Sergeant-Major Lucas, 40th Regiment, defending a position against the Maoris on the 18th March, 1861.
On the 2nd of November, 1862, all the troops in garrison at Auckland were assembled on the racecourse to witness the decoration of Sergeant-Major Lucas with the Cross of Valour. The soldiers formed a square, in the centre of which stood General Cameron and his staff. The sergeant-major took his stand in front of them, and the gallant old general, after expressing his admiration of his conduct, which he invited his comrades to imitate, placed on his breast that distinctive mark of his Sovereign’s favour which is dearer to the soldier’s heart than any other. Our readers will feel with us the hope that Sergeant-Major Lucas may long be spared to wear it, and to take part in other wars reflecting more credit on our arms and our honour as a nation than the present struggle in Zealand.
CHAPTER XXVI.
THE HEROES OF THE VICTORIA CROSS IN NEW ZEALAND.
We have already described some of these heroes, and the gallant deeds by which they earned the Cross of Valour. We have shown how Sergeant Lucas, of the 40th, defended two of his wounded comrades from the attacks of the Maoris till a party was sent to his relief; how McKenna of the 65th stood by his dying officer to the last, and proved himself worthy of the command that had devolved upon him, by conducting his comrades through the fire of the enemy and the intricacies of the bush to the redoubt which they had left; how Samuel Mitchell, that true-hearted sailor, stood by Commander Hay, of the Esk, in the Gate Pa at Tauranga, and refused to leave him till all was over.
Since that time we learn from the London Gazette that the Victoria Cross has been awarded to Lieutenant-Colonel McNeill, of the 107th Regiment; to Assistant-Surgeons Temple and Manley, and Lieutenant Picquard, of the Royal Artillery; and to Ensign Down and Drummer Stagpoole, of the 57th Regiment, in recognition of gallant deeds done in New Zealand. The bestowal of the Cross on Assistant-Surgeon Temple, R.A., was a tardy act of justice; it was awarded to him by the unanimous voice of the army for humanely exposing his life to almost certain destruction in hurrying to the assistance of Captain Mercer, R.A., who was mortally wounded. This occurred during the attack on Rangiriri, the great pa or stronghold of the Maoris on the banks of the Waikato river, about sixty miles from Auckland. The Taranaki war began in 1860, and was carried on with various success till 1862, when it was supposed to be over. There was no truce or peace concluded with the enemy, but the settlers indulged the hope that they might now live in peace. On the 4th of May, 1863, they were roused from this state of false security by the report that two officers and eight men had been fired upon by an ambuscade, and all, with one exception, killed; this act was denounced as murder, but we must remember that they were marching through the enemy’s country with arms in their hands, and were thus almost inviting their fate. General Cameron wished to take precautions against such attacks, but the governor assured him that there was no danger, as the war was over. Then came the abandonment of the Waitura, the disputed territory, and, a month later, the battle of Kuitikara, in which twenty-five Maoris were slain. After this the province of Auckland became the seat of war. The governor issued a proclamation denouncing all the natives as rebels who should not surrender their arms and take the oath of allegiance within a week: the result was such as might have been expected; the Maoris cleared out with all their valuables, and fell back into the interior. Their forces were concentrated at Pokewu, or the Queen’s Redoubt, a place thirty-five miles south of Auckland, close to the Waikato river. Our troops advanced against them, and a battle was fought at Roheroa, a mountainous ridge, two miles south of Pokewu, where the insurgents had encamped and fortified their position with a series of rifle pits, from which they opened a heavy fire on their assailants as they ascended the steep declivity. The regiment opposed to them consisted of young recruits who had never been under fire before; for a moment they hesitated, and all might have been lost, if General Cameron had not rushed forward in front, waving his riding-whip and cheering them on to victory. He thus saved the character of a young battalion. The Maoris dispersed, and found refuge in the neighbouring swamps, leaving twenty-two killed on the field of battle. Their loss was not great, considering that the force opposed to them was as three to one. On the same day a Maori ambuscade attacked an escort under the command of Captain King, of the 18th Royal Irish, in the neighbourhood of the Queen’s Redoubt; our men, who were straggling along the road, smoking and chatting, with their rifles uncapped, resisted as much as they could, and escaped with the loss of four men, twelve rifles, and the carts and horses left on the field. If any of the Maoris fell, their bodies were removed; no traces of them were to be found the following day.