J. R. Kealoha

J. R. Kealoha.
J. R. Kealoha (died March 5, 1877) was a Native Hawaiian who fought in the American Civil War at a time when the Kingdom of Hawaii was an independent nation. He enlisted in the 41st United States Colored Infantry (USCT), formed in Pennsylvania. Participating in the Siege of Petersburg, he met the Hawaiʻi-born Colonel Samuel Armstrong, who recorded their encounter. With the 41st USCT, Kealoha was present at the surrender of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia on April 9, 1865. He returned to Hawaiʻi, where he died and was buried in an unmarked grave in Honolulu's Oʻahu Cemetery. In 2010, Kealoha and more than 100 other Native Hawaiian and Hawaiʻi-born "Hawaiʻi Sons of the Civil War" were commemorated with a bronze plaque erected along the memorial pathway at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu. In 2014, a grave marker (pictured) was dedicated over Kealoha's burial site.