Enomoto Takeaki
Enomoto Takeaki, the admiral of the "shōgun"s navy, refused to surrender all his ships, remitting just four vessels, and escaped to northern Honshū with the remnants of the "shōgun"s navy: eight steam warships and 2,000 men. Following the defeat of pro-shogunate resistance on Honshū, Admiral Enomoto Takeaki fled to Hokkaidō, where he established the breakaway Republic of Ezo (27 January 1869). The new Meiji government dispatched a military force to defeat the rebels, culminating with the Naval Battle of Hakodate in May 1869. The Imperial side took delivery (February 1869) of the French-built ironclad "Kotetsu" (originally ordered by the Tokugawa shogunate) and used it decisively towards the end of the conflict.