Nuku Hiva Campaign

Nuku Hiva Campaign
Part of the Nuku Hiva in 1813
Date October 1813 - May 1814 Location Nuku Hiva, Marquesas Islands Result American victory Tai Pis and Happahs defeated Madisonville abandoned in May 1814
Belligerents
Te I'i (1813-May 1814) Happah (November 1813)	Te I'i (May 1814)  United Kingdom
Commanders and leaders
David Porter John Downes John M. Gamble Gattanewa	unknown
Strength
Land: ~5,000 fort Sea: 1 frigate 10 recaptured or captured whalers ~200 war-canoes	~4,000 warriors 2 forts
Casualties and losses
American: 5 killed ~12 wounded 1 corvette captured [1][2]	Estimated in the hundreds[citation needed]

The Nuku Hiva Campaign was an armed conflict between the United States and the

Nuku Hiva, at the time, was inhabited by many tribes of indigenous peoples, separated in villages by mountain peaks thousands of feet high. The area of land around Massachusetts Bay, which became the town of Madisonville, was controlled by Chief Gattanewa of the Te I'i and in return for rights to build the base, Gattanewa demanded that the Americans become his allies and help fight the war against the Happah. While the majority of the Americans were still building their settlement, Lieutenant John Downes, Marine Lieutenant John Gamble and a platoon of forty Marines, were ordered to proceed to an in-land redoubt, located high in the mountains. The main effort of this expedition dragged along a wheeled 6 pound cannon for added effect. The amazement of the aboriginals at gunpowder weapons had already been noted upon their landing on the island. Several hundred Te I'i warriors accompanied the expedition which left the coast in the first week of November. After a journey through the jungle Downes and his men found the fort occupied by 3,000 to 4,000 hostiles. The Te I'i and their American allies attacked; during the fighting a rock hit Downes in the stomach, hurting him. A sailor was wounded by a spear to the neck, but he apparently survived. Lt. Gamble was singled out by a heavily built Happah warrior, who charged at him with a wooden club. Drawing his Mameluke sword Gamble blocked the club from knocking him unconscious as another Marine, seeing Gamble struggling, leveled his musket at the Happah's head. The shot, fired from only a foot away, nearly decapitated the warrior.^{[citation needed]}

The assault on the fort was successful and Downes reported that his men had killed five enemies and that the Te I'i massacred the wounded with clubs. Lieutenant Downes also said that he was very surprised that his allies did not eat the dead; instead they used their bones to make necklaces and fan handles. Over the next few days the chiefs of the Happah arrived at the coast to settle a peace agreement. One of the stipulations required the Happah to fight alongside the Te I'i and Americans in another operation against the Tai Pi.^[5]

Porter expedition

Not long after subduing the Happah, the Tai Pi declared war on the Te I'i, the Happah, and the Americans. Thus followed one of the most significant amphibious landings in the history of American operations in the Pacific during the 1800s. It was unopposed but Captain Porter's fleet, combined with around 5,000 friendly warriors, in at least 200 war-canoes, attacked the Tai Pi-held coastline. After that, thirty-six officers and men with a cannon, personally commanded by Porter, led the expedition to a fortress with seven-foot-high walls. A battle began when the Tai Pis ambushed the column in the jungle near the fort. Porter wrote "We entered the bushes, and at every instant assailed by spears and stones, which came from different parties in the ambuscade. We could hear the snapping of the slings, the whistling of the stones, and the spears came quivering by us, but we could not percieve [sic] from whom they came." Skirmishing broke out and the expedition continued forward, encountering heavier resistance the farther they went. The column eventually made it to the fort where a pitched battle began that would last for hours. The Te I'is and Happahs provided the brunt of the attack while the Americans picked off enemy warriors with their muskets; the cannon was aimed at the fortifications. Upon arrival, a Marine sergeant notified Lt. Gamble and Capt. Porter of the hopelessness of their situation. The Marines in his squad were down to three or four cartridges of ammunition. Lt. Gamble and four men were given permission to run back to the beach for a resupply but upon their arrival the situation with their natives allies had deteriorated.^{[citation needed]}

Thousands of Tai Pis occupied the heavily defended position and they managed to repel the native attacks. Near the end of the engagement, the Te I'is and Happahs fled, leaving the thirty-six Americans to fend for themselves. Capt. Porter notified Lt. Gamble to order his Marines to cover the retreat back to the beach. Gamble positioned his men at the edge of a bush for one last decisive volley to ensure a strong enemy force did not pursue them. The American force lost one man killed and two wounded. One of the casualties was Lieutenant Downes, who suffered a badly broken leg. "We returned to the beach much fatigued and harassed with marching and fighting," said Porter, who then sailed back to Madisonville.^[6]

Battle of Typee Valley

Once word spread that Porter and his allies had been defeated, the Te I'i and the Happah warriors began to turn on the Americans which led them to fear that Madisonville would be overrun and the inhabitants massacred. Porter wrote; "I had now no alternative, but to prove our superiority by a successful attack upon the Typees." Porter organized and led most of his men on a second mission into enemy territory, this time overland to

By 9 December 1813, USS Essex was repaired and ready for sailing. The sailors were not happy about leaving their Marquesan girlfriends and Porter had to suppress one mutiny by declaring that he "would at once put a match to the magazine, and blow them all to eternity." A former Royal Navy sailor by the name of Robert White, was brought before Porter, having been accused of mutinous talk about Essex Junior. White denied the accusations, now confirmed by other sailors, infuriating Porter. Porter thus drew his sword, face turning red, and yelled: "Run you scoundrel! Run for your life!" White ran off, jumped overboard, and swam to a nearby canoe.^[9]

The remaining 250 crew members remained loyal and Essex made sail on 9 December 1813 to continue raiding. Most of the fleet left, though Sir Andrew Hammond, Seringapatam, and Greenwich remained at Nuku Hiva with Lieutenant John Gamble, two midshipmen, nineteen sailors and six prisoners, with the prisoners and some of the sailors being British nationals.

The situation was quiet until on 7 May 1814, the British sailors among the garrison mutinied. First they released the six prisoners and then attacked Fort Madison before taking over Seringapatam and getting away. Gamble was wounded in the foot and he was left adrift in a small boat with four others but they eventually made it to Sir Andrew Hammond. Meanwhile the British interpreter Wilson was arousing trouble with the Te I'i by telling them that Porter would not come back. A few days later on 9 May, six of the American sailors were attacked on the beach by the Te I'i; a sixteen-year-old midshipman was killed along with four sailors while two others escaped, one of whom was wounded. Meanwhile, Gamble was alone on his ship, recovering from his wounded foot, when two war-canoes approached for an attack. The cannon of the ship were pre-loaded so single-handedly Gamble limped from gun to gun, firing them as fast as possible, until the enemy fell back. On the next morning he gave the order to evacuate Madisonville, there being only eight men left on shore and all were either wounded or ill. Thus ended the existence of America's first naval base and colony in the Pacific Ocean. Captain Porter never returned to the island due to his capture by the British at the Battle of Valparaíso on March 28, 1814.^[8]

Post-script

The mutineers sailed Seringapatam to New South Wales. From there she was sailed back to Great Britain where she was returned to her owners on payment of salvage.

Cherub and Phoebe had caught up with Essex and Essex Junior at Valparaiso. Eventually Phoebe was able to bring Essex to battle. The British were able to capture Porter and both American vessels.

Before he left Nuku Hiva, Gamble set fire to Greenwich.^[10] He and seven men (four unfit for duty) then sailed Sir Andrew Hammond 2,500 miles (4,000 km) before they had the misfortune to meet up with HMS Cherub.^{[11][Note 1]} Eventually, in 1815, Gamble was able to return to the United States.

On 28 August 1814, a Royal Navy flotilla with HMS Briton anchored off Nuku Hiva.^[13] They found that Porter had built Fort Madison, Nuku Hiva and a villa on the island, which the natives destroyed after his ship left.

Before his departure,

• Fort Astoria
• First Sumatran expedition
• Second Sumatran expedition
• First Fiji Expedition
• Second Fiji Expedition
• Formosa Expedition
• Nukapu Expedition

Footnotes

Notes