Qualla: Russian Fort Elizabeth

Russian Fort Elizabeth: Introduction

Thu, 12 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Famartin, CC BY-SA 4.0. A Russian fort in Hawaii sounds like the setup for a joke, but the stone walls along the Waimea River are real. Fort Elizabeth -- named for Empress Elizabeth, wife of Tsar Alexander I -- was built in 1817 by a German doctor working for the Russian-American Company, on an island belonging to a Hawaiian king who was playing the Russians against his own sovereign. Neither man had the authority to make the promises he was making. The fort lasted longer than the scheme that created it, and its ruins remain the most striking physical evidence of Russia's brief, improbable attempt to plant a flag in the Hawaiian archipelago.

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Image: Famartin | CC BY-SA 4.0

Russian Fort Elizabeth: A Shipwreck Sets the Stage

Thu, 12 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Unknown author, Public domain. The story begins with a cargo vessel. In 1815, a Russian-American Company ship wrecked at Waimea, Kauai, and its goods were seized by locals. Alexander Baranov, the company's governor in Sitka, Alaska, sent Georg Anton Schaffer -- a German-born physician with more ambition than d...

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Image: Unknown author | Public domain

Russian Fort Elizabeth: A Treaty Built on Bluff

Thu, 12 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Alexander Molodin, CC BY-SA 4.0. To Schaffer's surprise, Kaumualii was delighted to see him. The Kauai chief had pledged allegiance to Kamehameha in 1810 to avoid invasion, but he had never stopped wanting his independence back. Here was a European power offering protection. Kaumualii eagerly signed a treaty gra...

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Image: Alexander Molodin | CC BY-SA 4.0

Russian Fort Elizabeth: The Fortress That Outlived Its Purpose

Thu, 12 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Robert Linsdell from St. Andrews, Canada, CC BY 2.0. Schaffer also built two smaller fortifications near Hanalei on Kauai's north shore: Fortress Alexander and Fort Barclay-de-Tolly, named for the Tsar and his field marshal. His Waimea establishment was substantial -- quarters for troops, a trading house, gardens, and housing for a...

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Image: Robert Linsdell from St. Andrews, Canada | CC BY 2.0

Russian Fort Elizabeth: Cannons in the Bay

Thu, 12 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Ivtorov, CC BY-SA 4.0. The fort was abandoned around 1853 when its Hawaiian garrison was withdrawn. In 1862, Kauai pioneer Valdemar Knudsen surveyed its armaments: 60 flintlock muskets, 16 swords, 12 eighteen-pound cannons, 26 smaller cannons, six heavy guns, and 24 little guns. He was tasked with remo...

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Image: Ivtorov | CC BY-SA 4.0