An Incident of the Maori War.

Cromwell Argus, Volume I, Issue 5, 8 December 1869, Page 2 (Supplement)

An Incident of the Maori War.

[l'Vom tho Thames Miters' Advocate.] One of the most sanguinary encounters which took place between our troops and the natives during the campaign in the Waikato country of 1803-4 was the storming of Orakau. General Cameron's march from Queen’s Redoubt to To Mori had been characterised by a series of successes, some of them dearly bought, it must he acknowledged. and barren of results ; but they were successes, and tho Maoris continued So retire before the victorious troops. At Te Rod the forces made a longer halt than usual, in consequence of the natives having intrenched themselves in a very strong position at Tuterangi, which apparently cut off any further advance without first taking this position. But after some time spent in reconnoitring the country, it was found that Te Awamutu could be reached by a roundabout track, which would also give the General tho advantage of being able to attack the enemy in .he rear. This . was done ; Paterangi was abandoned by the Maoris without anything approaching to a Hattie. The incidents of this affair, and the. chagrin of the natives at being thus circumvented—the subsequent struggle; at Uangiawhia, down te the storming of Orakau, are pretty'well known to those who have taken an interest in our history during' the last five or six years. The Orakau affair was one of the most important engagements which took place at any period of the war. It was remarkable for great; consideration on the part of the General, who had the place surrounded for some Jtlrne, and had a mine ready to he sprang, which would have decimated the ranks of his opponents. On tho other hand the Maoris displayed great abilities in the art of fortification, and a dogged, determination to stand or fall by the result of. the siege, refusing all overtures for a, surrender on any, terms. The result was that after some hours cannonading, a breach was made in their defences, and through, some means or another the majorpart of the defenders of Orakau escaped in the night; hut a good number remained, and fought to the last, and evinced a spirit of warfare worthy of a better cause. The pa was rushed, and some gallant fellows fell on our side during the storming of the position. The brave sixty-liftb, who did much good service in the campaign, provided p ,rt of the “ forlorn hope” and it was from a corporal of the regiment, who was one of the brave band, that wr obtained tire particulars of the incident we have given this long digression to relate. He told the story in something like the following words : “ I and my comrade got separated from the main body, and in the dusk of the evening suddenly found ourselves in an angle of the fortification. On looking round, the most appalling sights met our gize-mnen lying dead from shot and shell wounds of the most fearful character. The Armstrong shells had carried away limbs, from some, the faces from others ; and blood and brains lies paltered all the palisading. All at once I saw a stalwart Maori w tb his musket at the capping position--t ie mnede pointed towards me. His eyes were set with a tend He glare, and I quite expected that if I made a movement, the contents of his gun would be lodge i in my body, especially as I was not ten paces fr. m him. I called to my comrade in a bushed voice, and our attention was directed to the Maori for several seconds in breathless suspense, when, from the peculiar immovable position of eyes and body, wc became convinced that he was eitln r dead or wounded ; and with a reckless determination to know which (resisting the first impulse which naturally cune la me to fire at him), we simultaneously advanced. Still the same statuelike position—the same absence of all motion which makes death so awful. On go ting up close to the Maori, we found dint ho was dead. A small wound in tho breast marked the spot where an Enfield rifle bullet had entered ; a coagulated blood spot, very trifling, told plainly that internal bleeding had taken place. Most likely the bullet had pierced his lungs. We removed the musket from his stiffened arms and laid the body carefully down on the earth : for although we were not animated by any friendly feelings towards the natives, whatever feelings of revenge we. might have felt a few minutes before were dispelled by the appalling sight. On furthei examination of the body we found waat surprised us more than any other circumstance during the war, and which proves that the Maoris have cowers of endurance supeiior to most (f us, namely, that his leg had been broken by a shot or a splinter from the woodwork of the palisade, and that he had still done his best towards defending his cause. His fract ’red ilmb had been bound up with flax, (Uded by rude splints of tho ti-tree bark ; and in tais state he had been propped up in tho angle of the pa to. do something further t).yards its defence, when a random bullet put an end to his existence—not suddenly, but by internal haemorrhage. What agony he suffered, we can never know. Ho was elaborately tattooed, and bore about his person other marks of being a man of more than ordinary note; and i" comrade and [ donosited him Prop/isttho earth-

works, covering the body with a mat we found near tho spot. Wo spoke littlo to each other during the time wo wore thus engaged, and ere wo had finished we heard tho retire sounding. 1 need not say that wo were very glad to got hack to tho camp, and I did not feel inclined that night to join in the camp jollity which celebrated tho fall of Orakau. The face of that Maori was before me for weeks after, and even now I can recall the scene as if it only occurred yesterday. lam thankful to say that I was not called upon to fire another shot against the Maoris in the Waikato ; and a short time after, the regiment got orders for home. Having served more than my time, I got my discharge, and remained in New Zealand,”