Confederate raider CSS Shenandoah burns four whalers in Madolenihmw, stranding about 120 sailors.

What happened

The Confederate raider CSS Shenandoah, under James Waddell, entered Pohnahtik Bay in Madolenihmw on 1 April 1865 and over the following days burned four whalers: the Edward Carey, Hector, Pearl and Harvest, which sailed under the Hawaiian flag. The Nahnmwarki of Madolenihmw divided the roughly 120 stranded sailors among his clan chiefs, and Pohnpeians salvaged the ships, adding to the firearms on the island.

Why it matters

Vance and co-authors call the raid a formative event remembered in Pohnpei’s collective memory; descendants of crewmen who stayed still live on the island.