The Battle of Gate Pa Part One
Gidday Folks,
A few months ago I visited an historic battlefield here in New Zealand, the site of one of the most notorious battles of the New Zealand wars; Gate Pa, in Tauranga in the Bay of Plenty. For those of you who are not aware, New Zealand was ravaged by civil war for nearly thiry years in the mid to late 19th Century. After the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840 – essentially a declaration of intent by the British to acquire and colonise native land, many opposed it and rebelled, leading to furious and bloody encounters with government and British troops. Most North Island towns have a memorial to lives lost in the New Zealand wars of some sort and many have battle sites on their very doorsteps.
Without going into the politics of race relations here in New Zealand, here is a bit of history about the Battle of Gate Pa, at the time considered one of the most humiliating defeats the British army suffered.
The settlement of Tauranga (today a city of over 110,000 inhabitants) is located on the coast of the mid North Island in the Bay of Plenty, named by James Cook. It is situated on a narrow peninsula that juts out between an estuary and a spit crowned by an impressive looking cone, known as Maunganui, or simply 'Big Mountain'. This natural harbour was named for its prominent properties; pronounced 'TOE-ranga', it means "The Anchorage".
On the Tauranga peninsula the local tribes and the small number of settlers shared an uneasy peace, with territory divided by a simple fence about three miles from the colonial settlement, located at the very tip of the peninsula. The incumbent tribe was Ngai Te Rangi, members of which became startled by a sudden influx of British soldiers to the area in January 1864. With war raging in the nearby Waikato, Ngai Te Rangi's chief, Rawiri Puhirake had sent men in support of the insurrection. With the arrival of British ships carrying soldiers, these were quickly recalled.
On 22 January some 600 men, primarily of the elite 43rd Monmouth and 68th Durham Regiments disembarked from the ships Miranda and Corio. Two earthwork redoubts were constructed and named after the two regiments to defend the military emcampment. On instruction from Governor George Grey in Auckland, the soldiers were sent to Tauranga to prevent personnel and supplies from reaching the Waikato from tribes further along the coast, which used the bay as a landing point.
Once Puhirake's men had returned from the Waikato, a pa was built a few miles inland from the British camp. Traditionally, the pa (pronounced 'Paa') was a fortified defensive position resembling similar such barricades around the world, including the British redoubts that sprang up several miles to the west of the one at Te Waoku. By this time however, the Maori pa had evolved into a weapon of considerable advantage to themselves; it had become an offensive position; without precedent in military history (more of which later).
Continuing with tradition, the construction of a modern pa was effectively a declaration of war, but Puhirake's taunts went unanswered by the emcampment's commander, Lieutenant Colonel H.H. Greer, even after, with considerable courtesy and not a little humour, Puhirake offered to build a road to the pa to ease his enemy's journey into battle.
In early April however, further provocation by Puhirake came in the form of the construction of a second pa on a prominent rise, this time only three miles away from and in full view of the government settlement. This new fortification sat at the border between Maori and European territory next to a gateway between the two. To the settlers, it became known as the Gate Pa. At Pukehinahina the new pa was was of intricate design of surface trenches and underground tunnels; a rectangle measuring 90 by 18 metres, with a smaller section, just 26 by 18 m that was connected to the former by a trench 300 m long.
With this advanced position, the threat could no longer be ignored. When Governor Grey heard the news, the military commander General Duncan Alexander Cameron was sent to Tauranga to make plans for war. By 26 April, Cameron and some 1,700 men were garrisoned at Tauranga, along with a formidable array of artillery pieces, comprising two 24-pounder howitzers, two eight-inch mortars and six naval Coehorn mortars, as well as five of the much feared Armstrong guns; two six-pounders, two 40-pounders and an massive 110-pounder. Against this powerful force, Puhirake had 235 warriors, primarily from Ngai Te Rangi, but also from Hauraki and Waikato tribes.
By early afternoon on the 28th, the British force was ranged on the rise to the west of Pukehinahina Pa. As a precaution Cameron had sent the 68th Durham to the north of the pa along the foreshore to block the escape of any of the natives. As was customary, the battle began with the artillery pieces launching a fearsome barrage, the likes of which had never been seen on New Zealand soil before. For over an hour the guns pounded away at the pa before retiring and beginning early the next day.
From dawn on the 29th the big guns blasted away again until shortly before 4pm, at which point a massive hole could be seen in the ramparts. There was little movement from within the pa, but figures could be made out moving about in the trenches. Next it was the infantry's turn and a rifle barrage signified its advance. Led by the 43rd Monmouth, some 300 soldiers marched toward the smoking pa and entered the breach, there was little resistance to their advance. Once inside the pa however, they were doomed. Ten minutes later, through the swirling smoke, stricken British soldiers could be seen fleeing the pa, screaming and bloody from flesh wounds.
Some 111 British soldiers had been killed in the violent scrap that ensued within the ruined pa, which left only 25 of Puhirake's men dead. Gate Pa is regarded as the most significant, if not decisive battle of the New Zealand wars. To the British back home and among British in New Zealand it was a crushing defeat. Although melodramatic of tone, a passage from an article published in The Times on 14 July 1864 titled "Samuel Mitchell and the Victoria Cross" reflects the mood following the battle;
"The night of the 29th of April was, in the British camp at Tauranga, a night of deep humiliation and mutual reproach. The men were disgraced in their own eyes, and what would the people of England say? There is not a more gallant regiment in the service than the 43rd... But now where were all the laurels they had won in the Peninsula and India? Soiled and trampled in the dust and by whom? Not by forces equal to them in arms and discipline; not by foemen worthy of their steel; but by a horde of half naked, half armed savages, whom they had been taught to despise."
Part Two to follow.
Gidday Folks,
A few months ago I visited an historic battlefield here in New Zealand, the site of one of the most notorious battles of the New Zealand wars; Gate Pa, in Tauranga in the Bay of Plenty. For those of you who are not aware, New Zealand was ravaged by civil war for nearly thiry years in the mid to late 19th Century. After the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840 – essentially a declaration of intent by the British to acquire and colonise native land, many opposed it and rebelled, leading to furious and bloody encounters with government and British troops. Most North Island towns have a memorial to lives lost in the New Zealand wars of some sort and many have battle sites on their very doorsteps.
Without going into the politics of race relations here in New Zealand, here is a bit of history about the Battle of Gate Pa, at the time considered one of the most humiliating defeats the British army suffered.
The settlement of Tauranga (today a city of over 110,000 inhabitants) is located on the coast of the mid North Island in the Bay of Plenty, named by James Cook. It is situated on a narrow peninsula that juts out between an estuary and a spit crowned by an impressive looking cone, known as Maunganui, or simply 'Big Mountain'. This natural harbour was named for its prominent properties; pronounced 'TOE-ranga', it means "The Anchorage".
On the Tauranga peninsula the local tribes and the small number of settlers shared an uneasy peace, with territory divided by a simple fence about three miles from the colonial settlement, located at the very tip of the peninsula. The incumbent tribe was Ngai Te Rangi, members of which became startled by a sudden influx of British soldiers to the area in January 1864. With war raging in the nearby Waikato, Ngai Te Rangi's chief, Rawiri Puhirake had sent men in support of the insurrection. With the arrival of British ships carrying soldiers, these were quickly recalled.
On 22 January some 600 men, primarily of the elite 43rd Monmouth and 68th Durham Regiments disembarked from the ships Miranda and Corio. Two earthwork redoubts were constructed and named after the two regiments to defend the military emcampment. On instruction from Governor George Grey in Auckland, the soldiers were sent to Tauranga to prevent personnel and supplies from reaching the Waikato from tribes further along the coast, which used the bay as a landing point.
Once Puhirake's men had returned from the Waikato, a pa was built a few miles inland from the British camp. Traditionally, the pa (pronounced 'Paa') was a fortified defensive position resembling similar such barricades around the world, including the British redoubts that sprang up several miles to the west of the one at Te Waoku. By this time however, the Maori pa had evolved into a weapon of considerable advantage to themselves; it had become an offensive position; without precedent in military history (more of which later).
Continuing with tradition, the construction of a modern pa was effectively a declaration of war, but Puhirake's taunts went unanswered by the emcampment's commander, Lieutenant Colonel H.H. Greer, even after, with considerable courtesy and not a little humour, Puhirake offered to build a road to the pa to ease his enemy's journey into battle.
In early April however, further provocation by Puhirake came in the form of the construction of a second pa on a prominent rise, this time only three miles away from and in full view of the government settlement. This new fortification sat at the border between Maori and European territory next to a gateway between the two. To the settlers, it became known as the Gate Pa. At Pukehinahina the new pa was was of intricate design of surface trenches and underground tunnels; a rectangle measuring 90 by 18 metres, with a smaller section, just 26 by 18 m that was connected to the former by a trench 300 m long.
With this advanced position, the threat could no longer be ignored. When Governor Grey heard the news, the military commander General Duncan Alexander Cameron was sent to Tauranga to make plans for war. By 26 April, Cameron and some 1,700 men were garrisoned at Tauranga, along with a formidable array of artillery pieces, comprising two 24-pounder howitzers, two eight-inch mortars and six naval Coehorn mortars, as well as five of the much feared Armstrong guns; two six-pounders, two 40-pounders and an massive 110-pounder. Against this powerful force, Puhirake had 235 warriors, primarily from Ngai Te Rangi, but also from Hauraki and Waikato tribes.
By early afternoon on the 28th, the British force was ranged on the rise to the west of Pukehinahina Pa. As a precaution Cameron had sent the 68th Durham to the north of the pa along the foreshore to block the escape of any of the natives. As was customary, the battle began with the artillery pieces launching a fearsome barrage, the likes of which had never been seen on New Zealand soil before. For over an hour the guns pounded away at the pa before retiring and beginning early the next day.
From dawn on the 29th the big guns blasted away again until shortly before 4pm, at which point a massive hole could be seen in the ramparts. There was little movement from within the pa, but figures could be made out moving about in the trenches. Next it was the infantry's turn and a rifle barrage signified its advance. Led by the 43rd Monmouth, some 300 soldiers marched toward the smoking pa and entered the breach, there was little resistance to their advance. Once inside the pa however, they were doomed. Ten minutes later, through the swirling smoke, stricken British soldiers could be seen fleeing the pa, screaming and bloody from flesh wounds.
Some 111 British soldiers had been killed in the violent scrap that ensued within the ruined pa, which left only 25 of Puhirake's men dead. Gate Pa is regarded as the most significant, if not decisive battle of the New Zealand wars. To the British back home and among British in New Zealand it was a crushing defeat. Although melodramatic of tone, a passage from an article published in The Times on 14 July 1864 titled "Samuel Mitchell and the Victoria Cross" reflects the mood following the battle;
"The night of the 29th of April was, in the British camp at Tauranga, a night of deep humiliation and mutual reproach. The men were disgraced in their own eyes, and what would the people of England say? There is not a more gallant regiment in the service than the 43rd... But now where were all the laurels they had won in the Peninsula and India? Soiled and trampled in the dust and by whom? Not by forces equal to them in arms and discipline; not by foemen worthy of their steel; but by a horde of half naked, half armed savages, whom they had been taught to despise."
Part Two to follow.
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