ENGAGEMENT AT THE "L" PA

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 87, 8 May 1909, Page 6

ENGAGEMENT AT THE "L" PA

FIRST SHOT IX TIIV, MAORI WAR. VIRST VOU XTI-EliS [X THE WOULD TO ISE EXdA(iEI) IX ACTIVE WAR F ARE. The veteran mounted volunteer Lieutenant William Joliksoii. of Tarata. being in town la-t week, was interviewed ill reference to llie "L" l'ali engagement at Waitara oil '7lh March, ISliO, the tirst engagement with tliv .Maoris and the commencement of the nine years' .Maori war. It will be remembered by old identities that when Te Teira sold a block of land at Waitara to tile Crown the sale was opposed by Wi Kiugi. .whose tribe erected a pah on the land. Thereupon aetive military operation- were commenced. In reply to (pieslions. Lieutenant Johnson stated:—The lirst s<|tiad of the mounted volunteers was formed on 3rd March. ISWI, and consisted of sixteen men under Captain Charles De Veaux. Their names were— Sergeant .Richard lirown. Troopers Richard Let],bridge Oeorgc V. Lethhridge ■lame- Vems Henry T. Vntes Edward W. Stockman / I'rancis I'. fUedhill Charle* W. I'unti: John Elliot Robert (iivenwood •lolln Sart.cn William Jolm-on William -Seeeombe John J. Looney • Sam Newell I am th ( . only one of the sixteen living. The men were engaged drilling until the attack on the ••[/' Pali at Wnitara (Oi 17th March.- I SOU. where they were all present under the command oi Sergl. Richard Brown. Colonel Cold, of the R.'itli Regiment, was in command of about aim or JI 111 Imperial troops anil two guns tinder Lieut. McXaughtim, Royal Artillery. The attack was on the light-hanil side jif the present road to Waitara. and was commenced by the Artillery KUELLIXI. THE t'Ali. When the lirst shot was lircd the Maoris hoisted their flag at the corner Of the pah. After a few shells had been tired from the big guns we advanced towards tlie pah iu skirmishing order. Tlie mounted men were located with the stall' olliccrs, except Sartcn. Seeeombe, anil jnyself. who were sent round to the extreme right of (lie pah to watch a blind gully'and sec if any Maoris came out on that side. The MagntalT having been broken !iv the Artillery, tin: llag fell outwards over the palisade. Bri-gade-Major Paul cam,, riding down the line of skirmishers to where we were, and said. "There, are no Maoris iu the pah. Who will ride up to if:'' Sartcn and I -at once made a dash for tin. pah to capture the llag. which we never reached, as directly we got to the *ide o't the palisade the Maori., fired a volley, and

SAItTKX FI'XL, MOKTALLY WOUNDED.

T. was also wounded, anil had four shotholes through my clothes'. At the same

time George Lcthbridge rode from whe'o o, lie was Willi the stuff officers anil made ,|i for the Hug at the corner of the pail. 0 | He tore half of it down and secured it- ,-a The remainder fell into the hands of |,j the troops when the pah was taken nevt I morning. After the volley was fired t t and Sai'tcn fell, the bugle sounded the „( retreat. We all retired upon the old ] Waitara road, and made a breastwork si for the night. Sarten was take-,) away ,| by some of the troops. His horse fol- y lowed mine as 1 came out. The mounted s men were sent down to Waitara camp b to bring up ammunition ior the troops t, for the night. The breastwork was c very clos'e to th c pati, within range of p the Maori guns, and as we came up v with the ammunition the Maoris were i, firing at us all the time. The bullets „ were, b WHIZZING ABOUT OUR EARS like peas. Nothing further happened J. during the night, and at daylight next - morning Lieut. McNaughton, Royal Artillery, went up to the pah and found x it empty, the Maoris having evacuated the place during the night. I knew they had gon e by the firing of a volley a the previous evening, it being the .Maori " custom to lire a volley when clearing r out. 1 \ ery soon after this the strength of s the mounted men was increased to i twenty-live, when F. J. Mace joined a.< t a corporal from the Omnia stockade. i AT WAIREKA. J Yes. 1 was present at the Waireka ( fight with a few of the mounted men, ( who were then chielly engaged carrying despatches from headquarters' to the | ( outposts and acting as escort to the staff. ! After the first truce Captain l)e Vcaux j left us, .Sergeant Richard Brown was ( 1 appointed captain of the native contin- j gent, and Robert Greenwood was ap--1 pointed comet and took command of • the Mounted Corps. After *hc left F. J. ■ Mace was appointed captain of the , Mounted Corps, which was then increased to sixty strong. After being ' sergeant I was appointed cornet, and i T. MeGu'mness lieutenant. Besides being ' in many skirmishes and the principal ■ engagements, tile men were stationed at outposts, acting as escorts, mounted i orderlies, V U:. and carrying despatches, ' THE CAPTURE OK KAITAKIi. At the capture of Kiiitakc we wer - only twenty-live strong, and were placed - on'the right of the troops in front of I the pah. Mace was ensign at the time. r in coinniaud of the mounted men, anil • was with the stall'. When Colonel - Warre gave the order to charge with >' fixed liayonets. I received orders from - Mace not to allow our men 10 advance - or get in their way. but the charge was - so slow that the mounted men could - mil be held back, and I never attempted - to .stop them. So we dismounted and • climbed over the palisade in amongst ' the whares. And there 11. .fury and I ! each got a .Maori Hag. The Hags wore i not hoisted at the time. Colonel Butler t was' on our right ut the time we dis- '• mounted, and shouted p ; •BRAVO. MOUNTED MEX!" f because we sealed the palisade before e the other troops. We were the first n into the pah. Oeorge Tatton's horse v . was hadlv wounded and had to be shot , afterwards. , After the engagement was over Colonel Wari'c said to me. "I am sori'y n I shall have to get those Hags from ? you." We had them under our arms. and he saw them and demanded them. '" He gave me orders that when we ar- '' rived in New Plymouth we must bring them to bin quarters. We hoisted those ' Hags on poles on our r eturn to town, '" ami. in accordance with instructions. I called on Colonel Warre and delivered \ the Hag-. I said it was hard, after hav- '.' ing captured the Hags. not. to lie able to ] _ retain them. He said he must have '" them; it was one of tile rules of the '" service. " 'SKIRMISH AT WATINO. 1 kj« in eouiinand of a detachment of d mounted men at Watino. below Opuu nake, where Trooper O'.N'oil was killed, >[' and was afterwards requested to furnish r- a report of the affair, which 1 did. and ig kept a copy written at the time, which a 1 will hand you:— l« "X'nw Plvmoiith, if "28th'.March, 1872. s "Sir,—l have the honor to submit ,f for your information the following '■« statement of the .skirmish at AVatino, ' r near Opunake, on the Ist of June, 18U5, i- in which I was engaged, being in conill> mand of eight men. all members of the '■l Taranaki Cavalry Volunteers.

"On till' morning of tin* Ist cif .June, ltMia. I rcit'ivi'il order* irom Colonel Colvilli', 43rd Kegiment, coniniandi.ig at Opunake. to lie ready to accompany him I witli mv detachment of cavalry towards | Watino", almost eight miles soutli of Opunake. We stui'teil about 12 noon. 1 ami mv detachment acted as escort for Colonel Colvitle. Acting-Adjutant Clark (43rd). and Lieut. Clarke (37th Regiment). On our arrival at the Maori village of Watino, Colonel Colville gave me orders to proceed with tile men some distance inland, not more than aliout two miles, to look for some cattle, ii'iiil if 1 could tind any to drive tliem into ciiiup. lie and his two officers would remain at the village until my return. At the s'ame time he gave me instructions to return by that road, I immediately started, and After riding aliout a mile I saw some natives walking along the track that I wins on. I rod,, on until 1 was aliout Uonly-ftve yards from the hindmost native, when 1 shouted to them to stop, as 1 did not know (Whether they were friendly or not. They paid no attention to me. mi getting to within ten yards I drew my revolver and tinned my hone acrns» the track, to see how close my men wore, the fern and tutu lieing so high a,u! lliick that we were obliged to ride singly. The nearest man to me was Private' Olson. Directly I lur 1 my horse the natives fired two Or three shot* at me. The tiring 111-ought my men up. I gave tliem orders to push through the fern on the right to get ahead,,? the natives and close mi then. Whilst doing so Private O'Neill turned oil' the track to the left and rode close on to til,, native immediately in mint of me. The native fired and hit him in the shoulder, lie fell oil' his horse almost on to the native, and close to my horse's nose. My men then commenced firing with their revolvers. We hud no carbines or swords with ns. I told two men, Harrison and T. Mace. v o carry O'Xeill to the rear, in ens,, of our having to r etire. The fight tlira hecame general, and continued until live natives were killed. I would mention that at the coininoneoinciit of the skirmii'li I'rivate Peel's horse took fright and rushed through the fern among the natives, one of whom struck him with the lmtt end of his gun. rendering him almost sensoloss'until the all'air was over. One native got away, being outside of Peed and near to a clump of scrub. The men who actually fired and killed the natives were Sergeant Johnson, l'rivatcs Olson. Curtis, lloskin. and nivnelf. as Peed was struck senseless at the commeiiccnie'nl, O'Neill wounded, and Harrison and Mace engaged by my orders in taking O'Neill to the rear. Directly the firing ceased I saw five natives lying dead on the track, anil, leaving mv men to secure their guns', etc.. and In look after the wounded man. I rode further on to look ai'ter the remaining ■native. I came up to him in the clump of scrub before mentioned, 'lie bad had time to reload, and was waiting with bin gun pointed at me. (I should here state that my revolver wan unserviceable, bciiig broken ill consequence of my having struck one of the natives on the head with it during the action. 1 had fired four out, of five chambers, the fifth missed fire, and I instantly look it by the barrel and hit him on the head, which broke mv revolver. The native was immediately killed by oi f the men.) ] hailed, and was watching th,. native, when Acting-Adjutant Clark (43rd) rode up to me. This was the first T had s'ecn of him since I left him al (he village with Colonel Colville. I *»id to him" 'Here is a native. Hid,, back and get the wounded man's revolver, and we will have him.' He did so. When he came up to me again I pointed to the -native, anil said. There lie is; have a shot at Kim.' He rode round the scrub and back to where the men were, which was about fifty yards distant. [ then went back, and the native got away. I then retired with the wounded man. leaving Hie five natives dead on the track, and was joined bv Colonel Colville and Lieutenant Clarke (.ilth) aliout ha'fway to Watino. They had ridden on

oh hearing the living. Private O'Xviil N" died a few days alter from the efleets j w of his wound. On our way back to { w ciimp, O'Neill being in great agony, and <:« |ii»" horse having bolted when lie fell oil, J, I asked permission of Colonel Colville to send a man on to eamp to bring a n stretcher. lie said, "No. it is not sale.' 'J 1 then volunteered to go myself, and d started, the Colonel living. 'Well, yon tl >IimII not go alone, for I will go with N you.' And he did. I left orders with v Sergeant Joljnsou to get on as quick as J' he could, and if the natives came down, J to gallop for it towards camp. On the Colonel arriving at camp he sent a i! party with a stretcher for O'Neill, who j" was sent in to eamp, and we all went li back to the scene of th P skirmish, but saw no nutivtis except the five (lend * bodies which were lying iwhcrc they fell. —I have the honor to be. Sir, your most j obedient servant, Win, Johnson, Lt., | X.Z. Militia, lute Cornet T.C.V. 1 •'To Major C. Stapp, Commanding ' District, New Plymouth." "INTREPID BUAVKKY." J After sending the report I received ( a despatch in reply thereto as follows: j "Ueutcnant-Colonvl Moule (Under-Sec- i retnry. for Defence) to Major fitapp: Tt is with much pleasure that I am 'nstructnd by Mr. Mckean (Defence Minister) to convey to Lieutenant Johnson ( and the men who served under his' command on that occasion {Watino. June, i 1805) thanks of the (Juvernmcnt for thp gallantry displayed. Such intiep:d .bravery reflects the greatest credit on all concerned." After thv mounted men were disband- ! Ed at the close of the war F was ftppointed lieutenant in the New Zealand Militia, and served under Captain (now Colonel) Messenger at the White Cliffs, and received a grant of 200 acres of land, also tile Xew Zealand War Medal.