Absorbing the members of the Shinsengumi (a shogunate police force located in Kyoto), the army of the Ouetsu-reppan Alliance and Sadaaki MATSUDAIRA, who was the lord of the Kuwana Domain, the ENOMOTO forces fled to Ezochi (Hokkaido), occupied Goryokaku (the pentagonal fort built in Hakodate City) and established the Ezo Republic, of which ENOMOTO became the president by nyusatsu (election).
新選組や奥羽越列藩同盟軍、桑名藩藩主松平定敬らを収容し蝦夷地（北海道）に逃走、箱館の五稜郭に拠り、蝦夷共和国を樹立して入札（選挙）の実施により総裁となった。