October 1873: Takamori Saigō, who would come to be known as the Last Samurai, retires from government and returns to his hometown of Kagoshima with Toshiaki Kirino and their soldiers.
June 1874: Saigō establishes the first shi-gakkō (military) academy.
December 1876: The Meiji government sends Hisao Nakahara and fifty-seven other policemen to Satsuma to pose as samurai students and spy on Takamori Saigō’s academies.
January 30, 1877: The Meiji government sends a warship to Kagoshima to remove the weapons at the Kagoshima arsenal. They are discovered and driven off by angry samurai from the shi-gakkō. Nakahara is discovered and confesses under torture that they reported local disdain for the government and planned to assassinate Saigō.
January 31–February 2, 1877: The samurai attack the Somuta arsenal and parade the weapons around town.
February 12, 1877: Saigō announces he’s going to Tokyo to question the government.
February 13–14, 1877: The army is organized into tactical units.
February 14, 1877: The Satsuma vanguard cross into Kumamoto Prefecture. Thirty thousand Satsuma soldiers join the rebellion.
February 15, 1877: About four thousand men under the command of Shinsuke Beppu leave Kagoshima.
February 19, 1877: The army reaches Kagoshima in just four days despite extreme cold and snowfall. A fire erupts in a castle storehouse, destroying much of the castle’s food supplies.
February 21, 1877: The conflict officially begins. Satsuma troops fight off an imperial attack, driving them to seek refuge in Kumamoto Castle.
February 22–24, 1877: The Satsuma soldiers attack Kumamoto Castle, many throwing themselves at the walls in suicide-like waves.
End of February 1877: Toshiaki Kirino suggests a full-frontal assault on the castle but is overruled in favor of the army splitting up.
March 3, 1877: The imperial army attacks and the Battle of Tabaruzaka begins.
March 19, 1877: The Satsuma forces fail to protect the town of Miyanohara. Heavy rainfall damages most of their guns, forcing them to fight with swords.
Late March 1877: As the Satsuma forces reach the castle, opposing soldiers exchange lighthearted banter. The moat is drained so those in the castle, rapidly running out of food, can eat the carp inside.
April 8, 1877: A force from Kumamoto Castle gains the upper hand.
April–May 1877: The Satsuma forces, demoralized, retreat from Kumamoto Castle. Over the course of the next few months, they are defeated in major battles at Hitoyoshi, Noboeka, and Miyakonojo. They rapidly run out of supplies and men.
July 24, 1877: The Imperial Army attacks Saigō’s army. The Satsuma forces cut free and escape.
August 17, 1877: The Satsuma army’s numbers have dwindled to a few thousand soldiers. They make a stand on Mount Enodake. Most of the remaining forces commit ritual suicide (seppuku).
August 19, 1877: Saigō burns his uniform and papers and slips away to Kagoshima with his remaining soldiers.
September 1, 1877: Saigō receives a letter demanding surrender and rejects it.
September 2, 1877: Fewer than three hundred combatants remain.
September 8, 1877: By this time, the Imperial Army has surrounded Mount Shiroyama in five brigades. General Yamagata is determined not to let Saigō slip away again.
September 24, 1877: General Yamagata orders a full-frontal assault. By 6 a.m., only sixty Satsuma men are still alive. Saigō is mortally wounded and perishes (historical sources vary on whether he committed seppuku or died of his wounds). Shinsuke Beppu cuts off his head to preserve his dignity, and the surviving men charge down the mountainside to their deaths. The rebellion ends at 7 a.m.
February 22, 1889: Emperor Meiji posthumously pardons Saigō. Today, he is seen as a tragic hero.