The invasion of Kauai in 1260 A.D.

In 1260 A.D., Kauai’s King Kukona led an army in defense of Kauai that defeated a sea-borne invading army commanded by Kalaunui, the King of Hawaii, in battles at Mahaulepu, Kauai and inland between Mahaulepu and Lawai.

Kalaunui’s invasion of Kauai began when his army of perhaps 15,000 warriors sailed for Kauai from Oahu aboard a fleet of about 2,500 war canoes, which reached Mahaulepu the following morning at daylight.

Opposing Kalaunui in defense of Kauai were two separate armed forces.

One, under King Kukona’s personal command, consisted of 10,000 Kauai warriors concealed in the wooded hillsides west of Mahaulepu.

A second Kauai force of uncertain size lay in wait aboard a fleet of nearly 1,000 canoes at Hanapepe Bay.

As Kalaunui’s invasion force advanced westward toward Lawai, it became stretched into a narrow line.  

Kukona’s men then swept down from their cover in the hills, cut the line into pieces, and surrounded and overpowered each isolated segment.

Meanwhile, Kukona’s second force, the one that had been lying in wait in Hanapepe Bay, sailed eastward to attack Kalaunui’s rear area at Mahaulepu.

To meet Kukona’s counterattack from the sea, Kalaunui dispatched one of his ablest commanders, a chief named Kualu, with a detachment of 3,000 warriors to defend his canoe fleet and cover his flank.

At Mahaulepu, Kualu’s force attacked Kukona’s canoes in the surf along 300 to 400 yards of beach.

Kukona’s canoe-borne force was annihilated, but only 300 soldiers of Kua  lu’s detachment survived. They and their leader then lost their nerve and fled to Oahu.

By this time, Kalaunui had been captured, and his remaining force of about 1,000 warriors continued fighting desperately in retreat back to Mahaulepu, where all but a few were slaughtered. The survivors were later sacrificed to the gods.

Practically all of Kalaunui’s 15,000 invading warriors had been killed in battle or had perished while fleeing to Oahu in stormy seas.