"The Battle at Nu'uanu Pali"
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Kamehameha landed a huge invasion fleet on Oahu in 1795 and skirmished with the Oahu forces as he advanced across the plain where Honolulu now stands. The Oahu army made a stand but was driven up Nu'uanu valley in hard fighting. The upper valley terminates at the brink of a thousand-foot cliff (pali), and here those of the Oahu army who found no escape along the ridges or down a narrow cliffside trail were driven over the precipice. Both sides used firearms as well as traditional weapons, and included a foreigners in their ranks. In the narrow upper valley Kamehameha's well-disciplined phalanx, a tight formation carrying long lances, could not be stopped.

Page 123, Voyagers