The war in New Zealand, which lasted more then four years, consisted of a series of engagements that spasmodically flared up whenever peace seemed to have been secured. It was an unpopular war with the troops, who admired the courage and dignity of the Maoris, respecting them as a gallant and even chivalrous foe, whereas the settlers hated them for burning their homesteads and killing their friends. First-rate fighting men and military engineers, the Maoris were a skilful race of warriors whose mode of warfare was to rapidly construct a pah (fort) relatively impervious to artillery fire, and hold it only long enough to inflict delay and loss upon the enemy – then evacuate it and build another work of the same kind further back.

The British troops found it particularly exasperating to realize that, after inflicting heavy loss, the bulk of the defenders had disappeared under cover of night to take up a fresh position. These pahs often consisted of continuous lines of rifle-pits covered and concealed by ferns. The timber supports of the flat roofs rested on the ground, leaving a space of four inches at ground level, from which the muzzles of their double-barreled guns protruded. Superior at short range, these weapons were more quickly loaded than the muzzle-loading Enfield rifle of the British soldier. At close quarters the Maoris fought desperately with a short, flat, sharp, double-edged stone club called the meri.

To defend hereditary rights to land, the natives of Taranaki took up arms in 1861 and soon a skirmishing-type of insurrection was in full swing. Supported by artillery, a force landed and attacked the Maoris at Puketekaure but the British were driven from the field by a Maori force not even double their number who, possessing no artillery, were armed only with common muskets, fowling pieces and double-barreled guns. So closely did the Maoris press the British during their fighting retreat that their dead were left upon the field and a number of the wounded were abandoned.

Well led and possessing both energy and courage the Maoris were a formidable enemy and they kept the war ebbing and flowing until March 1861 when hostilities ceased. But in mid-1863, the province of Auckland was again aflame with insurrection; the Maoris concentrated their forces at Pokewa, thirty-five miles south of Auckland.

On 12th July 1863, British troops made contact with the Maoris at Koheroa, in an excellent defensive position on a narrow, fern-covered mountainous ridge about five miles long and with precipitous sides that allowed only direct attack. The 14th regiment, supported by detachments of the 12th and 70th regiments, went forward along the narrow fern ridge under a heavy fire from their unseen enemies and chased the Maoris out of the first line of rifle-pits. Coming up to the second line, they were received with a rattling volley which checked them momentarily but went forward and led the charge that drove the enemy in confusion before them, some crossing the near-by river in canoes, others swimming.

Both sides had about 500 men in the fight which lasted more than two hours and covered an area of five miles. The British force had 12 killed and a number wounded; the Maoris lost 40 warriors and many wounded. The Maoris had every advantage in their knowledge of the ground plus the skilful construction of their three lines of rifle-pits. Through-out the war the Maoris were never on any occasion able to bring more than 600 men into the field, their excellent use of the bush and their knowledge of the countryside making them a formidable proposition in spite of the great disparity in numbers because, before hostilities ceased, the British strength had risen to 25,000 men.

The Maoris spent the next few months constructing a strong line of entrenchments at Rungariri, the narrow isthmus which divided the Waikato River from the lake Waikare. Completely blocking the road up to the right bank of the river, the works consisted of a line of high parapets and double ditch with the customary Maori palisading, the ends sunk in the ground and bound together with tough vines; the centre was strengthened by square redoubts of very formidable construction with a ditch twelve feet wide and eighteen feet deep to the top of the parapet. In the rear were two strong lines of rifle-pits, the last of which was on the summit of a high ridge.

On November 30th 1863, 300 men of the 40th regiment embarked in steamers to land south of the position, while a force of 860 under General Cameron himself marched from the north by the right bank of the river. The artillery on land and the gunboats on the lake were to open fire simultaneously as the 40th regiment landed to the south. But wind and current made the gunboats almost unmanageable and when the signal was given only one of them was ready to open fire and the steamers carrying the 40th regiment were far from the selected landing place. After shelling for an hour and a half, General Cameron gave the order for the frontal assault.

On the right, 200 men of the 65th regiment carried scaling ladders and planks to cross the ditch; a detachment of the 12th regiment formed the centre; and the 14th regiment prolonged the line of skirmishers and supports to the left. Detachments of the 40th and 65th were in the reserve.

At the entrenchments the skirmishers of the 65th used their ladders to mount the parapet and forced the first line, wheeling to the left they charged up the hill and carried the second line of rifle-pits, driving the enemy before them until the advance was checked by the deadly fire from the centre redoubt. The remainder of the troops, finding it impossible to penetrate the position on the left, joined the attack of the 65th. Meanwhile, the 40th had landed and, without waiting for companies to form, the first men ashore carried the ridge, honeycombed with rifle-pits, in the rear of the enemy’s position.

The centre redoubt, where the Maoris were fighting with desperation, could not be taken because the ladder was too short to reach the top of the palisade. His guns having little effect upon the strong fortifications, Captain Mercer, R.A., led his men, armed only with short swords and revolvers, through a narrow opening in the rear of the work just wide enough to allow one man to squeeze through the opening was shot down. A second assault was made by seamen with cutlasses and revolvers but it failed; the blue jackets proceeded a third assault by throwing hand grenades which fell short and rolled back into the ditch, wounding some of their own men.

The British force held the ground they had gained until daylight when the Maoris put up a white flag and surrendered unconditionally, 183 natives giving up their arms. The British lost 41 killed and 91 wounded; the Maoris must have lost heavily as 41 bodies were found in the works but a great many more were shot or drowned in the swamps.

A number of their wounded were removed during the night – none being found among the prisoners. It was with relief that the British soldier heard that soon after their defeat at Rangariri, the Maoris had sued for peace and laid down their arms.

When hostilities began again in the spring of 1864, the British force included the 68th regiment; the 43rd regiment; detachments of the 14th and 70th regiments and a small force of the Royal Artillery totaling about 1,700 men with a Naval Brigade. From one of the ships was landed an Armstrong 110 pdr gun, probably the heaviest gun ever used on shore against tribesmen.

The Maoris had built their Gate pah on a narrow strip of land with swamps extending on both sides so that it was almost impossible for the position to be taken other than frontally. The pah was a series of inter-communicated trenches, with three tiers of rifle-pits. Garrisoned by about 400 natives, it was a work that would have been a credit to European military engineers. When the sun rose thirteen guns and mortars blazed away and the big Armstrong gun fired no less than a hundred shells before it ran out of ammunition. Later it was discovered that the Maoris, crouching in their hollowed-out shelters, suffered very few casualties and were greatly encouraged by the realization that even though the shells made a terrible noise they killed or wounded very few men. At four o’clock a 600 strong storming column, consisting of the 43rd regiment and the Naval Brigade, rushed forward to the breach made at the left angle of the pah. Encountering very little opposition they streamed in through the wide gap in the stockade.

Except for some dead or wounded Maoris lying around, the area seemed deserted so that men broke ranks and even laid down their weapons as they began to search for plunder. Suddenly under their very feet, the Maoris manned their trenches and poured point-blank fire at the stormers, and from all points, dusky figures sprang up as if from trap-doors, yelling and firing, flourishing spears and axes. Thinking that they had been led into an ambush the storming party panicked and a struggling mass of sailors and soldiers streamed back out of the breach in wild confusion, rushing from the pah in disorder.

Darkness fell and the troops spent an anxious night wondering about the wounded and dying who had been left behind in the pah. It is pleasant to record that both sides acted with chivalrous respect for each other, the Maoris even making efforts to relieve the sufferings of the British wounded.

During the night, the men set to work to throw up a line of advanced entrenchments within a hundred yards of the stockade, so as to maintain possession of all the ground that had been won. Being completely untroubled by fire from the pah, just before midnight an officer penetrated the breach and returned to report that the position had been abandoned. Mindful of yesterdays reverse, the officers did not lead their men into the fort until the first light of dawn appeared.

The British lost 9 officers and 23 men killed and 5 officers and 75 men wounded; the Maoris lost very few in killed and wounded – 20 dead and 6 wounded men were found in the pah and 10 more dead were picked up in the swamp.

During a further encounter at Ranga a few weeks later, the 43rd regiment made amends for their behavior at the Gate pah.