"Pathway of Wrath”

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 207, 21 November 1927, Page 14

"Pathway of Wrath”

Sunday Was Sixty-Fourth Anniversary of Rangiriri EPIC OF WAIKATO WAR (Written lor THE SV X by T. WALSH). SIXTY-FOUR years ago yesterday (Sunday) the battle of the Rangiriri was fought, one of the most bloodthirsty encounters between the Maoris and the soldiery during the troublesome days of the Waikato War. Rangiriri was known to the Maoris as “the pathway of wrath,” and so it .proved again to be.

in the cemetery on this historic ground the dead of both parties lie side by side. With them is buried the passion, happily forgotten, that rent the Auckland Province in the early ’sixties. The battle of Rangiriri on November 20, 1863, was the fiercest contest in the war, and it certainly ended -one phase of the conflict by securing the virtual elimination of the Lower Waikato tribes. Alaori opinion leans to the view’ that war would have come some time. Aluch of their side of the story has been carried to the grave, but they always maintained that the white people fired the first shot. The Europeans, they contend . even to-day, wanted the natives’ land and would have used force to get it, if necessary. When the torch of war was lighted it disclosed Sir George Grey’s Government acting swiftly on a well organised plan, obviously schemed and prepared over a “number of years. Any doubt as to Governor Grey’s intention was set aside when in 3 862 the Colonial Defence Act was passed. It was put in force the following year. In July he issued a proclamation to the Waikato chiefs, intimating that he proposed establishing posts along the Waikato. He called on the tribes to either assemble at their villages or go to specified points, failing which they would forfeit all rights to the land, which had been guaranteed to them under the Treaty of Waitangi. GREY MOVED QUICKLY The note to the chiefs was issued on July 15. Two days later the first blow was struck in the Clevedon district. At the same time a sweep of the Atanukau was commenced for canoes and straggling natives. On the 19th General Cameron made contact with the main body of the Alaoris at Koheroa, near Alercer. tie made an advanced base at Camp Drury, 12 miles beyond the 1849 blockhouse line of Howick-Otabuhu-Onehunga. At the same time the little paddle steamer Avon, which had been trading to Lyttelton, was armoured with plates at Onehunga, and brigades from the warships Harrier, Eclipse, Curacoa and Aliranda were landed. In a brisk two hours’ battle at the heights of Koheroa on July 19, Cameron threw the Alaoris over the Whangamarino creek at Alercer. It was the end of October before he felt strong enough to advance. By that time he had been reinforced by the river warship Pioneer, built in Sydney and put together at Port Waikato. She carried two cupolas which now do duty as war memorials at Mercer and Ngaruawahia. From the deck of the Pioneer, Cameron and the commodore inspected the .Maori forces and fort. They met with a hot reception, but the Alaoris quickly saw they could be outflanked from the river. On the afternoon of October 31 Cameron sent a large landing force up the river beyond Alere Alere to establish a port. He was not opposed but when next day dawned the Maoris had eluded his clutch and escaped across the swamps and creeks to Rangiriri. Rangiriri, the unpropititious name signifies the "pathway of wrath,” had known war in earlier days. Formerly it had been a pa barring the threequarter mile strip of firm land between Lake Kopuwera and the broad Waikato. This strip was the only land route to the south. This gateway to the south had been remodelled and closed in the face of the gun-armed

hordes of Hongi and Pomare who swarmed over it in 1821. After Koheroa the Alaoris saw that a desperate effort must be made to shut the gate in Cameron’s face. Te Wharepu was engineer for the fortifications and his defences were only turned by the wholly unexpected fact that Cameron was able to bring up an armoured river fleet to aid his land forces. Cameron had made a reconnaissance and formed a plan to land a strong force in the rear of the Alaoris and thus pin them between the Lake and the river while he smashed them with a frontal attack. ADVISED TO RETIRE It is believed that 1,000 natives formed the garrison. But its weakness from river attack, as well as the short supply Of powder, led the leading chiefs to urge the King and his advisers to retire before the battle commenced. For two hours the soldiers lashed the pa while the Alaoris, unable to reply with their rifles, had to wait. Meantime Commodore Wiseman struggled against wind and current to reach an allotted landing-place. 'At about 5 p.m. the general hurled the 65th (the Hikkity-pif of the Alaori, who had great regard for this regiment) which had been on garrison duty in Auckland, across the 600yds separating them from the pa. A heavy fire, broke over the advancing soldiers. By this time the river forces had landed and made their way to the rear, being joined by a section of the 65th. which had run straight the position on the flank. General Cameron’s next move, when he found his assault halted, was remarkable in New Zealand warfare. He ordered two rushes at the citadel by men armed with swords and revolvers and carrying scaling ladders. The first was commanded by Captain Alercer. Alercer, who fell with a wound through the mouth. The others found the 18ft high scarp beyond them, though Sergeant Hamilton all but reached the top before he was shot. Alidshipman Watkins scaled the parapet, but shot through the head. Next a party of seamen, under Commander Phillimore, made a grenade attack, but were beaten off. Darkness had almost completely enveloped the troops when Cameron decided to wait for daylight. During the night parties attempted to tear down the parapet with picks and shovels and sappers mined a section. NO SURRENDER Dawn was scarcely suffusing the east when a messenger from Cameron demanded the surrender of the pa: The answer was terse, "Peace shall not be made." A second summons to* yield drew the defiant reply, "We will fight on.” A third and more insistent demand for surrender was answered by a request, "Give us some gunpowder.” Eventually the flag that had floated so scornfully over the "Pathway of Wrath" was hauled down; and 183 prisoners were marched out; 36 of their dead were buried, including a handsome girl killed on the banquette by a fragment of shell. All the Maori wounded had been moved out during the night and no doubt many were lost in the swamps ai»d creeks. Cameron’s despatch read, "We assaulted Rangiriri entrenched position on the 20th and carried it after a desperate engagement. I regret to say our loss is severe." It amounted to 35 killed and 93 wounded.