Battle of Hakodate

• Japanese:箱館戦争(Hakodate Senso)

Matsumae castle

The former Bakufu retainers leaded by Enomoto Takeaki escaped from Edo in 1868/4 and arrived at Ezo in 1868/10. After they occupied Goryôkaku fort, they headed to capture Matsumae castle. In 1868/11/5, the ground troops leaded by Hijikata Toshizo overthrew Matsumae han's defence line at Oyobegawa river. They occupied the hill in front of Matsumae castle. The castle had 7 batteries. Everytime when Hijikata's soldiers came close to Karametemon gate, the Matsumae soldiers opened the gate to fire the cannon and closed quickly. While they were taking the same tactic over and over again, Hijikata took small unit and entered the castle from behind. Matsumae han surrendered in 1868/11/20. But the former Bakufu retainer troops lost their battleships Kaiyo maru and Shinsoku maru during the battle. In 1868/12/15,they declared the republic of Ezo and Enomoto was elected to be the president.

Miyako bay

Next they planned to seize the warship Kôtetsu that was anchoring in Miyako bay. Kôtetsu was an ironship that Tokugawa Bakufu purchased from the U.S. but it was possession of the Imperial forces at the time.

References

• Bakumatsu Boshin Seinan Senso (幕末戊辰西南戦争), Gakken
• Shinsengumi Nikki

Boshin War Toba-Fushimi - Koshu-Katsunuma - Utsunomiya castle - Ueno - Hokuetsu - Aizu - Hakodate

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