Thread by @TheCivilWarDoc1

#OTD in 1861, Hawaiian King Kamehameha IV declared neutrality after the outbreak of the Civil War. Allying with the United States would have provoked Confederate raids while recognizing the Confederacy would have seriously damaged international relations with the U.S.

King Kamehameha IV died on November 30, 1863, and was succeeded by Kamehameha V Lot Kapuāiwa. He wanted to keep favorable trade deals with the United States and worked diplomatically with the Lincoln administration to negotiate a new treaty of neutrality.

The Hawaiian public skewed toward the United States. Hawaii already abolished slavery in the Constitution of 1852. Many Hawaiian-born Americans (most of whom were the sons of American missionaries) supported the United States over the Confederacy.

Over 100 known Hawaiians fought in the Civil War for both the United States and the Confederacy. (You can read many of their enlistment records and muster rolls here: nps.gov/civilwar/uploa…). Many Hawaiian names were anglicized in records and therefore are hard to trace.

Approximately 11 of the CSS Shenandoah's crew were Hawaiian. They joined the Confederate Navy after the Shenandoah raided their whaling ship on May 27th, 1865.

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Because fo their skin color, at least 12 Hawaiians fought for the United States Army in the United States Colored Troops.

An American ex-pat living in Hilo, Hawaii named Thomas Spencer raised an infantry company made up of mostly native Hawaiians. Dubbed as "Spender's Invincible's," they were denied entry into the war by the Hawaiian government because of its declaration of neutrality.

#OTD in 2010 a plaque honoring "Hawaii Sons of the Civil War" was placed in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

The Civil War also fundamentally changed Hawaii's economy. Confederate raiding ships like the USS Shenandoah devastated the Hawaiian whaling industry. Likewise, the US Naval blockade cut off southern US sugar from New England ports.

Hawaiian farmers overwhelmingly began establishing sugar plantations in order to fill in the gap and to satisfy America's sweet tooth. A huge influx of immigrant workers from other parts of the Pacific region followed and an oppressive contract labor system developed.

Hawaii entered into the Reciprocity Treaty of 1875 with the United States. This treaty guaranteed Hawaiian based sugar planters access to duty free American markets. US influence on the Hawaiian sugar economy continued to increase.

Many of the elite sugar planters in Hawaii were American born. In order to gain more control over Hawaii's sugar economy, a group of American ex-pat sugar planters staged a coup against the monarchy in 1893.

The leader of the coup, Sanford B. Dole, applied for annexation to the United States but the government initially held off. The United States eventually annexed Hawaii in 1898 in order to secure control over Pearl Harbor during the Spanish-American War.

One of Sanford's cousin's, James Dole, moved to Hawaii in 1899 and founded the Hawaiian Pineapple Company, known today as Dole Food Company.

#TheCivilWarDoc #Hawaii #CivilWar #UnitedStates #Confederacy #Sugar #Coup #OnThisDay #TodayInHistory #History #Annexation #Pacific