Battle of Mokuohai

Battle of Mokuʻōhai
Part of Unification of Hawaii
King Kamehameha I
Date July, 1782 Location Kona, Hawaiʻi Island Result Kamehameha I victory
Belligerents
Kamehameha I's army	Kiwalaʻo
Commanders and leaders
Kamehameha I Keʻeaumoku Kameʻeiamoku Kamanawa	Kiwalaʻo Keōua Kuahuʻula Keawemauhili

The Battle of Mokuʻōhai, fought in 1782 on the island of Hawaii, was a key battle in the early days of Kamehameha I's wars to conquer the Hawaiian Islands. It was his first major victory, solidifying his leadership over much of the island.

After King Kalaniʻopuʻu died in the summer of 1781, his family took his remains to the royal mausoleum known as Hale o Keawe at the important religious temple Puʻuhonua o Hōnaunau. While Kalaniʻopuʻu's son Kiwalaʻo had inherited the kingdom, his nephew Kamehameha was given a prominent religious position, as well as the district of Waipiʻo valley. When a group of chiefs from the Kona district, including his brothers and uncles, Keawe-a-Heulu, twins Kamanawa and Kameʻeiamoku, and Keʻeaumoku Pāpaʻiaheahe, offered to back Kamehameha instead of Kiwalaʻo, he accepted eagerly, traveling back from his residence in Kohala.

Kiwalaʻo's half-brother Keōua Kuahuʻula had been left with no territory from his late father. He went into a rage, cutting down sacred coconut trees (considered a great insult) and killing some of Kamehameha's men. Their bodies were offered as a sacrifice to Kiwalaʻo, who accepted them, and Kamehameha felt he had to respond to the challenge to his honor.

The battleground was just to the south of Kealakekua Bay, near the present-day community called Keʻei., on the bay now called Mokuʻakae (which could be a misspelling of Mokuʻōhai), South of Palemano point.The name means "grove of ʻōhai trees". The tree, Sesbania tomentosa, is now endangered, and no longer grows in the area, so the site is only known from oral history.

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