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| title | chunk | source | category | tags | date_saved | instance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1840 Fiji expedition | 12/13 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1840_Fiji_expedition | reference | science, encyclopedia | 2026-05-05T13:25:29.163462+00:00 | kb-cron |
=== Fate of Chief Veidovi === While on the surveying expedition for the Columbia river, Wilkes appeared to have loosened his enmity to Veidovi at one point. He began allowing him on the deck of the Vincennes. A few months later on July 4th 1841 Wilkes and his men landed on Vancouver Island and fired off two howitzers in celebration of the holiday. During this occasion Veidovi was allowed to walk on shore. The next year in June, 4th 1842 Veidovi died a few days after landing in New York (possibly from pulmonary tuberculosis), although the Washington Herald inaccurately asserted that Veidovi died from a lack of eating human meat. Soon after Veidovi's death surgeons at the Brooklyn Naval Hospital removed Veidovi's head, pickled it, and then after a time the flesh was removed, and the skull was thereafter labeled Specimen 292 and was featured in the Smithsonian Institution, and became one of the most popular exhibits.
=== Prosecution === Soon after Wilkes' arrival in New York several court martials were organized for the entire Ex. Ex. expedition. Wilkes had made many enemies in both the Navy, and the government. He was almost universally despised by his men for many of the actions he took during the expedition. Other officers were charged with various crimes, but Wilkes was charged with 11, and his actions throughout the Ex. Ex. were criticized in the defense of the other officers. For his actions during Fiji the Battle of Malolo, Wilkes was charged with illegally attacking the natives. Wilkes justified his actions by stating "But I felt then as I do now, that the punishment was sufficient and effectual, while it was accompanied, as far as it could be, with mercy. Some, no doubt, will look upon it as unnecessarily severe ; but if they duly considered the wanton murders that have been committed on the whites in this group of islands, merely to gratify the desire of plunder or the horrid appetite for cannibal repasts, they would scarcely think the punishment too severe." Additionally, Wilkes claimed that he called for restraint in the attacks on the Fijians, but the log books indicated that he ordered only the sparing of women and children. However, even the most ardent of Wilkes detractors supported Wilkes on this matter. Many of them indicated by their words and actions that they hated the natives for killing their friends and desired revenge. What's more, Wilkes was able to garner sympathy for the death of his nephew of which it was universally acknowledged that he loved dearly. Ultimately Wilkes was cleared of all charges including his Fiji charges. The exception was that Wilkes was found guilty of illegally flogging marines and sailors in Hawaii after they refused to work when their enlistments were up. As a consequence, Wilkes was given a public reprimand.
=== Monument ===
In 1843, a 22-foot cenotaph obelisk was built in Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge Massachusetts to remember the officers who had fallen in the Ex. Ex. More specifically, the monument memorialized the loss of life in two separate events of the Ex. Ex. This included the loss of the USS Sea Gull (1838) a schooner that was Captained by Midshipman James W. Reid with the help of Midshipman Frederick A. Bacon. The Sea Gull was awaiting resupply from the USS Relief (1836), after which she was due to rendezvous with the rest of the fleet at Valparaíso, Chile. She was last spotted off Cape Horn at Midnight on 28 April 1839. After a while when the Sea Gull never returned the Ex. Ex. assumed all souls were lost. While one side of the obelisk commemorates the memory of the officers of the Sea Gull, another preserves the memory of Henry Wilkes and Joseph Underwood killed during the first day of the battle of Malolo. The Officers and Scientific Corps. of the expedition took up a collection for their fallen comrades by the end of the Ex. Ex. Wilkes and his family desired that this monument should be constructed at a cemetery in Brooklyn, New York for the benefit of Henry's mother and sister who lived near by. However, in part due to spite over Wilkes' treatment of them the officers had the monument built in Cambridge close to Underwood's widow. Specifically the Obelisk reads: "To the memory of Lieutenant Joseph A. Underwood and Midshipman Wilkes Henry, U. S. N. To the memory of passed midshipmen Jas. W. E. Reid and Frederick A. Bacon, U. S. N. This cenotaph is erected by their associates, the officers and scientific corps of the U. Exploring Expedition. Lieutenant Underwood and Midshipman Henry fell by the hands of savages, while promoting the cause of science and philanthropy, at Malolo, one of the Fiji Group of Islands, July 24, 1840, passed midshipmen Reid and Bacon were lost at sea, off Cane Horn, May, 1839."
=== Missionary work === The Methodist missionary Reverend David Cargill reported to Hudson that because of the arrest of Veidovi, the other chiefs of Rewa became terrified at the prospect of harming white people. And that this show of strength served to aid in both Western trade and missionary work.