HEKE'S WAR IN THE NORTH. AN OLD SOLDIER'S REMINISCENCES.

Te Aroha News, Volume VII, Issue 388, 27 July 1889, Page 3

HEKE'S WAR IN THE NORTH. AN OLD SOLDIER'S REMINISCENCES.

Ix a recent issue of this paper some retrospective details were given regarding ooru r fir&t struggles with the Maori race in the early days of colonisation, during Hone Heko's war in the North, of 1844-45. Captain James McLooct, well-known in Auckland and the Bay of Island?, who holds a ~No\v Zealand war medal lor his services in the volunteer force raised bo assist the British regulars and native allies during the campaign, supplies some additional intoreotincr lcminii-cences of hib e;\pciiences in the stirring days of iivo-and-iorty years a^o.

VOLUNTEERS IN ACTION. As an old volunteer, Captain McLeocl who served in the company of Captain Hector, the " Fighting Lawyer," wishes to uphold the fair name of the colonial volunteers from tho noglecb hitherto shown it in connection with this war. The Tolunteeis who assisted the regular forces weie raised in Auckland afc tho boginning of hostilities, and. though very few in numbers, boie with 1 Tamati Waka Nenc's tiiondly Ngapuhis, the brunt of tha lighting at Okaihau, and Ohaeawai, Kororaieka, and in tho many skirmishes throughout tho campaign always displayed the Greatest gallantry and courage, frequently teaching the disciplined Biitish red-coats a lesson in endurance and courage. Notwithstanding their gallant bchawoui, tho majority of tho regulars, heotningly jealous of them, f yiewed them with thinly-veiled contempt- and dislike, and their services were often, in reports of engagements, spoken of dispaiagingly, or cite passed o\er in silence. Tho nickname by which they were known for a long time amongst the soldiers, " Hector's Forty Thieves," showed the light in which they were regarded by" the regiments. The epithet seems to have owed its ongin to tho fact of the volunteer?, who received no pay and had to find their, own commi&saiiat, being of ton compolled to forage round for provisions while in camp, and consequently sometimes .Very natmaily appropriating whatever happened to come ih't-t tb hand, so long as it& owner wns not inconvenienced by the loss. Dining tho war they had to submit to a gteaC dell of hardship find haid work and lighting, without receiving the least compensation for thoirj services in the shape ot ' money or land' scrip, a few only lcceiving the war 'medal' from head-quarters. At the battle of Ohaeawai, on July 2nd, 1845, the stockade of the:pa, in the assault by the troops, wquld not nave, been .scaled • had it not been foi the plucky action of the v.olunteeis and their prompt placing of' tho scaling ladders in, the face of a. tremendous fire from tho Maoris defending the pa. In other actions their inGfctfe" was fully pioved, but many of the oiHaeis. of .-the English ' troops professed to regard them a^s cowaids.

MAORIS NOT TORTURERS. Regarding the Ohaeawai tight; and fcho attendant alleged torture ot a captured soldier, and mutilation of the dead by Hckc's Maoris, Captain McLeod adds fiis testimony to that ot others who served in old days in the Noith, that the charges of tortine and mutilation against the natives I were ridiculous, and not based on is ct. In all the history 'ot New Zealand warfaic, it is gratifying to note the fact, highly creditable to a race like the Maoris, •just emerging fiom barbansm, that they have never wantonly toitmed e\en the most obnoxious of, their captured pah ha enemiec, and even wilful mutilation of corpses »vas only iiiat practised dm iutr the campaigns of TitoLowaru and Te Kcoti • againt-l the whites and niendly nati\es, and then partly as portion ot the llauhau religious rites. In the night followiner the OhaeaA\ai assault, \\ hen soldiers were lying in camp before the pa, a great lavgi was held by the natives tor those ot their number who had met their death by rifle-ball or bayonet thruso during the day, and the melancholy \\ ailing ciics ot lamentation proceeding fiom the pa were mistaken by some nervous young redcoats for the shrieks of a captuied soldier being tortured with what some asseited to be burning kauii gum and red-hot irons. Some bodies of toldicis with the back part of the head missing wore supposed to have been mutilated, but the absence of the roar of the skull was shown to have been caused by bullets fired at clo&p quarters entonng the head and pacing oufc at the back, thus carrying away a large section ot ihe head. The charges of scalping the dead, made against the natives, were afterwards found to oe incorrect. i

FALL OF KOUORAREKA. The evacuation of die English settlement Koiorareka by the tolclierts and settlers, and it^> subsequent burning — the opening event in tho war — could have been averted, many bay, had it nob been for the faintheartedness of the magistrate in charge ot tihe place, A\ho hmiied fch() people, on board the British war-ship Hazaid, 4 lying in the haibour, withiira few hours titter lieke's hostilo r party had cut do\t a the' ilagstaff on' the hill. It the advice ot the volunlcershad been taken, the soldiers and others would have blood by the town. Those in charge of affairs gave as their reason for e\aeuating the- place the excuse tliat, theie was *.np ammunition, but there . was at tho time a United States raan-o'-war, the St. Louis, lying oft tho town, whose captain fent-ashoieroflonng 1 to give the soldiers and settlers e\ery assist- ' ance in his power in the shape of ammunition, arms, etc., but tlie .oiler .was not accepted, and: those "tin '"shoie sought hasty rofugo on tho British worship. There' is every probability that if they had remained in Kororareka for a fe>y horns longer, Ileke's men would have dispersed and re- , turned to their Idinr/as, 'having obtained vlii for bh'eir 'real or imagined wrongs in the cubbing down of the obnoxious flagstaff - and, „ the killing of their enemies in the blockhouse and on the beach. As it was, seeing the place deserted, and the houses ''and' shops and their contents temptingly near at hand and tonantless, J>hcy naturally, , took further ' "payment " for their heavy lqsses in grilled and wounded in the'fighl in the town, and looted tho place; but did riot eeb' it on fire. The town was sot inf lames liy tho shells" of 11. M.5. Hazard, fired tw,o days, afterwards' at the Maoris about tho beach.

HONE HEKE. Almost all who fought against Hone Heke in the North agree in characterising him as a plucky and honourable warrior, who took the field and held out besieged with great bravery, and acted most chivalrously towards the men, women, and children who were taking refuge on the ships irom Kororareka. When the memorable flagstaff was captured and cut down by his party at grey dawn, and the guarding soldiers surprised and cut down, there were in the little blockhouso two women, Mrs and Miss Tapper, wife and daughter of tho signalstation keeper (who h aproned to bo away at the time). While deadly slaughter was going on around, Heke took charge of the women, treated them kindly and kept them out of harm's way till immediate danger was over, and then sent them safely down to join the rest of tho peoplo in tho stockade on the Kororareka beach. During tho j

fighting at, the. flagstaff a little half-caste girl, who, was staying with Miss Tapper, was, by accident, killed in tho melee. Afterwards, at the close of the war, the 1 natives of' the North said, with Iloke, that their object had been attained- in the cutting down of bho obnoxious flagstaff, flaunting aloft its emblem of British authority, which, to their mind, was driving away ships and trade from the Bay of Islands, and that they enter) ained no ill-will towards iheEnglieh sottlers generally, which appears to havo been the fact.

BLUEJACKETS AND REDCOATS. Thioughout the Kororaioka afi'air and in tho subsequent war the sailors from H.M.s. Hazard acicd with the greatest promptitude and pluck, and contributed in a great measure, with the volunteers; to the success of operations. Many btorics are related of their gallantry and endurance in the field, and thoy performed their camp and lighting duties, with an ardour and dash characteristic of bluejackets. On one occasion, after a skirmish, a number ot wounded were nursing their injuries in camp vraiting for their turn to come from the surgeon. A biff ledcoat, slightly wounded in the shoulder, was groaning; terribly and generally making a great deal of his hurt, when a sailor bitting near almost mortally wounded in the stomach, and otherwise very badly injured, bub all the while bearing his wounds like a Stoic without a murmur, took, v the quid out of his mouth and exhorted his brother in calamity not to "make- such a damed /row over a 1 prick in tho arm. if you'd been hit in the bloomin' breadbasket like m,e you'd hnve fcomo cause to 'gruht, old codger." Tho speech was not lost on the gallant boy in led, who thenceforth leserved, himself untilhe could give full vent to hi-, feelings of pain and tribulation in his tent.

FOKAGINd OPERATIONS. Dm ing the continuance of the war the forces 1 were qften compelled to -recruit their scanty commissariat 'by foraging round to annox whatever seemed meet' tor food in their oyes. After the aflair it Ruapekapeka, on rebut nine: ,to Kerijkeri, the troop?, especially (.he volunteers* wore hard put to ifc ioi eatables, having hact no meal/for two day b. The Rev. Mr "Kemps well-stocked fowlhouse Mas conveniently near camp, and naturally a fewof thd'voliuitecis and bluejackets sti oiled ltmhd.in that direction after dark jLo inspect the pi onuses, 'and a -suspiciously lai go number of chickens and loosteis somehow managed to fly in to their -hands "'quite pcrmiskuous-liko," a'nd of coulee the lejoicing warriors con ve-yed them 'to 'their own quaibers'fpr safety, and its it happened-' 1/ad a -good .square ,meal p} wai? /' a'nd roast? TowVfor once in a while. ' hy- • way of ditecting- t#er f worthy' missionary'." 1 • attention. to the direction !m' niuch-pi-izqd* poultry had taken, the, bluejackets' went* - to the imnecesßary,- trouble of scattering ' tl\o plucked fcjvHiei.^ in, all directions romid ' thc r tents,pf s t}'ie^inf.anti;y soldiors^some distance from ih'cir own, £ind t ,hyin4 a p broadly ' defined trail' from" the" ecclesiastical fdwl- | yard to the quarters-6f the regiilais. Next morning when orrly q.' solitary old rooster was found of all '""the host that at even vete seen," there was righteous wrath in the ownei's breast, and raie old trouble in the camp of the redcoats. The circumstantial evidence arrayed against them was, they were convjncp'd, the work of "their- gay .-ailor bi others in-aims ; they < would not, however, have minded being repiimanded m tho least if they had only had their lighcfu &haie of those feathered bipeds. At another localitj- the soldiers viere not foi Lunate as' tho <7rfck tars m their foraging .expeditions. After a force of two hundred legulars, sailoits, volunteers and iricndly Maoris had destroyed Hekes pa at Waikiite, the Maori-*, under Waka Kene, and the sailois and volunteers started ofl tlnough the bush, and had a sharp skiimioh with the icti eating insurgent natives, and iccurned covered with tflory in a small way. In -their absence the .-oldicts, who had remained, preferring to loot the plaec, had gathered a great quantity of produce, pigs, potatoes, kumeia-3, and other substantial comestibles, and had loaded up two large boats with them for conveyance down che river to camp. They loaded them lacher too much in fact. Even while the hungiy waniois from the " littlo adair "in the iorest weie '• maiching down to tho river, where the red- '• coats of the sCth weie piling on the last kit of potatoes, the c.ugoo^of tho little ciafts proved just a leetle too heavy, for they foundered in leal m.uitime style alongside the banks in deep water, and remain there ' yet for all tho chronicler knows. This id- : fouled a splendid opportunity for tho grinning bluejackets to impress upon their hungry bon^ tamarack* of the ."38th the advisabilibyofahraysseizingtheopportunityof ascrimmage with bhefoeandleavinprthocom-mif-aiiat tv take charjje ofit&elf forthenoncc, Kven while in barracks at Kororireka, shoiL'y before the evacuation of the place pic\ious to tlic war, the supply of provisions frequently lan short. Fresh meat ( was fomoumes unobtainable,' and it was about this time that the spectacle could be .ob'erNcd of a crowd of -merry blue.jackets wildly chasing an unfortunate steer, a pie ; ent fiom the Rev. Mr Burrows, roiuid and rounds paddock with a vie\v, as'a biawny tar from Dublin explained,- to' " makin' the onchristian crafchur tendher."

VOLUNTEERS, AND, 11EGULARS.The dislike manifested by 'the officers o •the British tioops towards the volunteers duiing (he war is exemplified by a little incident which occurred after the action at Okaibau, where the voluntcershad, like the 'vest, fought biav'ely and endured considerablchardcshipb. On their return from, therebel pa, they matched from Waimate down to. Day's Point, w'beie they arrived after dark, o(V which H.aYL.S.- Hazard was lying to receive them. Tho soldiers 'entered bo-its and pulled oil to the ship, but . proved very foraretfnl, for they neglectedto leturn for Captain Hector and his volunteers, who ,weve left waiting on the beach for the boats to come and take them off 'to the war-vessel. . Alter an- hour-pr twp, as it beeanib apparent that Uiey,,\vere; » intended to be left tJhere all night, hungiy and shelterlo?s, to enjoy themselves' ag b&it they might, Captain Hecfeou decided to giver ' chose on 'board tlm Hazard a little ,sdaro which migh'fc prove .beneficial. Accordingly the volunteers - commetic'od. with "tji"eir rillcs a terrific mock:- skirmish* on' the"' beach, engaging an imaginary enemy furioufoly, throwing out outlying squads along tho beach, and generally giving the impression for miles around that a terrible fight was taking place. The ruse succeeded, and all the boats of the ship wero tpecdily alongside the beach expecting to find their deserted friends decimated by the Maoris. It was rather shamefacedly, andfeelingsomewhafc "small," that they rowed slowly back to the Hazard with the little army chuckling after its nonpanguinary " Battle of the Beach."

A Western musical critic thus speaks of a prima donna : '" She had, and. we suppose sfclll rotaine, a magnificent voice for a iog whisble. Jls compass was perfectly surprising. She would shake the chandelier wibh a wild whoop that made every man instinctively feel for his pcalp, and follow it up with a roar that would shame a bassoon." Wilkie Collins, the novelist, who haa been seriously ill, is now improving in health.