MARCH 18, 1845

NATIVE HAWAIIAN UNION ARMY PRIVATE HENRY HO’OLULU PITMAN BORN

Henry, born, in Hilo, was the son of High Chiefess Kinoʻole-o-Liliha (Kinoʻole) of Hilo, daughter of Hoʻolulu, a famous chief in the time of Kamehameha the Great. Henry’s mother died in 1855. In 1860, his father moved, with his children, to Roxbury, Massachusetts, where Henry continued his education in the public schools. In August 1862, Pitman left school & enlisted in the Union Army. With Company H, 22nd Regiment Massachusetts Volunteers, he fought in the Battle of Antietam. On November 18, 1862, while marching along the Warrenton turnpike, Pitman took ill and fell out. Soon taken prisoner, he was sent to Libby Prison and confined in deplorable conditions. Part of a prisoner exchange and paroled to the Annapolis Parole Camp, in Maryland, he was “in pitiable condition of mind and body.” Pittman died on February 27, 1863, of “lung fever.” 

Source: Peter T. Young, “Henry Ho’olulu Pitman,” Images of Old Hawai’i, 2/27/2016.  Retrieved 6/13/2021,  Henry Ho‘olulu Pitman | Images of Old Hawaiʻi (imagesofoldhawaii.com)
Painting: Author unknown, mid-19th Century. Portrait of Henry Ho’olulu Pitman from the Peabody Essex Museum. Public Domain.