A U.S. captain fighting the British in 1813 detoured to a remote Pacific island — and accidentally conquered it, founding America's first Pacific naval base.
In 1813, Captain David Porter sailed USS Essex to the remote Marquesas Islands for repairs, renaming the island Madison's Island after President James Madison and declaring it U.S. territory — complete with a formal flag raising and a buried declaration making the local Te I'i tribe American subjects.
To secure base-building rights, Porter made a deal with Chief Gattanewa: military alliance against rival tribes in exchange for access. Within days, thirty-six American sailors and marines found themselves dragging a cannon through jungle to attack a fortress held by 3,000–4,000 warriors.
Among Porter's crew was a young midshipman named David Farragut — who would later become the first admiral in U.S. Navy history, famous for his 'Damn the torpedoes' order at the Battle of Mobile Bay.
Porter's first assault on the Tai Pi ended in near disaster: the marines ran almost out of ammunition in the middle of the jungle battle, and thousands of enemy warriors repelled the allied attack, forcing a humiliating American retreat. Te I'i and Happah allies promptly switched sides and threatened to massacre the American colony.
To restore American prestige, Porter launched a second overland attack on Typee Valley — the Tai Pi heartland. Rain ruined the gunpowder on day one, but on November 30 the assault succeeded. Porter left behind 'a line of smoking ruins' and later wrote he took 'no pleasure' in conquering 'a happy and heroic people.'
When Essex finally sailed in December 1813, a small garrison of just 21 men was left behind. By May 1814, British prisoners mutinied, seized a ship, wounded the commanding officer, and escaped. Days later, Te I'i warriors attacked the remaining Americans on the beach, killing five including a sixteen-year-old midshipman.
The wounded commander, Lieutenant John Gamble, alone on his ship, fought off two approaching war-canoes by limping gun to gun firing pre-loaded cannons. He then evacuated the colony with only eight men — all wounded or ill — sailing 2,500 miles before being captured by a British warship.
America's first Pacific naval base lasted less than six months. Captain Porter, who had founded it, was captured by the British at the Battle of Valparaíso in March 1814 and never returned. A Royal Navy flotilla arrived in August to find the fort abandoned and the villa destroyed by locals.