Few People Know That A Revolt Took Place At This Hawaii Palace
By Megan Shute|Published December 12, 2018
×
Megan Shute
Author
With more than 10 years of experience as a professional writer, Megan holds a degree in Mass Media from her home state of Minnesota. After college, she chose to trade in her winter boots for slippahs and moved to the beautiful island of Oahu, where she has been living for more than five years. She lives on the west side but is constantly taking mini-road trips across the island and visits the neighboring islands whenever she can getaway. She loves hiking, snorkeling, locally-grown coffee, and finding the best acai bowl on Oahu.
While there are countless castles scattered throughout the United States, there is only one royal palace on American soil – and that is Hawaii’s own Iolani Palace, a place of pure magic and beauty nestled in Honolulu’s capital district. The breathtaking Iolani Palace tells a fascinating story of Hawaii’s history, and has been the home to a royal family, executive building for a new republic, prison to an overthrown queen, capitol building for a territory, martial law headquarters, treasure to Hawaii’s first governor, and now a cultural icon, museum, and National Historical Landmark.
While you’ve undoubtedly heard of Queen Liliuokalani’s imprisonment that occurred during the 1893 overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy, it’s not the only crazy event that has taken place at Iolani Palace.
Built in 1870, Iolani Barracks or Hale Koa — "house of warriors" in Hawaiian — is located directly adjacent to Iolani Palace. It housed approximately 80 members of the monarch’s Royal Guard until the overthrow of the monarchy in 1893.
With its crenelated parapets and towers, the structure harkens to the architecture of Europe’s medieval castles and was constructed with 4,000 coral block walls. It is surrounded by rooms used by the guards as a mess hall, kitchen, dispensary, berth room, and lockup. Only a few years after it was built, however, it was the site of a revolt.
On September 6, 1873, after the Hungarian Captain Joseph Jajczay sent four men to the brig for deserting their post guarding the treasury, growing tensions between the enlisted men and the officers resulted in a mutiny.
The tension was caused by wage disparities, political differences (particularly when it came to talks of annexation to the United States), military discipline, and more.
That day, Jajczay returned from church to the barracks and was attacked by his own soldiers and the prisoners. Adjutant General Charles Hastings Judd tried to de-escalate the situation but was also attacked.
The mutineers took control of the barracks and later retrieved and loaded two cannons from near the palace. Authorities decided that rather than attacking, they would wait out the mutiny by surrounding the barracks.
Three days later, King Lunalilo interviews the mutineers and issued them an offer: thirteen men agreed and surrendered. Then, on the 12th, the remaining mutineers agreed to another offer by the king granting full amnesty to end the mutiny. Lunalilo disbanded the Hawaiian Army after the revolt, and it was not restored until King Kalakaua came to power.
Iolani Barracks was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1978 as part of the Hawaii Capital Historic District, but few people have heard of the revolt that took place here more than 145 years ago.
Have you ever heard of this revolt? If you’re interested in Hawaii’s royal residences, you’ll want to add Hulihee Palace, found along Hawaii Island’s Kona Coast, to your Hawaii bucket list.
OnlyInYourState may earn compensation through affiliate links in this article. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases.
