Combat
Fiji Punitive Expeditions
A pair of American naval reprisals against Fijian communities for attacks on American citizens and trade, continuing the pattern set by the Wilkes Expedition fifteen years before.
The first came in 1855, when Marines and sailors from the sloop USS John Adams conducted sustained operations on the island of Viti Levu, penetrating the interior and fighting a sharp engagement in late October against the islanders. The second came in 1858 at Waya, in the Yasawa group, in answer to the murder of two American traders. Both followed the same logic that had governed American conduct in the Pacific since Wilkes: that attacks on American commerce and lives among the islands would be met with force, the landing parties going ashore to punish the responsible communities and destroy their villages. The expeditions were part of the long American effort to make the South Pacific safe for its shipping and traders.
Engagements in this conflict (1)
Record no. 363