{{Short description|Hawaiian son of the king of Kauaʻi and Niʻihau}} {{Infobox royalty | name = Humehume | full name = George Prince Kaumuali{{okina}}i Humehume | father = King Kaumuali{{okina}}i of Kaua{{okina}}i | mother = unknown | image = George Prince Kaumualii.jpg | caption = Engraved Portrait by Samuel Morse, 1816 | birth_date = c. 1798 | birth_place= Kaua{{okina}}i | issue = Harriet Kawahinekipi Kaumuali{{okina}}i, Kamakahai | spouse = Elizabeth Peke Davis | death_date = May 3, 1826 | death_place = Honolulu | place of burial = }} '''Humehume''' (c. 1798–1826), known by many different names during his time, such as '''George Prince''', '''George Prince Kaumuali{{okina}}i''', '''Tamoree''' or '''Kumoree''' by American writers, was a son of the king of part of the Hawaiian Islands. He traveled widely, served in the U.S. military, and led a failed rebellion on the island of Kaua{{okina}}i.
==Early life== He was born in the late 1790s with the name Humehume. His father was King Kaumuali{{okina}}i, ruler of the islands of Kaua{{okina}}i and Ni{{okina}}ihau. His mother was a commoner, of whom not much is known.<ref>{{cite book |author=Lucy Goodale Thurston |title=Life and Times of Mrs. Lucy G. Thurston: Wife of Rev. Asa Thurston, Pioneer Missionary to the Sandwich Islands |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3E6KktuHQ74C |year=1872 |publisher=reprinted by Kessinger Publishing, LLC, 2007 |isbn=978-1-4325-4547-5 |page=23 }}</ref> This might explain an important event that happened when he was a young boy.
In January 1804 the American trading ship ''Hazard'' arrived at Kaua{{okina}}i. Since the landing of Captain James Cook in January 1778, the port of Waimea had been a known stop for European and American ships in the Pacific.<ref name="hhs76"/> King Kaumuali{{okina}}i paid Captain James Rowan of the American trading ship ''Hazard'' to take his son aboard, ostensibly to get an education in America. A more believable theory is that Kaumuali{{okina}}i's Queen did not want any competition for the future throne with her own son who had the better royal pedigree.<ref name="hhs81">{{cite book |title= Hawaiian Journal of History |hdl= 10524/104 |chapter=George Prince Tamoree: Heir Apparent of Kauai and Niihau |year=1981 |volume=15 |publisher=Hawaiian Historical Society |pages=31–50 |author= Anne Harding Spoehr }}</ref> His father suggested the name "George" after the Prince of Wales at the time (later George IV of the United Kingdom).<ref name="hhs72">{{cite book |title= Hawaiian Journal of History |hdl= 10524/242 |chapter=George, Prince of Hawaii |year=1972 |volume=6 |publisher=Hawaiian Historical Society |pages=28–44 |author= Catherine Stauder }}</ref>
==World traveler== The ship sailed to the Pacific Northwest, then across the Pacific to China, through the Indian Ocean, around Africa, and finally a year and a half later, back to New England. ''Hazard'' finally arrived at Providence, Rhode Island on June 30, 1805. King Kaumuali{{okina}}i had provided Rowan some compensation to support his son, probably in the form of valuable sandalwood, estimated to be worth seven to eight thousand dollars. George traveled with Captain Rowan to Boston and then to Worcester, Massachusetts, where he was put into the house of his teacher Samuel Cotting in 1813 when Rowan's property had run out. Rowan tried to get George an apprenticeship as a joiner, but George was now a restless young man.<ref name="hhs81"/>
thumb|left|upright|Humehume was injured in the 1814 battle between ''Wasp'' and ''Reindeer'' in the English Channel He enlisted in the United States Marine Corps and was assigned to {{USS|Wasp|1814|6}} during the War of 1812. ''Wasp'' left port in May 1814, and over the next two months was involved in several naval battles in the English Channel. In a June 28 battle with {{HMS|Reindeer|1804|6}} he was injured, and came ashore in L'Orient, France. He returned and was given a medical discharge, but struggled to support himself. On June 21, 1815, he enlisted in the U.S. Navy, and sailed to the Mediterranean on {{USS|Enterprise|1799|6}} fighting in the Second Barbary War. His service records show the name "George Prince".<ref name="hhs2002">{{cite book |title= Hawaiian Journal of History |hdl=10524/203 |chapter=George Prince Kaumualiʻi, the Forgotten Prince |year=2002 |volume=36 |publisher=Hawaiian Historical Society |pages=59–71 |author=Douglas Warne }}</ref>
Another Hawaiian, who had also made his way to New England, went by the name Henry Obookiah (also known as Ōpūkahia). Henry heard about George's war record, and located him. Henry had embraced Christianity and convinced George and three other Hawaiians to help the missionaries. The missionaries thought recruiting the war hero would be good public relations, and might have enhanced his war record.<ref name="hhs72"/> By autumn 1816, George was living in the home of Reverend Jedidiah Morse, and was taken to the Yale commencement exercises of Yale where he met Yale's President Timothy Dwight. He had learned to read and write English, since several of his letters survive. In particular, he wrote one to his father on October 19, 1816, about his travels and his hope to return.<ref name="report1947">{{cite book |title=Annual report of the Hawaiian Historical Society |hdl=10524/95 |chapter=George Kaumualiʻi |year=1947 |publisher=Hawaiian Historical Society |pages=7–12 |author=Ethel M. Damon}}</ref>
Near the end of 1816, a pamphlet titled "A Narrative of Five Youths from the Sandwich Islands" was published to raise funds for the mission board. It included portraits of each of the five students drawn by Samuel F. B. Morse, Jedidiah's son. The U.S. Navy at this point claimed that George had not been properly discharged, so proposed sending him to West Point Military Academy. The missionaries thought it would be helpful to them if he went, but George did not want to go to West Point. George's letter to his father was published, and when Samuel Cotting read it, he wanted to cash in on the celebrity by claiming he was owed money for the boy's care. George, basking in the attention, wrote a furious letter complaining about Cotting's treatment. Among the insults: "If I am worthy of the title of a Prince I am not going to be trodden under foot by such a dirty scoundrel as you are."<ref name="hhs81"/>
On May 1, 1817, the Foreign Mission School at Cornwall, Connecticut opened its first term with George and the other Hawaiians as students. By the next term there were twelve students including Indians from Bengal and Calcutta, and a native American Indian. Samuel Ruggles and James Ely were learning to be mission teachers under principal Edwin Welles Dwight. Henry Ōpūkahia died in February 1818 (with the others at his side) but the school expanded under Herman Daggett.<ref name="hhs76">{{cite book |title= Hawaiian Journal of History |chapter= Owhyhee's Prodigal |author=Susan N. Bell |hdl= 10524/433 |year=1976 |volume=10 |publisher=Hawaiian Historical Society |pages=25–32 }}</ref>
George was eager to return to his homeland, but as the promised voyage was delayed, he grew impatient and would sometimes cause trouble at the school. He thought the other students should defer to him, given his "royal" status, and in fact had to re-learn the Hawaiian language that he had not spoken since being a young child. On October 23, 1819, the four remaining Hawaiians finally sailed from Boston on the brig ''Thaddeus'', along with the first company of American missionaries from the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. Although the other Hawaiians are recorded as being baptized and assistant missionaries, he was essentially a private passenger.
==Back in the islands== The ship arrived at Kailua-Kona on the island of Hawaii on April 4, 1820. He accompanied the singing of Christian hymns on the "bass-viol" for the first Sabbath.<ref name="bingham"/>{{rp|89}} When the ''Thaddeus'' left for Honolulu, George stayed behind and after a quick courtship, married Elizabeth Peke Davis, known as "Betty Davis" (1802–1860), daughter of Isaac Davis who had served Kamehameha I as a military advisor and married into Hawaiian royalty. After getting passage on another boat to Honolulu, he convinced missionaries Ruggles and Whitney to take him to Kaua{{okina}}i on the ''Thaddeus''. George was eager to reunite with his father, and the missionaries were interested in making an outpost on Kaua{{okina}}i.
The guns of former Russian Fort Elizabeth were fired in a salute as he sailed into the bay of Waimea on Kaua{{okina}}i on May 3, 1820. He stayed below deck until he knew they were not being fired as a warning.<ref name="focus">{{citation|title=National Register of Historic Places/National Historic Landmark 1978 Update: Russian Fort|url={{NHLS url|id=66000299}} |date=August 1978 |author=Benjamin Levy |publisher=National Park Service}}</ref> His father happily welcomed his son, who explained the missionaries were his friends. Captain Blanchard was thanked with gifts of provisions and a load of sandalwood. On July 24, 1820, a small party of missionaries started a school in Waimea.<ref name="bingham"/>{{rp|99}}
The joy of the reunion was not to last. The land of his birth had changed while he had been away; he found he no longer fit into either culture. Although he had been calling himself "Prince", the kingdom of Kaua{{okina}}i had become a vassal state to Kamehameha I since 1810, so he was not to inherit any real power. In 1821 King Kamehameha II paid a surprise visit to his father, and forced the elder Kaumuali{{okina}}i into exile on Honolulu.<ref name="bingham"/>{{rp|138–146}} By this time, George Prince had reverted to using his birth name "Humehume", living with a few followers in a small town called Wahiawa east of the Hanapepe valley. Humehume means "to tie up", as in wearing the traditional Hawaiian ''malo'', or getting ready for battle.<ref>{{Hawaiian Dictionaries |hume |accessdate= February 19, 2011 }}</ref> He and his wife Peke had a son who died young (1821-1823), and a daughter in November, 1821 named Kamakahai. Kamakahai was given to another Chiefess on the Island. They had a 3rd child, Harriet Kaumuali{{okina}}i (1821–1843) Her Hawaiian name was ''Ka wahine kipi'' which means "the rebel woman", was given to her by Kaahumanuu.<ref name="report1947"/> His father-in-law Isaac Davis had died drinking poison that was probably intended for his father Kaumuali{{okina}}i, so he became afraid that an attempt would be made on his own life. In May 1824 his father died, and soon he made his move.
On August 8, 1824, he led his followers in a surprise attack on Fort Elizabeth, now manned by troops of the Kingdom of Hawaii. After entering the fort, his victory shouts did not bring throngs of supporters, but rather roused the defenders. The attack was repelled. Missionary leader Hiram Bingham I and his family were visiting at the time, but escaped injury.<ref name="bingham">{{cite book |author=Hiram Bingham I |author-link=Hiram Bingham I |title=A Residence of Twenty-one Years in the Sandwich Islands |publisher=H.D. Goodwin |orig-year=1848 |year=1855 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=T1VFAAAAYAAJ |edition=Third }}</ref> Humehume and his troops returned to Wahiawa and tried to gather more followers.
Kalanimoku, an experienced military commander from earlier campaigns of Kamehameha I, had just been stationed on Kaua{{okina}}i, and sent for reinforcements to search for Humehume. On August 18, 1824 Hoapili, Kahekili, Laʻanui and Kaikioewa arrived with an estimated one thousand troops and joined Kalanimoku, marching to meet the rebels at their camp, who were routed. It was estimated 130 Kauaians died while only 1 Hawaiian fell.<ref name="History">{{cite book |title= History of the Hawaiian Islands |year=1872 |publisher= H. M. Whitney |pages=116 |author1= James Jackson Jarves |author-link= James Jackson Jarves |author2= Henry Martyn Whitney |edition= 4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QdMtAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA116}}</ref> This would be the largest loss of life in a military armed conflict in the Hawaiian islands until the attack on Pearl Harbor over a century later.<ref>{{cite news |title= Catastrophic Mortality in Hawaii |work=Hawaiian Journal of History |publisher=Hawaiian Historical Society |year= 1969 |volume=3 |hdl= 10524/150 |author= Robert C. Schmitt }}</ref> Humehume, Betty and the baby fled on horseback into the rugged mountains above the Hanapepe valley. Betty and the child were quickly captured and not harmed.
Humehume was pursued for several weeks before he was captured and brought before Kalanimoku, who spared his life. He was taken to exile in Honolulu (as his father had been), where he was reunited with his wife and child, but died from influenza less than a year later on May 3, 1826. He was buried in a common unmarked grave, and there is no known memorial to him.<ref name="hhs2002"/><ref>{{cite web |url=http://74.50.122.17:8282/Greenstone/collect/levicham/index/assoc/HASH0184.dir/doc.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=2015-07-11 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150711232311/http://74.50.122.17:8282/Greenstone/collect/levicham/index/assoc/HASH0184.dir/doc.pdf |archive-date=2015-07-11 }}</ref>
==See also== *Ali{{okina}}i Aimoku of Kaua{{okina}}i *List of Missionaries to Hawaii
==References== {{Commons category}} {{Reflist}} The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, "International Genealogical Index (IGI)," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/2:1:M8QJ-L5Z : accessed 21 January 2019), entry for Kamakahi, batch A03209-6; citing FHL microfilm 444,874; submitter not specified.
==Further reading== * {{cite book |title= Humehume of Kaua'i: A Boy's Journey to America, an Ali'i's Return Home |author= Douglas Warne |publisher= Kamehameha Schools Press |date= June 2008 |isbn= 978-0-87336-151-4 }}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Humehume}} Category:1790s births Category:1826 deaths Category:Royalty of Kauai and Niihau Category:United States Marine Corps personnel of the War of 1812 Category:Hawaiian military personnel Category:Prisoners and detainees of the Hawaiian Kingdom Category:American military personnel of Native Hawaiian descent Category:American military personnel of the Second Barbary War Category:United States Marines Category:United States Navy sailors Category:Converts to Christianity from Hawaiian religion