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Formal Possession of Midway Atoll
- When
- August 28, 1867
- Where
- Midway Atoll
Captain William Reynolds formally took possession of Midway Atoll for the United States on August 28, 1867, under the Guano Islands Act.
Following a sighting in 1859, Captain William Reynolds of USS Lackawanna visited the atoll in 1867. He formally took possession for the United States on August 28, 1867. The name changed to "Midway" some time after this visit. It was assumed at the time that Midway was independently acquired by the United States, and thus not part of the Hawaii Territory.
Sources
- Midway Atoll Wikipedia, revision of 2026-08-20
Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.