Combat· U.S. Exploring Expedition (Wilkes)
Destruction of Saulafata, Fusi, and Sallesesi villages on Upolu
A reprisal in the Samoan islands for the murder of an American sailor.
An American seaman had been killed by natives of Saulafata on the island of Upolu, and when the local chief refused to give up the murderer, in defiance of the commercial agreement Wilkes had concluded with the Samoan chiefs in 1839, Lieutenant Hudson was sent to exact redress. He brought the Peacock and the Flying-Fish to bear, demanded the murderer, and on refusal landed a party of Marines and sailors under cover of the ships' guns, which opened on the town with round shot and grape. The Americans captured Saulafata without meeting resistance and burned it, then moved against the neighboring towns of Fusi and Sallesesi and destroyed them in the same way, leveling well over a hundred huts and the canoes. No Americans were hurt. The action drove home that violations of the 1839 agreement would be answered by force.
Record no. 318