Island History

Rev. Hiram Bingham (1789-1869) and Mrs. Bingham were members of the Pioneer Company of American Protestant missionaries sent to Hawai‘i, arriving aboard the brig “Thaddeus” on April 4, 1820 at Kailua, Hawai‘i.

Bingham led in the creation of a written Hawaiian language, established the first church at Kawaiahao, Honolulu and was a trusted advisor to ruling alii. He and his family returned to New England in 1841.

On Kaua‘i, Bingham was at Waimea in September 1821 when Liholiho (Kamehameha II) invited Kaua‘i’s King Kaumualii aboard his brig, “Pride of Hawai‘i,” anchored off Waimea and kidnapped him. Bingham noted that Haupu, the head man at Waimea, cried in anguish, “Farewell to our King — we shall see him no more.”

And when “Pride of Hawai‘i” went aground in Hanalei Bay in April 1824, Bingham observed Hawaiians there weaving hau bark into cables they fastened to the brig’s mainmast. Bingham then witnessed a large number of men right the capsized brig on its keel by pulling on these cables, only to see it become irreparably stuck against underwater rocks.

After Kaumualii died on May 26, 1824 and Liholiho became ruler of Kauai and Ni‘ihau, some Kaua‘i chiefs, including Kaumualii’s son, Humehume, opposed his rule. Learning of this, Bingham met Humehume at his camp near the beach at Wahiawa Bay to counsel him against rebellion, but without success.

On Aug. 8, rebel chiefs led by Humehume launched a failed attack against the Russian Fort at Waimea, near where Bingham and his family were staying. While musket balls whizzed by and rebels ran past their door, the Binghams prayed for deliverance.  

Following the rebels’ defeat in battle later in August, a short distance downhill from today’s Hanapepe Lookout, the rebellion collapsed and Kaua‘i became a dominion of Hawai‘i’s windward chiefs.