Titokowaru's War - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Cause and background of the war

The immediate cause of the war was the confiscation of vast areas of Māori land

New Zealand land confiscations

The New Zealand land confiscations took place during the 1860s to punish the Kingitanga movement for attempting to set up an alternative, Māori, form of government that forbade the selling of land. The confiscation law targeted Kingitanga Māori against whom the government had waged war to restore...

in Taranaki by the Government under the powers of the punitive New Zealand Settlements Act 1863. Surveying and settling of the confiscated land had begun in 1865 and Māori, weakened and intimidated by the bush-scouring campaigns of Major Thomas McDonnell

Thomas McDonnell

Thomas McDonnell was a 19th century New Zealand public servant, military leader and writer.-Childhood and Early Life:Thomas McDonnell, Jnr was born to Thomas McDonnell, Snr., an early British merchant and speculator who served a brief term as Additional British Resident, and his wife Anna...

and Major-General Trevor Chute

Trevor Chute

Major-General Sir Trevor Chute KCB, 31 July 1816 – 12 March 1886 , was an Irish soldier in the British army, whose six week campaign during the Second Taranaki War was the last to be carried out in New Zealand by imperial troops.-Family Background:...

in 1865-66, had accepted the loss of their land. Titokowaru declared 1867 to be a year of peace and reconciliation and travelled among local tribes urging them to accept that the war was over. By mid-1868 colonists assumed the New Zealand wars were over and they were about to enter a long-awaited period of rapid progress.

But as settlers continued to move into the confiscated areas in early 1868, taking possession of greater areas of farmland, tribes faced the option of fighting to retain their cultivable land or starving. Titokowaru, in response, began to mount campaigns of non-violent resistance to halt further incursions by white settlers. Members of his hapu removed survey equipment and destroyed fences and huts, then began harassing South Taranaki settlers with minor thefts of stock and property to persuade them to leave. On 9 June 1868, Ngāti Ruanui warriors escalated their campaign, shooting and tomahawking three settlers felling and sawing timber on the east side of the Waingongoro River, between Hawera

Hawera

Hawera is the second-largest town in the Taranaki region of New Zealand's North Island, with a population of . It is near the coast of the South Taranaki Bight, 75 kilometres south of New Plymouth on State Highway 3 and 20 minutes' drive from Mount Taranaki/Egmont.It is also on State Highway 45,...

and Manaia. Soon after, a member of the Armed Constabulary, the colonial regular army, was shot and mutilated by tomahawk near the Waihi Redoubt (at present-day Normanby

Normanby, Taranaki

Normanby is a small village in South Taranaki, New Zealand. It is approximately 6 km inland from Hawera along State Highway 3. Eltham is 13 km further north...

). The upper part of his body was taken by Hauhau warriors to Te Ngutu o Te Manu, a village 16 km north of Hawera, where it was cooked and eaten. Titokowaru issued a letter threatening that other pākehā

Pakeha

Pākehā is a Māori language word for New Zealanders who are "of European descent". They are mostly descended from British and to a lesser extent Irish settlers of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, although some Pākehā have Dutch, Scandinavian, German, Yugoslav or other ancestry...

intruders on the land would also be killed and eaten, warning: "I have begun to eat the flesh of the white man . . . My throat is continually open for the eating of human flesh by day and night."

The 9 June killings signalled a resumption of war and McDonnell was recalled from Wanganui. He gained approval from the Defence Minister, Colonel Theodore Haultain

Theodore Haultain

Theodore Minet Haultain was a 19th century New Zealand politician and Minister of Colonial Defence...

, to enlist 400 men, including 100 Wanganui Māori, for three months' service. The companies were hastily drilled for the campaign and the garrison at Waihi reinforced by Rifle Volunteers from Wellington.

Turuturu-Mokai Redoubt

Titokowaru's first major clash with the colonial forces occurred on 12 July and, in a portent of things to come, it proved disastrous for his enemy. In a move Belich claims was designed to provoke McDonnell and lure him to a battle at a place of Titokowaru's choosing, 60 warriors from the Ngaruahine hapu, along with Imperial Army deserter Charles Kane, launched a pre-dawn raid on the dilapidated Turuturu-Mokai Redoubt, 2.5 km north of Hawera and 5 km from the main army camp at Waihi Redoubt, killing 10 and wounding six of the 25 Armed Constabulary garrisoned there. Titokowaru remained at Te Ngutu o Te Manu during the battle. The redoubt was small, about 20 metres square, built on low ground and was protected by crumbling parapets only 1.5 metres high and a trench 1.8m deep. The hearts of two of the Constabulary soldiers were cut from their bodies by Māori warriors, prompting McDonnell to make the dramatic gesture of kissing the blade of his sword and vowing, "I shall have revenge for this."

Te Ngutu o Te Manu

On 21 August McDonnell crossed the flooded Waingongoro River with a column of 350 men to retaliate against Titokowaru. His force comprised three divisions of Armed Constabulary, Wellington Rangers, Wellington Rifles, Taranaki Volunteer Militia, Patea Yeomanry Cavalry and a number of unenlisted volunteers. McDonnell marched through dense rata

Metrosideros robusta

Northern rātā , is a huge forest tree endemic to New Zealand. It grows up to 25 m or taller, and usually begins its life as a hemiepiphyte high in the branches of a mature forest tree; over centuries the young tree sends descending and girdling roots down and around the trunk of its host,...

forest to reach Te Ngutu o Te Manu, which he had last visited in May and was surprised to find a new palisade in front of the village. He split his force into two sections to storm the palisade from the front and circle it from the left to enter near the rear. The raid was a modest success, with his troops capturing weapons and ammunition and burning part of the village, most of whose inhabitants were out hunting for food. McDonnell's troops were forced to retreat under heavy fire as Māori returned, regrouped in the bush and pursued them to the Waingongoro River. McDonnell's casualties were four men killed and eight wounded.

Less than three weeks later, on 7 September, McDonnell returned to the Ngāti Ruanui heartland, this time determined to skirt Te Ngutu o Te Manu and first strike at another village to the east, Ruaruru, before returning to Te Ngutu. The plan went awry when his column of 360 men became disoriented in the forest, missing Ruaruru and approaching Te Ngutu from the north. Shots fired at the occupants of outlying huts warned Titokowaru of the direction of McDonnell's approach, giving the chief time to organise his defence. He remained in the pā with 20 men and sent the remaining 40, in small groups, to hidden rifle pits in bush surrounding a clearing that led to the palisade, and possibly other positions within the clearing itself. McDonnell's force, attempting to storm the palisade, came under immediate and very heavy fire from front, right and rear, with troops being "being knocked over like ninepins" by unseen marksmen. Again the heart of the first soldier killed was cut from his body as a Hauhau war rite. McDonnell hesitated, torn between advancing with further losses or retreating, watching as the inexperienced volunteer recruits from the Wellington Rangers and Rifles either bunched together and froze or panicked and fled. McDonnell then gave the order to retreat, with casualties carried out first and McDonnell following with 80 men. Major Gustavus von Tempsky

Gustavus von Tempsky

Major Gustavus Ferdinand von Tempsky was a Polish-Prussian adventurer, artist, newspaper correspondent and soldier in New Zealand, Australia, California, Mexico and the Mosquito Coast of Central America...

, near the palisade, was shot dead while awaiting orders, and two other officers – two captains and two lieutenants – were also killed. Titokowaru's small attacking force was quickly reinforced by warriors from neighboring villages and McDonnell's retreat to Waihi came under relentless fire from Māori who
followed them almost to the Waingongoro, inflicting further casualties. The expedition left 24 Europeans killed and 26 wounded.

Te Ngutu o Te Manu was a shattering defeat for the Europeans, on a similar magnitude to the Battle of Puketakuere during the First Taranaki War

First Taranaki War

The First Taranaki War was an armed conflict over land ownership and sovereignty that took place between Māori and the New Zealand Government in the Taranaki district of New Zealand's North Island from March 1860 to March 1861....

. Contemporary writers described the loss as "the most serious and complete defeat ever experienced by the colonial forces" and "the most disastrous affair that ever took place in New Zealand". Von Tempsky's death came as a shock to his military followers and to his wider audience of admirers throughout New Zealand. In the minds of the Pākeha public, von Tempsky was a dashing hero of the New Zealand wars, whose fearlessness and ability to survive near-misses gave him an aura of invincibility. One newspaper correspondent wrote: "Unless something is done and done quickly we had all better clear out."

The aftermath of the defeat was even more disastrous as it led to a disintegration of the Government forces. Hundreds deserted or refused to re-enlist for further service. Many kupapa (so-called "friendly" Māori) returned home and Von Tempsky's Forest Rangers mutined. The Government was forced to abandon its Waihi and Manawapou camps, as well as the Kakaramea

Kakaramea

Kakaramea is a town in South Taranaki, New Zealand. State Highway 3 passes through it. Patea is about 6 km to the south-east, and Hawera is about 20 km to the north-west.-Education:...

redoubt and withdraw to Patea, which prompted colonists to leave their farms and redoubts and retreat to the safety of Wanganui. The abandoned colonist sites were quickly occuped by Ngaruahine warriors.

Moturoa

In September 1868 Titokowaru, who had until then been fighting only with his own hapu, gained the support of the Pakakohe, Tangahoe and Ngarauru hapu, more than doubling his strength to between 150 and 200. In early October his force marched south and built a pā at Otoia, just northeast of Patea and busied themselves with repairing weapons, gathering food and ammunition and planting crops. Further raids were carried out on settlers between Patea and the Waitotara River in a bid to bait the Government to fight them at their pā, without success.

McDonnell resigned as commander and was replaced in September by Colonel George S. Whitmore, who had carried out the first operations against Te Kooti

Te Kooti

Te Kooti Arikirangi Te Turuki was a Māori leader, the founder of the Ringatu religion and guerrilla.While fighting alongside government forces against the Hauhau in 1865, he was accused of spying. Exiled to the Chatham Islands without trial along with captured Hauhau, he experienced visions and...

on the East Coast. In early November Whitmore moved his field headquarters to Wairoa (modern-day Waverley) after learning Titokowaru had moved south of him and established a camp at Moturoa, about 5 km inland of Wairoa, from where it was feared he would attack the rich farming area of Waitotara

Waitotara

Waitotara is a town in South Taranaki, New Zealand. Waverley is 10 km to the north-west, and Wanganui is 34 km to the south-east. State Highway 3 passes through it. The Waitotara River flows past the east side of the town....

.

On 6 November Whitmore's force was boosted by the arrival of 100 men of a newly-raised company of the Armed Constabulary, No.6 Division, commanded by Captain J. M. Roberts, who had fought at Te Ngutu. At midnight that night an attacking column of 550, including 300 Wanganui kupapa, picked their way from Wairoa toward Moturoa. Two hundred of the kupapa refused to enter the bush and the remaining force arrived at the pā before daylight.

The Māori camp had been established just four days earlier, in hilly, bush-covered country below the high wooded tableland of Okutuku, a village that had been raided in January 1866 as part of a "bush-scouring" campaign by Major-General Trevor Chute

Trevor Chute

during the earlier hostilities

Second Taranaki War

-Background and causes of the war:The conflict in Taranaki had its roots in the First Taranaki War, which had ended in March 1861 with an uneasy truce. Neither side fulfilled the terms of the truce, leaving many of the issues unresolved...

. About 100 metres of 3.6m-high loose palisading had been hastily erected in a concave shape, blocking the path to the pā, while other defensive works included a long trench 2m wide and 2m deep behind the palisade, as well as hidden rifle pits and three taumaihi, 6m-high towers built of packed soil and ferns. While men in the trenches could fire through a gap beneath the palings of the palisade, others on an earth bank behind the trenches could fire through gaps in the palings, while a third line of fire could be effected from the taumaihi. Titokowaru had placed his men on high alert and in the misty dawn, sentries caught sight of Whitmore's advance guard moving through the bush. The Moturoa defenders were silently roused and took their firing positions without being seen by the attacking force.

Whitmore ordered No.1 Division of the Armed Constabulary and a contingent of Wanganui kupapa under Major Kepa Te Rangihiwinui

Kepa Te Rangihiwinui

Kepa Te Rangihiwinui was Māori military commander and noted ally of the government forces during the New Zealand Wars. He was also known as Te Kepa, or Major Kepa or sometimes as Major Kemp. Te Kepa was a member of the Ngati Hau tribe or iwi...

to move around to the right of the pā to attack the flank while the main body assaulted the front, supported by the newly-arrived No.6 Division. Entry from the left was prevented by a steep and thickly-forested gully at the western end of the palisade.

The signal for the assault was given and Hunter rushed for the palisades with a storming party of 50 Armed Constabulary. Titokowaru's men waited until Hunter's men were within 10 or 12 metres before opening fire. One survivor said: "I never saw the like of that sheet of fire. Men went down all round me." Within minutes a dozen men were lying dead or wounded on the open ground. Kepa could not reach his assault point on the right flank and returned to help Hunter, who moments later suffered a fatal wound. Whitmore then sounded the bugle to retire, prompting many Moturoa defenders to run from the shelter of the stockade and trenches in pursuit. On the west, or left, flank a small detachment of No.2 Division was left to engage with Māori outside the pā and was the last group to retreat, coming under heavy fire not only from the pursuers but also from kupapa who believed they were the enemy, so far were they behind the main force. The Moturoa force followed Whitmore's troops all the way to Wairoa, firing on the redoubt before retreating.

Whitmore's casualties were recorded as 19 killed or missing and 20 wounded, with the heart of one soldier cut from his body and another later cooked and eaten. Only one of Titokowaru's force was killed in the encounter.

The battle was regarded as the worst reverse suffered by government troops on the West Coast, surpassing even the Te Ngutu disaster. Colonel W.E. Gudgeon

Walter Edward Gudgeon

Walter Edward Gudgeon CMG was born in London, England. He was a farmer, soldier, historian, land court judge and colonial administrator.-Early life:...

, who described it as "the most desperate engagement fought in the Māori War", claimed: "Whitmore's return did not give nearly our casualties. I made it at the time 52 out of fewer than 200 actually engaged." Whitmore offered his resignation to the Defence Minister, but was given government support and retained. Historian James Cowan described the Moturoa expedition as "Whitmore's one great blunder", but strong criticisms of Whitmore's strategy were rejected by Belich, who said the commander's one mistake was to underestimate the Moturoa deceptively strong defences. Although he claimed Whitmore had greatly exaggerated the strength of his enemy – reporting Titokowaru had as many as 600 warriors at Moturoa – he concluded: "Whitmore was simply unfortunate enough to be a good general matched against an excellent one."

Tauranga-Ika

In the wake of the Moturoa defeat, Whitmore moved his base further south to Nukumaru, forming an entrenched camp ready to defend Wanganui's outlying settlements with a force of 350. Titokowaru responded by following him, establishing an elaborate fortification for his 400 warriors at the Māori village of Tauranga-ika close to the Europeans' military base and just 29 km, or a day's march, from Wanganui. The new pā was sited alongside a road running from Kai-Iwi to the Waitotora River and provided a commanding view to the coast, with impenetrable bush behind it. From his new base he launched a night-long assault on the Weraroa Redoubt, overlooking the Waitotara River. Whitmore promptly abandoned Weraroa, moving its 50 Wanganui militia to join him at Nukumaru. As tensions continued to rise on the West Coast, the country learned of the massacre by fugitive East Coast guerrilla fighter Te Kooti

Te Kooti

of 50 men, women and children at Poverty Bay on 9/10 November. Defence Minister Haultain immediately ordered Whitmore to withdraw his entire force another 11 km to build a defensive line on the south side of the Kai-Iwi River and transfer some of his force to the East Coast to eradicate Te Kooti's threat. Whitmore convinced Haultain that it would be easier to concentrate first on defeating Te Kooti before returning with a stronger, more disciplined force to successfully act against Titokowaru. He sailed from Wanganui for Poverty Bay

Poverty Bay

Poverty Bay is the largest of several small bays on the east coast of New Zealand's North Island to the north of Hawkes Bay. It stretches for 10 kilometres from Young Nick's Head in the southwest to Tuaheni Point in the northeast. The city of Gisborne is located on the northern shore of the bay...

on 2 December with 212 Armed Constabulary, leaving Wanganui's defence in the hands of about 620 Imperial troops, Armed Constabulary and militia and volunteers. Whitmore remained away from the West Coast for five weeks, during which time the colonial forces at Wanganui swelled to almost 2000 men.

Titokowaru used those five weeks to demonstrate his hold on the Wanganui hinterland, burning farms and abandoned military posts and driving off stock, but also laboring over the fortifications at Tauranga-ika until it became one of the most formidable modern pā ever built. The pā had been built in a diamond shape, 135 metres long on each side, complete with trenches, rifle pits, parapets and a double line of stockade. The palisade, attached to 30 cm-thick posts, reached 5m above the ground, with a gap at its base to allow defenders in the trenches to fire beneath it. Inside the pā were trenches, covered walkways and shellproof underground shelters roofed with strong timbers, packed earth and galvanised roofing iron. At one corner was a 10m-high taumaihi, providing a third level of fire. Inspecting it later, Whitmore said, "No troops in the world could have hewn their way through a double row of strong palisades, backed by rifle pits and flanked by two-storey erections, such as are constructed in this fortification, defended by excellent shots and desperate men."

Whitmore returned to Wanganui on 18 January and immediately began preparing for a major offensive against Titokowaru. A week later he set off with 800 Armed Constabulary and Wanganui and Kai-Iwi Mounted Corps, as well as 200 kupapa under Major Kepa, clinging to the coast to avoid the danger of bush ambushes. On 1 February he was at Nukumaru and the force dug itself in 100m away from the stockade. Two Armstrong gun

Armstrong Gun

The term Armstrong Gun was primarily used to describe the unique design of the rifled breech-loading field and heavy guns designed by Sir William Armstrong and manufactured in England from 1855 by the Elswick Ordnance Company and the Royal Arsenal at Woolwich...

s were brought up on 2 February and used to shell the pā, causing little damage and no casualties. Two Coehorn mortars

Mortar (weapon)

A mortar is an indirect fire weapon that fires explosive projectiles known as bombs at low velocities, short ranges, and high-arcing ballistic trajectories. It is typically muzzle-loading and has a barrel length less than 15 times its caliber....

were used to fire on the pā the next day in preparation for a possible assault, when a reconnaissance mission by some Armed Constabulary discovered the pā was empty, its inhabitants – men, women and children – having slipped out through the rear during the night.

Titokowaru's army immediately began to disperse, with entire hapu

Hapu

A hapū is sometimes described as "the basic political unit within Maori society".A named division of a Māori iwi , membership is determined by genealogical descent; a hapū is made up of a number of whānau groups. Generally hapū range in size from 150-200 although there is no upper limit...

splitting from his force. No clear evidence exists why his forces would abandon a fortress so apparently unassailable, or why the chief's support from Taranaki Māori quickly evaporated, though Kimble Bent, who lived as a slave with Titokowaru's hapu after deserting from the 57th Regiment, told Cowan 50 years later the chief had lost his mana tapu, or sacred power, after committing adultery with the wife of another chief.

Whitmore professed no regret that Tauranga-ika had been taken without resistance: "My object was to gain possession of the district and if I could do this without loss and without putting too heavy a strain on my raw troops they would be encouraged."

Whitmore began pursuing Titokowaru, suffering several casualties from a rearguard defence near the Waitotara River, but catching up with them only on 13 March at Otautu, north of Patea

Patea

Patea is the third-largest town in South Taranaki, New Zealand. It is on the western bank of the Patea River, 61 kilometres north-west of Wanganui on State Highway 3. Hawera is 27 km to the north-west, and Waverley 17 km to the east. The Patea River flows through the town from the...

, when six colonial soldiers were killed and 12 wounded in an attempted assault on the Māori camp. Eleven days later a group of Titokowaru's followers, by now starving and subsisting on foraged food including fungus and grubs, surrendered in a swamp hideout at Ngaere, near modern-day Eltham

Eltham, New Zealand

thumb|left|The town center of ElthamEltham is a small inland town in South Taranaki, New Zealand, located 50 km south of the city of New Plymouth and southeast of the volcanic cone of Mount Taranaki/Egmont. Stratford is 11 km north, Kaponga 13 km west, and Hawera 19 km south....

, while their chief evaded soldiers and settled at Kawau Pa in the Upper Waitara Valley. The Government abandoned attempts to pursue him further and apart from mopping-up actions to capture his former allies in South Taranaki, the war had come to an end.

Although Titokowaru had fought the entire war without direct assistance from the Māori King Movement, it is possible the Kingites had attempted to intervene in February 1869 with a raid on the Pukearuhe Redoubt in Taranaki's far north – in which a woman, three children, a missionary and three military settlers were killed – and again in March when a force of Kingite warriors massed at Mokau

Mokau

Mokau is a small town on the west coast of New Zealand's North Island, located at the mouth of the Mokau River on the North Taranaki Bight. Mokau lies just north of the boundary between the Taranaki Region and the Waikato Region...

, reportedly preparing to invade Taranaki. The raid, if planned, did not eventuate and the intervention plans, if they existed, came too late to assist Titokowaru.

Cause and background of the war

Turuturu-Mokai Redoubt

Te Ngutu o Te Manu

Moturoa

Tauranga-Ika

Further reading