An Incident in the Maori War.

Manawatu Herald, Volume III, Issue III, 8 September 1891, Page 2

An Incident in the Maori War.

Twenty years ago war was raging between t'lie European and the Maori. On the 7th September 1863 poor Captain Swift, of the 65th regiment, lost his life. The London correspondent of the Dunedin Stat relates tbat at " an eritertairiment held in London sometime ago for the purpose of augmenting the Duke of York's school organ fund, much interest was excited by the presentation of a particularly well-staged tableau, depicting an "Incident in the New Zealand War." The scene was very striking. It represented Captain Rwift, wounded desperately, saying to McKenna, "Nevermind loading, take my revolver and lead on the men." Mr McKenna is now stationmaster at Palmerston, and Mr T. Ennis, our local tailor, has been good enough to supply us with the following particulars : — I was a soldier of the 2nd battalion of the 18th Royal Irish and was stationed at the Queen's Redoubt,. Auckland, then the head-quartars of General Cameron, on the date of the battle fought by the 65th with the Maoris, on the 7th September 1868. The detachment of the 65th regiment was stationed in a redoubt built by themselves under the supervision of the Royal Sappers and Miners. It was situated on the lower Waikato river, about 12 miles from the Managarei creek, having the Mere Mere for its left front. The redoubt was 365 steps up from the bed of the river. From it a good view of the country around could be obtained, the Pah being a few miles to the right front. As the Maoris were showing themselves in large numbers Captain Swift took out his men, leaving only a small guard to keep the redoubt, and went to meet them. The fight soon commenced and very early Captain Swift, his lieutenant and seven men were killed, and eleven wounded. If I remember right, both officers gone, McKenna, who was then colour-sargenfc, took command of the company and got a messenger away for relief. The messenger reached General Cameron at the Queen's Kedoubt, and a detachment of the 18th Royal Irish was at once under arms, of which I had the honour to be one. We started from the Mangarei creek in large boats manned by blue-jackets from the men-of-war, Surrey, Esk, and Miranda, at midnight, and arrived before daylight on the Bth September, and after coffee had been served out, went at once to the relief of McKenna and his men. We were all young men, and you would have liked to have seen us on that march, it was who would be there first : " Come on boys," lieutenant Briggs cried, as soon as a stir was observed in the fern, which however, to our regret proved to be the Gufch instead of the Maoris. We soon rigged up stretchers for the dead and wounded and returned to camp, where a doctor was waiting. I stripped Captain Swift for tlie doctor to see where he was shot, and the Captain's old Irish servant cried out bitterly at my doing so and told me not to cut his skin. The Captain had been hit high up on his left breast, and the doctor traced the progress of the ball with his finder, and found that it had dropped into his hat. He said that the captain had died with little pain. His right arm .was rigid, stretched out in the position it would be whilst handing the revolver for McKenna to lead on the men. „ We returned by the little steamer " Korai" about the size of tlie " Ivy." The engines broke down, and we were 18 hours doing the 12 miles. During this time the steamer was so crowded that we were close packed in a standing position. On arrival at head quarters we were served with a " tot" and had a good night's rest, after which we resumed our usual duties.