Chapter Ten.
The New Zealand War—1863-1865.
Ensign McKenna—An example of cool courage and devotion.
We do not like to hear of war in New Zealand. Long ago the native inhabitants of these magnificent islands desired to become subjects of Queen Victoria. Their offers were accepted, and New Zealand became a British colony.
Differences, however, arose between the settlers and the natives, chiefly about land; and from time to time the latter have attempted to assert their rights in a thoroughly barbarous fashion, by murdering all the white settlers they could fall on unprepared. It is difficult to say by whom they were instigated to revolt. The possession of certain lands claimed by settlers was the ostensible cause of each outbreak; and the natives invariably commenced hostilities, by murdering some settlers whom they attacked unawares. Such was the commencement of the last New Zealand War. One of their chiefs had been proclaimed king by the rebel tribes, who had declared their intention of driving the British from the northern island. Although the natives may be pitied for their ignorance, it was necessary immediately to put down such pretensions by force. Preparations were therefore made for attacking the enemy in their strongholds—a nature of warfare arduous and hazardous in the extreme, and requiring great judgment and discretion not only in the leaders, but in the non-commissioned officers and privates. Where British soldiers have an opportunity of exhibiting these qualities, they are generally found in their possession.
The 65th Regiment of Foot was stationed at Auckland at the commencement of the war in July 1863, and were about to return to England, when they were ordered to the front in search of the enemy. For two months a detachment under the command of Captain Swift was posted at Fort Alexandra, in the neighbourhood of Cameron Town, where Mr Armitage, a magistrate, had his residence.
On the 7th of September, news was brought to the fort that Mr Armitage, a few white men, and a large number of friendly natives residing near him, had been massacred by the enemy.
Captain Swift, on hearing this, immediately set out, with Lieutenant Butler, Sergeant McKenna, two other sergeants, a bugler, and a party of fifty men, into the bush in pursuit of the foe. Swamps were crossed, rivers forded, hills climbed, and dense woods penetrated, and other difficulties overcome, till towards the evening the gallant little band found themselves in an open space near the place where they expected to fall in with the enemy. A party of ten were sent in advance to feel the way.
The advance guard, however, lost the path, thus greatly reducing the main body. Again they advanced, when, having reached another opening in which the savages had been encamped, they once more halted. Hearing the sounds of the enemy’s voices, they were advancing to chase them, when they found themselves exposed to a terrific fire from out of the bush on either side. Captain Swift was the first to fall; and directly afterwards Lieutenant Butler, while bravely animating his men, and having shot three of the enemy, received his death-wound. The command now devolved on Sergeant McKenna, who, leaving Corporal Ryan and two men with the wounded officers, with the rest of the force charged the enemy in the most spirited manner, and put them to flight. A fresh position was again taken up in an opening, on the left and front of which the Maories had collected. The sergeant, ordering his men to extend in skirmishing order across the opening, kept up a hot fire for a considerable time with the savages, bringing down some who had climbed up into trees for the purpose of taking more certain aim.
Any wavering or disorder on the part of the soldiers would have caused their immediate destruction. Their steady coolness alone seemed to overawe the natives, who, after losing several of their number, retired to a greater distance. They still, however, kept up a fire at the little body of British, by which another man was killed. Night was drawing on. McKenna saw that the time for retreating had arrived. He took his measures with admirable coolness and presence of mind. He ordered the front rank of skirmishers to fire a volley, and, giving a loud cheer as if about to charge, to retire down the hill by a sheltered path through the bush. The movement was executed with the utmost steadiness. When they were established below, the rear rank performed the same manoeuvre, and, finding a stream of clear water, were able to refresh themselves. They were not to retire unmolested. They were again attacked by the Maories, numbering, it was ascertained, nearly 300 men, who were, however, successfully driven back; and at eight o’clock the party commenced their arduous retreat through the bush, many of them severely wounded. It would be impossible to describe fully the difficulties of that midnight march through the tangled bush, with bloodthirsty foes swarming on every side. The judgment and coolness of the non-commissioned officers in charge of the party cannot be praised too highly. It was not till eight o’clock in the morning that they came in sight of the redoubt, and met a body of 100 men marching to their relief.
They then learned that Corporal Ryan and Privates Bulford and Talbot had, in the most devoted manner, remained with Captain Swift, after carrying him for some distance, till he died, and that the savages had at one time actually surrounded them, while they lay hid among the brushwood. Not till he had breathed his last, and they had covered up his body with branches, did they think of seeking their own safety by making their way towards the redoubt.
In the same truly devoted manner Privates Thomas and Cole had remained all the night with Lieutenant Butler. The dying officer complained bitterly of the cold, and not only did the two brave fellows cover him up with their own greatcoats, but one of them, Thomas, took off his own serge shirt and put it on him. They knew full well that their suffering superior would not live to report their conduct, or to reward them, and that very probably they would themselves be slaughtered by the savages. In the above narrative, we find an exhibition of courage, judgment, discipline, coolness, devotion, and affection rarely surpassed. Sergeant McKenna obtained the Victoria Cross and his commission.
Incidents of a skirmish in New Zealand, in the war of 1865, Lieutenant-colonel Havelock commanding.
Gallantry of Captain Heaphy, A.R.V.
That British militia and volunteers, when opportunity offers, possess no lack of gallantry, they have often given proof, especially in the Cape Colony and New Zealand.
In the last war in New Zealand, Colonel Waddy, C.B., was in command of the advance force of the British, composed of regulars, militia, and volunteers, at Paterangi near a native pah or fort.
Under him was serving Lieutenant-Colonel Havelock.
To the right, facing the pah, at some distance from the camp, the river Mangapiko forms a complete bow or loop. At the narrow end or knot there is an old native pah, with the river flowing on either side of it. Inside the loop at the broad end is a thick scrub, and here 100 Maories from the Paterangi pah had formed an ambush.
A number of soldiers from the camp, unsuspicious of danger, had gone to the river to bathe directly opposite this scrub, there being a ford at the spot across the river.
Immediately the natives began to fire on the bathers, the inlying pickets of the 40th and 50th Regiments turned out, a party under Major Bowdler going to the right to attack the natives retreating up that part of the river, while Lieutenant-Colonel Havelock, with the men he could collect, accompanied by Captain Fisher, Captain Heaphy, and Captain Jackson, marched rapidly on the left a considerable distance towards the old pah, to cut off the retreat of the natives who had formed the ambush, or to intercept any others who might come from Paterangi to their relief. At the narrow end of the loop there was a deep gully, with an old canoe thrown over it as a bridge.
While Major Bowdler’s party were attacking the natives who had taken post in the old pah on one side, Captain Fisher led a few men across the bridge on the opposite side, followed by Captain Heaphy, who had collected some men of the 40th and 50th Regiments. Large numbers of natives now came rushing up from Paterangi pah, and the fight became general over a wide extent of woody ground, the English soldiers often dashing forward incautiously at the enemy, and suffering considerably; Captain Fisher recrossing the bridge to repel the Maori reinforcements. Colonel Havelock, who had no arms, and Captain Heaphy were left with a few men in the midst of the enemy. Captain Heaphy now shot a Maori, and, having secured his gun and pouch, gave Colonel Havelock his own breechloader and a few cartridges, continuing the fight himself with the Maori gun and ammunition. Captain Jackson, when wading the river, shot a Maori who had snapped both barrels at him, and then, hauling the man to the bank, secured his gun and pouch.
Meantime, Captain Fisher being hotly engaged and somewhat pressed by a large body of natives coming from Paterangi, Captain Heaphy collected a party of stragglers under fire, told them off into front and rear ranks, and, placing them under cover, directed their fire on the above-mentioned natives, who, receiving thus a cross fire, made no further headway.
A series of hand-to-hand encounters took place during the fight about the old tree-covered pah, between the Maories, crouching in the thick bush, and the British, who showed a keen eagerness to dart at and close with their lurking enemies. A private, Cassan of the 50th, having been desperately wounded, fell into one of the deep overgrown ditches near the pah, within reach of many Maories concealed there. Captain Heaphy, on hearing of this, called for volunteers and hastened down for the purpose of bringing off the wounded soldier, though exposed to a hot fire from the enemy directly above him. Two of his followers were shot dead, while five balls pierced his cap and clothes, and he was wounded in three places, providentially but slightly. He remained by the man, to defend him from the enemy, till Assistant-Surgeon Stiles of the 40th Regiment joined him, when the poor fellow was brought off, though he died directly after. Dr Stiles greatly exposed himself, and took great pains to get the wounded removed to the camp.
When wounded, Captain Heaphy was urged by Colonel Havelock to go back to camp, but he remained in the skirmish to the end, after aiding Dr Stiles in attending to other wounded. When the troops withdrew to camp after dark, while ten files of Major Von Tempsky’s Rangers were covering the rear of the stretcher parties, he remained with them, only crossing the river with the last men. At the very moment of fording the stream, a ball, passing between him and Colonel Havelock, struck a man of the 40th farther in advance through the wrist, thus proving that the gallant Heaphy was under fire to the very end of the fight. Few will dispute that this brave officer of the Auckland Volunteer Rifles, in addition to the majority he forthwith obtained, deserved as much as any man the honour of the Victoria Cross.