKinley just north of Kapi‘olani Park, between Leahi and Kana‘ina avenues (it is now covered by businesses along Kapahulu Avenue and residences in the area.)

Local hospitals were used for the sick soldiers until Independence Park Hospital was established on August 15, 1898.  The Red Cross also established a hospital for soldiers in the Child Garden Building on Beretania Street in June, 1898.

The Independence Park Hospital was located in a dance pavilion at Independence Park, southeast of the corner of Sheridan and King Streets.

In October, 1898, concern over conditions at Independence Park Hospital and the large number of sick soldiers required that additional hospital space be obtained.  The Independence Park Hospital was closed in January, 1899.

The Nu‘uanu Valley Military Hospital (also known as "Buena Vista Hospital") was located at the former John Paty home (known as Buena Vista) on the east side of Nu‘uanu Avenue at Wyllie Street.  (That site is now covered by the Nu‘uanu-Pali
Highway interchange, just north of the Community Church of Honolulu.)

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.

The image shows the initial encampment in Kapi‘olani Park.  In addition, I have included other images relates to Camp McKinley in a Folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook page.

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