THE FIRST NEW ZEALAND WAR. 1845–7.
Reading edition
The first actual British settlement in New Zealand was made in 1839, and in the following year the first Governor, Captain Hobson, concluded the Treaty of Waitangi with the native chiefs, by which the sovereignty of the Islands was ceded to Great Britain. Until 1841 all the settlements in New Zealand were under the Sydney Government, but in that year the three Islands were constituted an independent colony, with Auckland for the capital. As the settlers increased, disputes arose between them and the natives, about the possession of lands; which the settlers asserted they had purchased, but to which the natives held they had no claim whatever. These contentions and quarrels were intensified by the ignorance of both races of the customs and modes of procedure of each other, as well as by the irregular manner land was bought and sold. In June, 1843, these disputes culminated in a conflict in the Wairau Valley, in the province of Nelson; where two chiefs, who had resisted the survey of their lands, defeated a party sent to arrest them, headed by the Police Magistrate, killing him and twenty-one settlers in the fray, or in the general massacre of prisoners which followed it. This disastrous repulse destroyed the prestige of the English, and the natives began to boast that they had the settlers at their mercy. Troops, however, arrived from Australia, the affair was smoothed over, and for some months peace was undisturbed. Trouble then arose in the northern Island; a powerful chief, called Hone Heke, who had been educated by the missionaries, with many of his countrymen, grew discontented with the customs duties, the high price of tobacco and blankets, and the absence of the usual whale ships at the town of Kororareka (now Russell), near which he was residing. Considering that the 334British flag, which waved on the hill above the town, represented the power which fettered the trade and kept away the whalers, and having a grudge against some of the inhabitants, Heke, on July 8th., 1844, assembled his men, danced the war-dance at Kororareka, cut down and burned the flag-staff, plundered several stores, and took possession of the town for several days. A proclamation was issued by the Governor, offering £100 for the capture of Heke, who replied by offering a similar reward for the Governor’s (Captain Fitzroy) head. H.M.S. “Hazard,” with a detachment of the 96th regiment was sent to Kororareka, the flag-staff was re-erected, and troops stationed to guard it. As Heke threatened the flag-staff should not remain, Captain Robertson landed from the “Hazard” with a gun, a blockhouse was constructed, the inhabitants aroused, and the town put in a state of defence. At daybreak on March 11th., 1845, the handful of men guarding the flag-staff were surprised by Heke, and the staff again cut down. At the same time Captain Robertson was attacked by two hundred natives, under a chief called Kawiti, and after a sharp skirmish was compelled to spike his gun and fall back to a fortified house near the beach. Aided by the guns of the “Hazard,” the soldiers and inhabitants defended themselves for three hours against the attacks of the natives, till their magazine exploded. During a truce, asked by the enemy to carry off their killed and wounded, it was resolved to abandon the settlement, and the soldiers, with the whole of the inhabitants, embarking on board the “Hazard,” and other ships which were lying in the Bay, sailed for Auckland. The town was then plundered and burnt.
Reinforcements arriving from Sydney, an expedition, under Colonel Hulme, 96th. Regiment, was despatched to Kororareka, which landed without opposition, re-hoisted the British flag, and proclaimed martial law. Heke having taken up a fortified position at Okaihau, a place about eighteen miles inland, a force, consisting of the 58th Regiment, under Major Bridge, a detachment of the 96th., some seamen and marines from H.M. Ships “North Star” and “Hazard,” in all about four hundred men, under Colonel Hulme, with about the same number of native allies, set out to attack him. Most of the road lay through a forest; it took four days 335to reach the fortification, or “pa,” during which time the rain fell in torrents. Each soldier carried five days’ biscuit and thirty rounds of ammunition, and, being without tents, two-thirds of the ammunition and all the biscuits were unfit for use on arriving at Okaihau. The “pa” was found to be too strong to be taken without artillery, and after a fruitless assault, and repulse of a sally made by the natives, the troops returned to the ships, with a loss of fourteen killed and thirty-nine wounded.
More troops having arrived from Australia, another expedition was formed against Heke, who now occupied a stronghold at Oheawai, a place nineteen miles inland from the Bay of Islands. It was composed of the 58th. Regiment, under Major Bridge, detachments of the 96th. and 99th. Regiments, thirty men from H.M.S. “Hazard” and eighty volunteers from Auckland, the whole numbering six hundred and thirty men, with four guns, and about two hundred and fifty natives, commanded by Colonel Despard, of the 99th. On June 23rd. the force was before Oheawai, a pa ninety yards by fifty, with projecting flanks, surrounded by three rows of palisades, between which was a ditch five feet deep, with traverses and loopholes. On each side of the pa was a ravine with woody hills, and the adjacent country was thickly covered with trees. Next day the guns proved to be useless against the stockades, though at last fired at a range of eighty yards, but Commander Johnstone, of H.M.S. “Hazard,” bringing up a thirty-two pounder, two breaches were made, and Colonel Despard ordered an assault. The assault was made on July 1st., by one hundred and sixty soldiers, under Major Bridge, and forty seamen and volunteers, under Lieutenant Philpotts, R.N., who bravely strove to enter the place under a heavy fire, but the inner palisade being unbroken, the party was forced to retire, with two officers and half their number killed and wounded. Among the killed were Captain Grant of the 58th., and Lieutenant Philpotts,[132] R.N., son of the Bishop of Exeter.
336The troops remained in front of the pa for some days, and were preparing for another assault, but in the night of July 10th. the enemy abandoned their position, which was then taken by the British, and the palisades destroyed.
After this the war languished for some months, till Capt. (afterwards Sir George) Grey, replaced Captain Fitzroy as Governor, in November, when more active measures were taken. The new Governor gave the two chiefs, Heke and Kawiti, a fixed time to decide for peace or war, and this expiring without any satisfactory answer from either of them, Colonel Despard was ordered to renew hostilities. The enemy being in want of food, divided their forces, Heke remaining at a position he had fortified at Ikorangi, ten miles from Oheawai, while Kawiti fortified and garrisoned a place called Ruapekapeka, on the side of a hill in a forest. The English troops comprised the 58th. Regiment, under Lieutenant-Colonel Wynyard, with detachments of the 99th., Royal Artillery, East India Company’s Artillery, Royal Marines, and volunteers, under Captain Atkins with a brigade of three hundred and sixteen seamen from H.M.S. “Castor,” “North Star,” and “Racehorse,” and the E.I.C.’s ship “Elphinstone”; and a body of natives, with their chiefs, Walker, Nene, Repa, and Macquarrie. The whole force amounted to one thousand one hundred and seventy-three Europeans, and four hundred and fifty natives, with three thirty-two pounders, one eighteen-pounder, and seven brass guns and rocket tubes. The enemy had improved in the art of fortification, and Ruapekapeka was found a much stronger place than Oheawai. The “pa” measured about one hundred and seventy yards by seventy, well flanked at the sides and angles, surrounded by two rows of palisades with a ditch between them, with the earth thrown up behind to form an inner parapet, and inside were huts with underground excavations. On December 31st. the British opened fire from all their guns in position and continued it till January 2nd., when the enemy made a sally which was repulsed. On the 33710th. two breaches were made in the stockade, and the defenders losing heart began to retire. Next day some of the native allies finding the “pa” almost deserted, crept up to the palisades, and supported by a detachment of the 58th. Regiment, under Captain Denny, rushed through the breaches, and the place was taken and destroyed, with a loss to the victors of thirteen men killed and thirty wounded.
This virtually finished the war. Heke was occupied at Ikorangi by a feigned attack made by Macquarrie, and after the capture of Ruapekapeka, his followers, and those of Kawiti, began to disperse, and both chiefs were anxious for pardon and peace. This was granted to them by the Governor, in January, 1846, and the war in the North Island was at an end.
While these events were occurring in the North Island, a harassing series of surprises and skirmishes was carried on in the southern. On May 16th., 1847, a party of the 58th. Regiment, under Lieutenant Page, stationed at Boulcott’s Farm, were surprised an hour before daylight, and six men killed and four wounded.[133] After a skirmish or two, Major Last, with a detachment of the 99th. Regiment, attacked a stockade held by Rangihaeata, the chief of the insurgents in the Southern Island, and was so far successful that the natives abandoned the position, and were pursued and dispersed by parties of soldiers, militia, and police. A determined attack was made on May 19th., on the settlement of Wanganui by six hundred of the enemy, which was defended by one hundred and seventy men of the 58th. Regiment, in three block houses, aided by a gunboat on the river. The attack lasted five hours, in spite of a constant fire of shot and shell, but in the night the enemy decamped, dispirited by their losses.
In the beginning of June they again appeared in force, attacked a party of the 65th. Regiment, and a day or two after approaching near the block houses, challenged the soldiers to come out and fight. On the 19th. the troops made a sally, and drove the enemy into the bush, and on the 23rd. they sent in a flag of truce and stated their wish for peace. While the war lasted they were deprived of their usual supplies of tobacco, blankets, tea, and other things which had become necessary to them, and their privations disgusted them with a contest by which nothing could be gained.
On the 21st. of February, 1848, the principal chiefs met Governor Grey, at Wanganui; stolen cattle were restored, the natives paid for the lands in dispute by the Government, a general pardon granted, and peace concluded. For their services in this war, Captain Sir E. Home, R.N., Captain Graham, R.N., Colonel Despard, 99th. Regiment, and Lieutenant-Colonel Wynyard, 58th. Regiment, were made Commanders of the Order of the Bath.
338