Hawaii in the American Civil War officially adhered to the neutrality declared by King Kamehamea IV. Nevertheless, many Native Hawaiians and Hawaiian Americans (mostly descendants of American missionaries ) were enrolled in the armies of the Union and the Confederation.
Government policy
After the beginning of the American Civil War, Hawaii was concerned about the possibility of Confederate marque attacks in the Pacific. Islay Foreign Minister Robert Crichton Wylie advocated a neutrality declaration, following what King Kamehamea III did during the Crimean War in 1854, while King Kamehamea IV and Treasury Secretary David L. Gregg feared the diplomatic consequences of legal recognition of the Confederation in case of adoption of such a declaration. After the British Empire and France declared their neutrality in the conflict, the king followed suit.
On August 26, 1861, King Kamehamea IV signed an official declaration of neutrality:
“Let it be known to all, we, Kamehamea IV hereby proclaim our neutrality. It must be respected everywhere…”
The goal of declaring neutrality was an attempt to preserve good neighborly relations with the Union, but also not to “offend” the Confederation, thus remaining a trading partner of the opposing sides and remain a “friend” to the side that emerges from the war as a winner. The goal was also to “renounce” Hawaiian volunteers in the armies and privateers who robbed both sides of the sea, and promise that these subjects “would in no way receive any protection from us” in the sense that the kingdom surrenders the captors and volunteers into the hands of the winner.
Hawaiian volunteers
Despite the reluctance of the Hawaiian government to participate in the conflict, many Native Hawaiians and Americans born in Hawaii, both abroad and on islands, voluntarily enrolled in the military regiments of various states in the Union and Confederation, and some indigenous Hawaiians served in the United States Naval Forces and the army after the war of 1812. Many Hawaiians sympathized with the Union because of Hawaii’s ties with New England through its missionaries and the ideological opposition of many to the institution of slavery, which the 1852 Constitution outlawed in the Kingdom. Some of the American missionaries in Hawaii, many of whom studied at American universities, also took part in the war; it is known that twenty-one of them had previously been students at the Penach school.
A few months before the proclamation of neutrality, the captain of the Hawaiian fleet, Thomas Spencer, for the first time personally financed and assembled a detachment to be sent to the continent, consisting mainly of indigenous Hawaiians from Hilo on the island of Hawaii. They were sworn in on the fourth of July, which was organized by Spencer at his residence in Hilo. These volunteers, named Invincible Spencer, offered their services to President Lincoln and the Union. However, to prevent diplomatic disputes and to defend the neutrality of Hawaii, announced in August, King Kamehamea IV and Foreign Secretary Willy formally denied permission to become a unit of the US Army. When Captain Spencer heard the news, he wept.
As of 2014, researchers have identified 119 volunteers who fought on the continent. The exact number is still unclear, because many Hawaiians were enrolled under anglicized names, and little is known about them due to the lack of detailed records.
Past
Many civil war veterans are buried in Oahu’s cemetery in Honolulu, although most of the graves mentioned belong to veterans from other states who later settled in Hawaii. On August 26, 2010, on the anniversary of the signing of the Hawaiian Neutrality Declaration, a bronze plaque was installed along the memorial track at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific Ocean in Honolulu, recognizing the “Hawaiian Sons of the Civil War” as more than 100 documented Hawaiians who served during the Civil War as in Union and Confederate armies.
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