On 20-21 November 1863, the Battle of Rangiriri was fought between the British under Duncan Cameron and the Maori under Wiremu Tamihana during the New Zealand Wars.
Why did it happen?
When George Grey began his second term as governor of New Zealand in 1861, he adopted Governor Gore Browne’s plan of constructing a military road south of Auckland in preparation for a war with the Maori King Movement. On 12 July 1863, the invasion of the Waikato began when General Duncan Cameron crossed the Mangatawhiri River with an army of 18,000 British soldiers. Despite an early victory at the Battle of Koheroa on 17 July, Cameron was held up by guerrilla attacks on his supply lines and was forced to create blockhouses garrisoned with British troops to protect his flanks and rear. On 31 October, he moved against Meremere Pa, where he planned a river-bourne assault. Unfortunately for Cameron, the Maori abandoned the pa before he could assault it. On 18 November, Cameron reconnoitred another pa at Rangiriri via the gunboat Pioneer and sought a decisive victory to end the war quickly.
Who was involved?
The British army at Rangiriri numbered 1,400 infantry, 3 artillery, and 2 warships. Duncan Cameron arrayed his forces to the north and south of Rangiriri, intending to stop any escape by the Maori defenders. While Cameron commanded 900 men to the north, Colonel Leslie would disembark 300 infantry and 200 marines to the south via the Avon and Pioneer warships. Cameron’s northern force comprised 290 men on the left wing under Colonel Austen and 332 men under Colonel Wyatt on the right wing. The remaining 278 men were held in the centre and reserve. The Maori army at Rangiriri numbered 500 warriors. Led by Wirema Tamihana, they comprised iwi from Ngati Haua, Ngati Te Ata, Ngati Tou, Ngati Hine, Te Patupo, Te Ngaungau, Ngati Parikino, Ngati Tamaoho, Ngati Puhiawe, Tainui, and Ngati Mahuta. The pa which they had built stretched from Lake Kopuera to the Waikato River and “was a solid structure with ditches and concealed rifle pits along the sides, and a central fortress that seemed impregnable” (McLauchlan, 2017, p.117).
What happened?
At 3pm on 20 November, Duncan Cameron arrived at Rangiriri and bombarded the pa with his artillery and naval guns aboard the warships Avon and Pioneer. After 90 minutes of artillery fire, Cameron ordered an assault by 860 British soldiers at 4.30pm. They managed to take the first line of defences on the Maori left but found that their siege ladders were too short for the second line. At 4.45pm, 500 British soldiers disembarked from the Avon and Pioneer to secure the ridge behind the pa and pursued some Maori warriors attempting to escape across Lake Waikare. As the British assaulted the central redoubt, they came under heavy fire from the Maori defenders and were forced to fall back at 6pm under cover of the captured earthworks. At 5am on 21 November, Cameron ordered a sap to be dug towards Rangiriri Pa before seeing the remaining Maori defenders inside hoist a white flag. Believing it was a sign of surrender, the British advanced and captured 183 prisoners of war. Overall, the British lost 44 killed and 86 wounded, while Maori casualties numbered 36 killed and 13 wounded.
What changed as a result?
The Battle of Rangiriri was a British victory. However, as stated by James Belich, “Though Rangiriri was the most important combat victory in which Cameron held personal command, it also marks the absolute nadir of his reputation as a tactician” (Belich, 2015, p.146). Despite the heavy casualties sustained in the battle, it opened the region for the British to move forward. On 8 December, the Maori King’s capital, Ngaruawahia, was captured, and although further battles were fought in 1864 at Paterangi (20-21 February) and Orakau (31 March-2 April), the Maori King Movement was forced to relocate to the heart of the King Country. This prompted George Grey to tell London, “There can, I think, be no doubt that the neck of this unhappy rebellion is now broken” (McLachlan, 2017, p.119). This statement would prove to be misplaced, for not only did the King Movement survive, but Maori resistance to British military power would persist until the end of the New Zealand Wars in 1872 and beyond.
Bibliography
Barton, Ian. “Rangiriri: Facts, Myths and Legends (PDF).” Queens Redoubt Trust. Last revised December 12, 2014. www.queensredoubt.co.nz/download_file.cfm/Dec_2014_PDF.pdf?id=7,d
Belich, James. The New Zealand Wars and the Victorian Interpretation of Racial Conflict. Auckland, Auckland University Press, 2015.
McLauchlan, Gordon. A Short History of the New Zealand Wars. Auckland, Bateman, 2017.
O’Malley, Vincent. The Great War for New Zealand: Waikato 1800-2000. Wellington, Bridget Williams Books, 2016.