Second Taranaki War
The Second Taranaki War is a term used by some historians for the period of hostilities between Māori and the New Zealand Government in the Taranaki district of New Zealand between 1863 and 1866. The term is avoided by some historians, who either describe the conflicts as merely a series of West Coast campaigns that took place between the Taranaki War (1860–1861) and Titokowaru's War (1868–69), or an extension of the First Taranaki War.[1]
The conflict, which overlapped the wars in Waikato and Tauranga, was fuelled by a combination of factors: lingering Māori resentment over the sale of land at Waitara in 1860 and government delays in resolving the issue; a large-scale land confiscation policy launched by the government in late 1863; and the rise of the so-called Hauhau movement, an extremist part of the Pai Marire syncretic religion, which was strongly opposed to the alienation of Māori land and eager to strengthen Māori identity.[2] The Hauhau movement became a unifying factor for Taranaki Māori in the absence of individual Māori commanders.
The style of warfare after 1863 differed markedly from that of the 1860-61 conflict, in which Māori had taken set positions and challenged the army to an open contest. From 1863 the army, working with greater numbers of troops and heavy artillery, systematically took possession of Māori land by driving off the inhabitants, adopting a "scorched earth" strategy of laying waste to Māori villages and cultivations, with attacks on villages, whether warlike or otherwise. As the troops advanced, the Government built an expanding line of redoubts, behind which settlers built homes and developed farms. The effect was a creeping confiscation of almost a million acres (4,000 km2) of land, with little distinction between the land of loyal or rebel Māori owners.[3]
The Government's war policy was opposed by the British commander, General Duncan Cameron, who clashed with Governor Sir George Grey and offered his resignation in February 1865. He left New Zealand six months later. Cameron, who viewed the war as a form of land plunder, had urged the Colonial Office to withdraw British troops from New Zealand and from the end of 1865 the Imperial forces began to leave, replaced by an expanding New Zealand military force.[4] Among the new colonial forces were specialist Forest Ranger units, which embarked on lengthy search-and-destroy missions deep into the bush.[5][6]
The Waitangi Tribunal has argued that apart from the attack on Sentry Hill in April 1864, there was an absence of Māori aggression throughout the entire Second War, and that therefore Māori were never actually at war. It concluded: "In so far as Māori fought at all – and few did – they were merely defending their kainga, crops and land against military advance and occupation."[7]
Hostilities resume[edit]
Two hui were held by Taranaki, Ngāti Ruanui, Ngā Rauru and Whanganui iwi. The first, held on 3 July 1861 at Wiriwiri near Manaia, Taranaki, resulted in most of the 1,000 people present pledging support for the Kīngitanga Movement.[12] The second, held at Kapoaiaia near Cape Egmont in July 1862 involving 600 members, involved the decision that Tataraimaka, Kaipopo, Waiwakaiho, Waitaha and Waitara were Māori lands, and that any attempt to create a road south of Waireka near Omata by European settlers would be considered an act of war.[12] By December 1862, work on the road had extended west past Waireka to Okurukuru, and by early 1863, Tamati Hone Oraukawa led a Ngāti Ruanui party north to support Taranaki iwi, if British troops re-occupied Tataraimaka.[12] Grey, while visiting the Waikato in January 1863, indicated that he intended to send troops to retake Tataraimaka.[12]
On 4 March 1863, Grey arrived at New Plymouth alongside General Duncan Cameron, Dillon Bell and Colonial Secretary Alfred Domett.[12] Between this time and early April, British troops established redoubts south and west of Omata, reaching Tataraimaka.[12] In March 1863 a group of Māori encamped on land they had seized at Tataraimaka were ousted with force by British troops in what they regarded as an act of war. The Waitangi Tribunal, in its 1996 report, also claimed the military reoccupation of Tataraimaka was a hostile act that implied war had been unilaterally resumed.[7]
Two months later, on 4 May 1863, a party of about 40 Māori ambushed a small military party of the 57th Regiment on a coastal road west of Ōakura, killing all but one of the 10 soldiers as an act of revenge. The ambush may have been planned as an assassination attempt on Grey, who regularly rode the track between New Plymouth and the Tataraimaka military post.[13] Three weeks later Māori laid another ambush near the Poutoko Redoubt, 13 km (8.1 mi) from New Plymouth, injuring a mounted officer of the 57th Regiment.[13]
The Militia and Taranaki Rifle Volunteers were called up for guard and patrol duty around New Plymouth and in June a 50-man corps of forest rangers was formed within the Taranaki Rifles by Captain Harry Atkinson to follow Māori into the bush and clear the country surrounding New Plymouth of hostile bands. The force was later expanded to two companies and named the Taranaki Bush Rangers.[13]
On 4 June the new British commander, Lieutenant-General Duncan Cameron, led 870 members of the 57th Regiment and 70th Regiment to attack and defeat a party of about 50 Māori still occupying the Tataraimaka block beside the Katikara River.[12] 29 Māori and one soldier from the 57th Regiment were killed in the engagement.[12] The Māori were also shelled by HMS Eclipse from about 1.5 km (0.93 mi) offshore.
On 2 October a large force of the 57th Regiment, Volunteers and militia engaged Māori near Poutoko Redoubt, Omata, 9 km south of New Plymouth. Victoria Crosses were awarded to two members of the 57th, Ensign John Thornton Down and Drummer Dudley Stagpoole, for bravery during the battle.[13][14][15]
Warre's campaign[edit]
While Cameron made his slow advance northward along the South Taranaki coast, Warre extended his string of redoubts in the north, by April 1865 establishing posts from Pukearuhe, 50 km north of New Plymouth, to Ōpunake, 80 km south of the town. The redoubts brought the length of Taranaki coastline occupied to 130 km, but the forts commanded practically only the country within rifle range of their parapets.[4] Isolated skirmishing between Māori and British forces led to raids by Warre on 13 June to destroy villages inland of Warea, while on 29 July a mix of British troops and Taranaki Mounted Volunteers returned to Warea, burning villages and engaging in several skirmish's with Māori they encountered; a Māori village was attacked and burnt.[4]
Chute's forest campaign[edit]
On 2 September 1865, Grey proclaimed peace to all Māori who had taken part in the West Coast "rebellion", but with little effect. By 20 September there were further deaths following a Māori ambush at Warea and reprisals by the 43rd Regiment and Mounted Corps. Further skirmishing took place near Hāwera and Patea in October and November. Cameron's replacement, Major-General Trevor Chute, arrived in New Plymouth on 20 September to take command of operations just as Premier Frederick Weld's policy of military self-reliance took effect and the withdrawal of British troops from New Zealand began. The 70th and 65th Regiments were the first to leave the country, with Imperial regiments gradually being concentrated at Auckland.[4]
In contrast to Cameron, who preferred to operate on the coast, Chute embarked on a series of aggressive forest operations, following Māori into their strongholds and storming pā.[23] Following orders from Grey to open a campaign against the West Coast tribes, Chute marched from Wanganui on 30 December 1865, with 33 Royal Artillery, 280 of the 14th Regiment, 45 Forest Rangers under Major Gustavus von Tempsky, 300 Wanganui Native Contingent and other Māori with a Transport Corps of 45 men, each driving a two-horse dray.
Chute's force burned the village of Okutuku, inland of Waverley on 3 January 1866 and stormed the pā with bayonets the next day, killing six Māori and suffering seven casualties. On 7 January they repeated the strategy at Te Putahi above the Whenuakura River, killing 14 Māori and losing two Imperial soldiers. Chute reported the Hauhau Māori had been driven inland and followed them. On 14 January he launched an attack on the strongly fortified Otapawa pā, about 8 km north of Hāwera. The pā, occupied by Tangahoe, Ngati-Ruanui and Pakakohi tribes, was considered the main stronghold of South Taranaki Hauhaus. Chute claimed 30 Māori were killed, but the deaths came at a high price: 11 of his force were killed and 20 wounded in what was describe as an impetuous frontal attack on a pā he wrongly assumed had been abandoned.[23] The force moved northward, crossing the Waingongoro River and destroying another seven villages.
On 17 January 1866 Chute launched his most ambitious campaign, leading a force of 514, including Forest Rangers and Native Contingent, to New Plymouth along an ancient inland Māori war track to the east of Mt Taranaki. The momentum of the advance quickly ran out as they encountered a combination of heavy undergrowth and torrential rain. Carrying just three days' provisions, the column ran out of food and did not arrive in New Plymouth until 26 January, having been forced to eat a dog and two horses en route.[23] The march was hailed as a triumph, but Belich commented: "Chute narrowly escaped becoming one of the few generals to lose an army without the presence of an enemy to excuse him."[2] Chute marched back to Wanganui via the coast road, having encircled Mt Taranaki. The five-week campaign had resulted in the destruction of seven fortified pā and 21 villages, along with cultivations and food storages, inflicting heavy casualties.[23]
According to historian B.J. Dalton, the aim was no longer to conquer territory, but to inflict the utmost "punishment" on the enemy: "Inevitably there was a great deal of brutality, much burning of undefended villages and indiscriminate looting, in which loyal Maoris often suffered."[22]: 241 The Nelson Examiner reported: "There were no prisoners made in these late engagements as General Chute ... does not care to encumber himself with such costly luxuries," while politician Alfred Saunders agreed there were "avoidable cruelties". After reading Grey's reports expressing his satisfaction with the Chute campaign, Sir Frederic Rogers, Permanent Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies, wrote back: "I doubt whether the natives have ever attempted to devastate our settlements as we are devastating theirs. There is more destruction than fighting."[22]: 240–243 [24]
21st century postscript[edit]
The outcome of the armed conflict in Taranaki between 1860 and 1869 was a series of enforced confiscations of Taranaki tribal land from Māori blanketed as being in rebellion against the Government.[7] Since 2001, the New Zealand Government has negotiated settlements with four of the eight Taranaki tribes, paying more than $101 million in compensation for the lands, and apologising for the actions of the government of that day.[27]