Invasion of the Waikato

The First Taranaki War had ended in March 1861 as an uneasy truce between the government and Māori forces, with both sides recognising they had reached a stalemate. The lack of a clear victory by imperial forces led Governor Thomas Gore Browne to turn his attention to the Waikato, the centre of the Kīngitanga movement, where king Tāwhiao was attracting the allegiance of increasing numbers of Māori across the North Island. Browne concluded that members of the Kīngitanga movement would have to be compelled to submit to British rule. in mid-1861 he sent an ultimatum to the movement's leaders, demanding submission to Queen Victoria and the return of plunder taken from Taranaki; when it was rejected he began drawing up plans to invade the Waikato and depose the king—a plan opposed by both the Colonial Office and the New Zealand General Assembly. According to Browne, in response to his belligerence, Kingite leaders formed plans to launch a raid on Auckland on 1 September and burn the town and slaughter most of its residents. Grey instead instituted a peace policy that included a system of Māori local administration in which they could participate, hoping it would encourage Māori to abandon the Kingite movement and "reduce the number of our enemies". By early 1863 the imperial government had provided Grey with 3000 men for the expected war. Events in early 1863 brought tensions to a head. In March Kingites obstructed the construction of a police station at Te Kohekohe, near Meremere. Rewi Maniapoto, accompanied by Wiremu Kīngi Te Rangitāke, led 80 armed Ngāti Maniapoto warriors in a raid on the 80 hectare property at Te Awamutu occupied by magistrate and Commissioner John Gorst to seize the printing press on which he published a newspaper and take it to Kihikihi. The raiders sent a message to Gorst—who was absent at the time—to quit the property or risk death; Grey recalled Gorst to Auckland soon after. Imperial troops were moved back to Taranaki as hostilities resumed and on 4 June the new British commander, Lieutenant-General Duncan Cameron, led 870 troops to attack a party of about 50 Māori on the Tataraimaka block, killing 24. Concerned by the renewed aggression, some Kingites began resurrecting their plan to raid Auckland and its frontier settlements. But in correspondence to London Grey cited that incident as further proof of the imminent danger to New Zealand settlers.—Grey ordered the invasion of the Kingite territory, claiming he was making a punitive expedition against Rewi over the Ōakura ambush and a pre-emptive strike to thwart a "determined and bloodthirsty" plot to attack Auckland. Though Grey claimed it was a defensive action, historian B. J. Dalton claimed his reports to London had been "a deliberate and transparent falsehood" and that the invasion was an act of "calculated aggression". ==First engagements==

, commander-in-chief of British forces in New Zealand, 1863–65 Cameron, a Crimean War veteran who had replaced Major-General Thomas Pratt as commander-in-chief of the British troops, began the invasion with fewer than 4000 effective troops in Auckland at his disposal. But the continuous arrival of regiments from overseas rapidly swelled the force. (Total troop numbers reached 10,000 in January 1864 before peaking at about 14,000 in March 1864—9000 imperial troops, more than 4000 colonial and a few hundred kūpapa, or pro-British Māori. On the morning of 17 July Cameron led 553 men on a raid on a new and unfinished entrenchment at Koheroa, near Mercer. Cameron ran ahead of his force after they took early fire from Māori outposts and the Māori fighters fled. According to Belich, the Māori force numbered between 100 and 150 and about 15 were killed, some of them by bayonet. Among the dead was their leader Te Huirama, a relative of King Tāwhiao. British casualties totalled one dead and 12 wounded. But the same day a Māori war party ambushed a convoy of six carts and its 50-man escort well behind British lines, at Martin's Farm near Ramarama on the Great South Road. A third of the British force were cut down—five soldiers killed and 11 wounded—while Māori losses were limited to two. The attack prompted the establishment of five new redoubts on the route, taking 510 of Cameron's men. When two more settlers were killed at isolated farms near Drury on 24 July, the government formed a special corps of bush fighters named the "Forest Rangers", who began a series of bush reconnaissance missions and pursuits of armed Māori bands. But Māori defences had also grown: the so-called Meremere Line—a 22 km-long line of fortifications that spread from Pukekawa to Meremere and Paparata—had been built, commanding about 2000 square kilometres of bush and manned by a force of up to 1500.—who was supervising a shipment of stores—and burning a stores depot with 40 tons of supplies at Camerontown on the north bank of the Waikato River near Tuakau. The Ngāti Maniapoto then attacked a British redoubt overlooking Pokeno, from which they were driven off. The turning point for Cameron came in late October when hundreds of Waikato militia replaced regulars at the outposts, another 500 imperial troops arrived from Australia—now giving him a striking force of almost 2000 and a total of 8000 effectives—and a second river steamer, HMS Curacoa, was brought to the front. On 31 October a river flotilla including Avon, the gunboats Curacoa and Pioneer and armoured barges steamed past Meremere—drawing fire from rifle pits and batteries of ships guns, some of them firing pieces of iron chain and pound weights—and landed 600 men at Takapau, 15 km upriver, ready to attack the heart of the defensive line from the rear. The flotilla returned downstream, intending to bring up another 600 men the next day for the attack, but the plan was dropped when the Māori force evacuated the Meremere fortifications the following day and escaped eastwards across flooded lagoons by canoe, falling back to their next defensive system at Rangiriri. ==Rangiriri==

Three weeks later, on 20 November, Cameron, commanding a battle force of more than 1400 men, launched an attack on Rangiriri, further up the Waikato River. The battle cost both sides more than any other engagement of the land wars and also resulted in the capture of 180 Māori combatants, which impacted on their subsequent ability to oppose the far bigger British force. Cameron arrived at Rangiriri with about 850 men, chiefly of the 65th, 14th and 12th regiments, to make the frontal assault. A second division of 320 men of the 40th Regiment under Lieut-Colonel Arthur Leslie with additional naval backup, were transported by barge further south with the aim of gaining possession of a ridge 500 metres behind the main entrenchment and cutting off any escape. British soldiers advanced on the redoubt and entered, shook hands with their combatants, then surprised the Māori by demanding they surrender all their arms and taking them prisoner. Belich wrote: "The capture of Rangiriri was not the result of assault or encirclement, but of the British misuse of a flag of truce. The Māoris might conceivably have eventually decided to surrender unconditionally anyway, but they might also have repelled further assaults and escaped across the lake." He said they might have also been gaining time waiting for reinforcements who were almost on the scene. About 35 of the Māori force were killed, along with six women and children. Probably an equal number of injured were evacuated by canoe across Lake Waikare. With the capture of more than 180 warriors, the battle became the most costly Māori defeat in the Waikato wars. ==Pāterangi and Rangiaowhia==

Construction of a new and even more formidable defence line began 25 km south of Ngāruawāhia, soon after the fall of Rangiriri. The line included fortifications at Pikopiko and Rangiatea and was centred on Paterangi, its largest pā, and was designed to block the main approaches to the agriculturally rich Rangiaowhia district, east of Te Awamutu, a major economic base, trading with Auckland, San Francisco and Melbourne, and a supply centre of the Kingite tribes. By the end of January 1864 the line had become the largest system of Māori fortifications of the land wars, consisting of at least four large pā spaced about 8 km apart, each of which included complex sets of entrenchments and parapets. The defence system, which included two cannons, was manned by a force of between 1200 and 2000 men from a dozen major Waikato iwi. Two weeks after capturing Ngāruawāhia, Cameron's 3000-strong striking force, protected by another 4000 men, began slowly and cautiously advancing south. In late January Cameron moved his army headquarters to Te Rore, about 5 km from Paterangi, with an advance camp for 600 men positioned just 1.2 km from the pā, from where they judged the defences were "immensely strong". A new supply line was established from Auckland, using boats to Raglan and packhorses across the ranges to meet steamers on the Waipā River. But a further advance into the heart of Kingitanga territory was delayed when the Avon—one of the most important components of the transport and supply system—accidentally sank in the Waipa on 8 February. A significant engagement took place on 11 February when an assault party from Paterangi ambushed a group of soldiers bathing in a loop of the Mangapiki Stream at Waiari, near the British forward position. Two hundred of Cameron's troops, with the Forest Rangers, became involved in a running battle with the attackers and killed an estimated 41 Māori, losing six of their own men. There were about 200 Ngati-Apakura and Ngati-Hinetu people at Rangiaowhia, supplying food to the garrisons at Paterangi pā. Cameron, meanwhile, was attracting sharp criticism from both the colonist press and Grey himself and at least one attempted to surrender, but was murdered by troops ignoring their orders. Women were raped and killed in front of children. About a dozen houses were burned down. The British claimed they killed 12 Māori, including two chiefs, and took 30 prisoners. Their own losses totaled five, including several officers. When Cameron's forces returned to Te Awamutu, the men of Rangiaowhia abandoned Paterangi, Pikopiko, and Rangiatea pā to defend their families and began rapidly digging a new trench on the crest of a ridge at Hairini, cutting the route between Te Awamutu and Rangiaowhia. The wife and two daughters of Kereopa Te Rau were killed in the attack, and his sister was killed in defence of the Hairini line a few days later. Colonel Marmaduke Nixon, who had led the Rangiaowhia cavalry charge, was mortally wounded. His remains are buried at the Nixon memorial in Ōtāhuhu, Auckland. There were no memorials to the victims of Rangiaowhia until the 150th anniversary was commemorated in 2014 with the unveiling of a plaque. ==Ōrākau==

'' and fortifications Following the fall of the Paterangi line, Wiremu Tamihana, leading one of the two major Kingite divisions, retreated east to Maungatautari to block a British advance up the Waikato River into Ngāti Raukawa territory and Matamata beyond. Cameron remained at Rangiaowhia, preparing to pursue him. Rewi Maniapoto, with the other main division, moved south into the Hangitiki Valley to defend Ngati Maniapoto bases. Although he strongly opposed the plan, convinced it would result in their defeat, Rewi relented—possibly in return for the loyalty they had shown in crossing the North Island to join the fight for his territory For two days the villagers, as well as Rewi's forces and the new reinforcements, labored in shifts to strengthen the defences of the pā, located on a slight rise of land in the midst of peach groves. Measuring about 30 metres by 12 metres, the pā was enclosed within a rectangular redoubt and contained interior bunkers, trenches, firing apertures. The main parapet was just 1.2 metres high, the outer trench a metre deep and the entire system was surrounded by a post and three-rail fence. The pā was defended by between 200 and 250 warriors—mainly Tūhoe and Ngāti Raukawa—drawn from at least nine tribes, as well as about 50 women and children. 31 March – 1 April, days one and two Early on 31 March the first attack was made on Ōrākau, whose parapets and exterior fence was still incomplete. The Ōrākau garrison spotted the attacking force to their west just minutes before the bugle was sounded to charge and warriors were ordered by Rewi into the outer trenches. The Kingites held their fire until the attackers were within 50 metres, then fired in two volleys, halting the advance. Two more waves of attack were similarly repulsed, with several casualties, including officers. Realising the strength of Ōrākau, Carey decided to encircle the pā and began shelling it from about 350 metres, though the design and construction methods of the bunkers neutralised the force of the bombardment. He then ordered a start on a shallow sap that zig-zagged towards its western face from a distance of about 120 metres. A party of Māori reinforcements appeared about 2 km to the east, but retreated, unable to break through the British lines. Sporadic shooting continued through the night, with the besieged occupants of Ōrākau chanting and singing. Soon after arriving, Cameron, impressed by the courage of the garrison, decided to give them the opportunity to surrender. Two interpreters were sent to the head of the sap with a white flag and Major William Mair called out the offer in Māori, which was passed to Rewi, within the pā. Although there are several versions of Rewi's reply, he is reputed to have declared through his messenger, "Ka whawhai tonu ahau ki a koe, ake, ake" ("I shall fight you forever, and ever, and ever") Sixteen of the British forces died in the three-day battle and 53 were wounded, some of them mortally; while estimates of Māori fatalities range from 80 The general site of the battle is today marked by a memorial on Arapuni Road, 4 km east of Kihikihi, with the road running through the middle of what were the defences. The site of the pā is on private farmland and no traces of it are now visible. Plans have been proposed to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the battle in 2014, with a call made for a new memorial. ==Commissariat==

Belich has described the Waikato campaign as one of the best-prepared and best organised ever undertaken by the British Army, proving that many lessons had been learned from the logistical fiasco of the Crimean War. He said the Commissariat Transport Corps (CTC), established in mid-1861, almost two years before the invasion began, was the "vital kernel" because of its efforts in building the southern road and being a separate military supply train. Commissariat sourced much of its food from England and Australia and sent it along with other supplies up to 160 km into the interior via a combination of steamers, barges, bullocks and pack horses. The CTC had found the Otago pack saddle, devised in the Otago goldfields to prevent injury and ruin to horses carrying heavy loads, to be the best suited to their needs. In a report to the War Office, Commissary General Humphrey Stanley Herbert Jones described the CTC as "the foundation of the whole service". The work of the commissariat helped ensure the sick rate of soldiers never rose above 5 percent—a rate far below that of the Crimean War a decade earlier, when 14 percent of the force was incapacitated. ==Aftermath==

Ōrākau was the last major battle of Cameron's Waikato campaign. Leaving his captured territory occupied by troops, he resumed his preparations to assault one of the strongest of Tamihana's pā, Te Tiki o te Ihingarangi, about 25 km northeast of Ōrākau near modern-day Lake Karapiro. The pā formed part of a long line of pā the Kingites called aukati, or boundary. Cameron assessed the pā as too strong to assault and incapable of outflanking. In mid-1863 the New Zealand government began planning legislation designed to punish armed Māori resistance and aggression by widespread confiscation of their land, which would be given to colonial settlers. The New Zealand Settlements Act was passed in December 1863 and in 1865 Governor Grey confiscated more than 480,000 hectares of land from the Waikato–Tainui iwi (tribe) in the Waikato as punishment for their earlier "rebellion". Proclamations under the act were issued on 30 January 1865 for the seizure of the East Wairoa and West Pukekohe blocks for settlement and colonisation, followed by the Central Waikato district and the Māngere, Pukaki, Ihumata and Kerikeri blocks (16 May 1865). As the occupants were evicted from their land, their belongings were looted by colonial forces and neighbouring settlers, with houses ransacked, cattle seized and horses transported for sale in Auckland. The war and confiscation of land caused heavy economic, social and cultural damage to Waikato-Tainui. King Tāwhiao and his people were forced to retreat into the heartland of Ngāti Maniapoto. The Maniapoto, by contrast, had been more zealous for war than the Waikato, yet suffered no loss of land because its territory was too remote to be of use to white settlers. The 1927 Royal Commission on Confiscated Land, chaired by senior supreme court judge Sir William Sim, concluded that although the government restored a quarter of the 1,202,172 acres (486,500 hectares) originally seized and paid almost £23,000 compensation, the Waikato confiscations had been "excessive". The Waitangi Tribunal in 1985 declared the Tainui people of the Waikato had never rebelled, but had been forced into a defensive war. In the early 1990s Tainui opted to bypass the Waitangi Tribunal and concluded a treaty claims settlement with the Crown through direct negotiation. In May 1995 the Crown signed a deed of settlement with Waikato–Tainui that included cash and land valued at $170 million. The settlement included an admission by the Crown that it had "unjustly confiscated" the land. It formally and publicly apologised to Waikato–Tainui and the Kingitanga for unjustly invading Waikato–Tainui lands, for sending imperial forces across the Mangataawhiri, and for the loss of life and the devastation of property that ensued. The Crown expressed profound regret and apologised unreservedly for the invasion and the crippling effects it had on the welfare of the Waikato-Tainui people. Queen Elizabeth II affirmed the apology of the Crown by signing the Waikato Raupatu Claims Settlement Act 1995 in the presences of the head of the Kingitanga, Māori Queen Dame Te Atairangikaahu. As a result of this settlement the Crown agreed to return as much land as possible to Waikato and to pay compensation, and said that it sought on behalf of all New Zealanders to atone for these acknowledged injustices, and to begin the process of healing and to enter a new age of co-operation with the Kingitanga and Waikato. ==References==