Battle of Nuʻuanu The Battle of Nuuanu ( Hawaiian : " Kalelekaanae " ; lit . the leaping mullet ) , fought in May 1795 on the southern part of the island of Oahu , was a key battle in the final days of King Kamehameha I ' s wars to unify the Hawaiian Islands . It is known in the Hawaiian language as " Kalelekaanae " , which means " the leaping mullet " , and refers to a number of Oahu warriors driven off the cliff in the final phase of the battle . There are " varied and sometimes conflicting histories of the Battle of Nuuanu . " Prior to the battle . Oahu . Around the year 1792 ( the exact date is unknown ; the landing could have been as late as March 1793 ) , Captain William Brown , an English merchant , landed in the harbor of Honolulu . As a Maritime Fur Trade r and gun seller , he made several voyages before from the Pacific Northwest coast to the Hawaiian islands . Captain Brown landed several ships on the island ; the ones noted are the " Prince Lee Boo " and the " Jackall " . After landing , he made an agreement with Kahekili II ( the chief of the island at that time ) that he would offer his military assistance against Kamehameha for use of the harbor . Likewise , Kamehameha requested military assistance and the use of artillery from Captain George Vancouver and in exchange " ceded " the island of Hawaii to Great Britain in February 1794 . The two rival chiefs never met again , as Kahekili II died in mid - 1794 . At this point , Kahekili ' s son , Kalanikupule , had control of the island of Oahu and his half - brother , Kaeokulani , had control of the islands of Kauai ( through his wife ) , Maui , Lanai , and Molokai . After Kahekili ' s death , Kaeokulani decided to visit Kauai , his home island . In order to accomplish this , he had to travel through the way of Oahu . Kalanikupule then set up trenches and earthworks on the windward side of Oahu , where Kaeokulani ' s canoes would pass . Both sides fought , but the battle was stopped by Kalanikupule and the two chiefs met to mourn over the death of Kahekili . Kaeokulani then discovered a plot to be thrown overboard by his chiefs on the way to Kauai . To resolve the issue , he proposed war against Kalanikupule . He ordered his men to make a land march to where Kalanikupule was stationed . In the early part of December 1794 , Kaeokulani ' s army was confronted by Kalanikupule ' s , along with the artillery of Captain Brown ' s ships . With Kaeokulani being outnumbered and outmaneuvered , his forces fled and scattered to the mountains . Nevertheless , Kaeokulani ' s army was destroyed . Kalanikupule had received prior warnings of the impending invasion from the chiefs of Maui and Molokai and had begun building several lines of fortifications on Oahu . He had already begun buying muskets and cannons from European traders , but had far fewer than Kamehameha . He was also assisted by one of Kamehameha ' s chiefs , Kaiana , who defected before the battle began . Kaiana had fallen out of favor with Kamehameha ' s inner circle and feared that he was being plotted against . On the voyage to Oahu , his army split off from the Hawaiian armada and landed on the north side of the island . There , they began cutting notches into the Nuuanu mountain ridge , which would serve as gunports for Kalanikupule ' s cannons . Kamehameha . Kamehameha I had begun his campaign to unify Hawaii in 1783 , but prior to 1795 had only managed to unify the Big Island . However , in 1794 a civil war broke out when the chief of Oahu , Kahekili II , died . The civil war was fought between his half - brother Kaeokulani and his son Kalanikupule . Kalanikupule ultimately won , but emerged from the war greatly weakened . During this time , Kamehameha had been equipping his army with modern musket s and cannon , as well as training his men in their use under direction of British Sailor John Young . In February 1795 he assembled the largest army the Hawaiian islands had ever seen , with about 12 , 000 men and 1 , 200 war canoes ( at this time , the British estimated the entire population of the Hawaiian Islands at less than 300 , 000 ; modern anthropologists believe it was closer to one million ) . Kamehameha initially moved against the southern islands of Maui and Molokai , conquering them in the early spring . Then he invaded Oahu . Battle . The Battle of Nuuanu began when Kamehameha ' s forces landed on the southeastern portion of Oahu near Waialae and Waikiki . After spending several days gathering supplies and scouting Kalanikupule ' s positions , Kamehameha ' s army advanced westward , encountering Kalanikupule ' s first line of defense near the Punchbowl Crater . Splitting his army into two , Kamehameha sent one half in a flanking maneuver around the crater and the other straight at Kalanikupule . Pressed from both sides , the Oahu forces retreated to Kalanikupule ' s next line of defense near Laimi . While Kamehameha pursued , he secretly detached a portion of his army to clear the surrounding heights of the Nuuanu Valley of Kalanikupule ' s cannons . Kamehameha also brought up his own cannons to shell Laimi . During this part of the battle , both Kalanikupule and Kaiana were wounded , Kaiana fatally . With its leadership in chaos , the Oahu army slowly fell back north through the Nuuanu Valley to the cliffs at Nuuanu Pali . Caught between the Hawaiian Army and a 1000 - foot drop , over 400 Oahu warriors either jumped or were pushed over the edge of the Pali . In 1898 construction workers working on the Pali road discovered 800 skulls which were believed to be the remains of the warriors that fell to their deaths from the cliff above . Aftermath . Though he escaped the battle , Kalanikupule was later captured and sacrificed . This battle was the climax of Kamehameha ' s campaign , after this battle his kingdom was for the first time referred to as the Kingdom of Hawaii . The islands were still not united . He had to capture the remaining neighboring islands of Kauai and Niihau . First he had to put down an uprising on the Big Island , and then he began his preparations for the conquest of Kauai . However , before this battle could be fought the king Kaumualii of Kauai submitted to Kamehameha , giving him effective control over the Hawaiian Islands . As the " Jackall " sailed from the battle the British captain William Brown ordered a salute to be fired . The fourth cannon was loaded and hit the " Lady Washington " at close range , killing the American captain John Kendrick . Brown said it was an accident although later accounts suggest Kendrick ' s crew was deeply suspicious .