THE WAITOTARA WAR.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XXIII, Issue 1356, 7 February 1865, Page 5

THE WAITOTARA WAR.

We have received our files from Wanganui to the 28th ult. The following additional particulars of the late skirmishes are taken from the Ckfonicle The Battle-Field at Nokamaru.—We call it a battle, because, although the numbers engaged were not great, the enemy made their advance and attack in regular military fashion, and not only displayed great skill in the disposition of their men, but also uncommon bravery in the fierce and sustained manner of the attack. The whole is said to have been arranged by Te Kaokao, a Waikato chief, who has a high reputation for military skill, of which the attack on Wednesday gives ample confirmation. Indeed, we understand that there has been no action in the war in which the Maoris have shewn greater skill or more determined bravery. That our readers may better understand the nature of the engagement the ground may be described on which it took place. Those who have visited the Waitotara block will at once recognise the position of the camp, when we mention that it is pitched close to a Maori grave, surrounded by a white-paling, and having a high slab at its end on the top of a rising ground near the Paetaia Lake. All who have visited the country within the last five or six years must have seen the grave, which occupies a prominent position, and will no doubt remember the country on the landward side of it. For the benefit of others it may be mentioned that along the sea coast here run ridges of sand hills, which have been formed by the wind blowing the sand from the sea shore; those ridges at some distance from the sea being covered with fern. At this point the most inland of these ridges is about three miles from the sea, and runs in almost a straight line, parallel with the coast. It is closed with fern, and rises about fifty feet above the ground immediately inland. On the top of this ridge stands the white paling of the grave already mentioned. A person standing at this grave and looking inland has the whple of the field of battle spread out before him. Immediately in front, about 50 feet below him, and within 50 feet horizontally of hi 3 position, stand the tents occupied by the soldiers. There may be about 150 of these on the ground, picketed in long lines, on both Bides of the camp are the horses of the Transport Corps and Military Train, amounting apparently to between three and four hundred. The camp is on a flat piece of ground, between two lakes, which lie close to the ridge of sand hills, at a distance of about three-quarters of a mile from each other. The camp is a very few feet above the level of the lakes, is almost on the bank of the one to the left— the Paetaia—and about half-a-ntile from the one to the right, which is named the Waikato. From the camp the ground right in front rises in a gentle slope for about a quarter of a mile, when the slope upwards becomes more abrupt. It is covered with fern and toi-toi (now burned), and the view is shut in by the bush in the distance. Almost opposite the spectator, and about Jialf a mile from him, the ground is broken by a deep hollow covered with scrub. Carrying his eye toward the left he sees open ground between the hollow and another bush, standing on irregular ground and much larger. * On the brow of this slope a few whares are seen, being part of the Nukaniaru pah. To the left of these lies the Nukamaru bush. Near the pah a stream runs in a deep gully, which is continued to the Paetaia Lake, It will thus be understood that the camp Hes on a flat piece ef ground in a large hollow, the rising on the side toward the sea being abrupt and about fifty feet high, while inland the rise is gradual, not exceeding fifty feet in half a mile. The

enemy, supposed to number six hundred and said by prisoners to be eight hundred, were posted in three divisions—the one on the extreme left occupying the rising ground on that side of the Nukamaru gully, the middle division posted between the Nukamaru bush and the patch of scrub in the h6llow, and the left wing on the open ground on the other side of this hollow. It will he understood that the left of the enemy is to the right of the supposed spectator, and that what we call open ground was covered with long fern, four or five feet high, sind toi-toi.

The Native Assaj/lt ano Knoa«i;mknt.—On Wednesday afternoon, Jan. 25, at one o'clock, a gun was fired, and the supposed spectator, on looking at the place whence the sound proceeds, sees little but volumes of smoke rising from, the burning fern, which some of the soldiers have set on lire. Presently he hears a volley, and learns that, under cover of the smoke, the picket of the 50th on the other side of the gully to the left, has been attacked by a number of natives, who, firing a volley, have rushed in upon them with their tomahawks, and compelled them to retire, leaving six of their number dead, and with their commanding officer, Ensign Grant, dangerously wounded. Immediately the camp is alive, and reinforcements from the 50th are sent forward to the left, which meet the advancing foe, and after considerable firing drive them back. The gully is crossed by the gallant men of the Queen's Own, and the enemy is pressed back to the edge of the bush, to which they are pursued by our men. A few shells are thrown in from the six-pounder Armstrong guns, but the soldiers find it impossible to advance further. Some of them follow for some distance those Maoris who retreat up the gully j and the whole of the enemy's right division is thrown back in disorder, and beaten, The firing has lasted for upwards of an hour in that direction. But meanwhile the spectator's attention has been distracted by what has been passing on his right. Almost immediately after the commencement of the first attack a large number of dusky warriors have rushed down from the slopes to the front and right. The object has clearly been to engage the majority of the soldiers on the left of the camp, and then to rush* t on the right. Protected by the fern and toi toi, these men advance in skirmishing order to within fifty yards of the camp. The bullets are whistling among the tents, and a close fight takes place almost in front, and a little to the right of the spectator The firing is close and continuous. Under the command of Major Greaves, the 18th advance from the camp, and drive back the daring enemy. They rise from the ground as thick as a covey of partridges. A number of mounted troopers are sent to the extreme right, but get entangled in a toi fiat, and are somewhat late in making their appearance, but when they do come, charge in among them. The two Armstrong guns throw a few shots in among them,and complete their confusion—they are driven back. There Major Greaves has managed to hem in about fifty of them in the corner of a small gully; but in front, there is a strong and high palisading, and the men do not care to scale it so close to the foe, who then effect their escape. It is now four o'clock, and the engagement has lasted for about three hours. The whole,has passed before the view with the vividness and distinctness of a panorama. At first, the General and staff were on the same ridge as the supposed spectator, but to the left ; by this time,, they have advanced to the Nukamaru bush, and there they emerge into the open ground before the whares ; while the Maoris, driven in from the left, are joining their defeated friends on the right, and in a long line disappear into the bush behind. The number of Maoris killed and wounded is not known. Twelve dead bodies have been found, and H is supposed, from the care with, which the Maoris iook after their dead and wounded, and from the nature of the contest, that there must have been about a hundred killed and disabled. This, however, we should suppose a very extreme number. Of the dead three are said to have been Ngatiruanui, and the rest Ngatimaniapoto and Waikato. There were taken prisoners two men who had been wounded. One of them has a ball through' the back of his head, behind the ear, but shows strong symptoms of vftality, having made an effort to escape during the night. A wounded Maori was making his escape from the field of battle, when a boy, ten or twelve years of age, who came from Auckland with the 50th, knocked him down and killed him with a piece of stick. He was rewarded by a gift of 20s from an officer, and 10s from another. On our side there twelve killed and twenty-six wounded. Many of those killed were much mutilated by tomahawks.

List of Casualties.—Killed.—lßth Regiment: Private James Brenny. 50th Regiment: Privates John Murphy, Smith Hargreaves, William Vine, George Poole, John Fisher, John Kenny, William Irwin, William Land, Joseph Gold, Henry Paris, Robert Ridyard. Wounded.—lßth Regiment; Privates Trevors, mortally; Thomas Lock, severely; Daniel Wadkins, severely ; Thomas Graham, severely ; Thomas High, slightly; Patrick Whelan, slightly. 50th Regiment: Ensign D. L. Grant, dangerously; Lieut. W. H! Wilson, very severely ; Privates John Lyden, dangerously ; Arthur Poor, very severely ; J. Cunningham, very severely James Reardon, very severely; George Box, very severely; John Barley, very severely; John Christopher, very severely; Phelim Brown, severely; Thomas Dubell, severely ; William Griffin, severely ; H. Hargreaves, severely ; William Miles, severely; John Flynn, severely; James Bleasdale, severely; B JHandover, severely; M. Burke, severely; Robert Barrett, severely ; William Croat, severely. The wounded were brought into town last night, (27tli January). A Brave Act.—A correspondent of the Chronicle says :—A most humane act was performed by one of the Military Train, named John Brookes, a native of Barton Mills, in Suffolk. A poor young soldier of the 18th was overpowered by the savages, and they were dragging him into the bush, but at this time the Military Train were charging, and the poor soldier cried, " Oh, for God's sake save me." The brave man fell out quite regardless of consequences, cut down one of the savages, and some others coming up dispersed the rest, and saved the young soldier's life. I hear that Brookes is recommended for the Victoria Cross, and I trust so, for in the annals of military history I never knew a more daring act of bravery. The same correspondent adds :—Two officers of the 18th were wounded, and a few men killed and wounded of the same corps; but the 50th, poor fellows, suffered most severely—lo kiljed and lacerated in the most horrible manner, their eyes cut out, their noses cut off, and all the barbarities that Satan could suggest practised ou the poor helpless wounded. The Late Lieut. Thos. Ormsbt Johnston, I). A. A.G.—The funeral of this gentleman took place yesterday morning. He was -mortally wounded on Tuesday evening, inside the Nukamaru pah fence, in one of the first volleys that the natives fired from the huts. The ball entered the abdomen, pierced the body, and was extracted at the back. He was immediately carried to the camp, where he lay till noon next day, when he died of internal hoemorrhage. During this time he was quite sensible and composed, uttered no repining word, and accepted his premature death as a termination to his earthly career in which, as a soldier and a Christian, he was bound cheerfully to acquiesce. He was greatly respected and loved by. all who had the pleasure of his acquaintance, and his untimely death has cast a deep gloom over the camp. His noble bodily appearance was in accordance with his temper and character. He realised more completely than is often to be found the character of a gentleman, which is summed up by Thackeray in these words: —" To be honest, to lie gentle, to be generous, to be brave, to be wise, and, possessing all these qualities, to exercise them in the most graceful outward manner." We are giving no formal panegyric, but only representing feebly the impression which the deceased gentleman made on all who knew him—who concur in the testimony that it is impossible to speak too highly of him. He entered the 40th Regiment nine years ago, and after being in Australia, came over to Taranaki at the beginning of the Waitara contest. His services since then have been distinguished, and when he died he held the office of deputy-assistant- ! adjutant-general. He was 30 years of age, and was, we understand, cousin to Colonel Logan, who acted as chief mourner at the funeral. Besides being attended by the soldiers of the 57th, in garrison here, a considerable number of the townspeople joi' ed the cortege, and we understand that Mr. Williamson, of Puteawa, sent in a young oak yesterday to be planted beside the grave, so quickly had the good qualities of the deceased officer been recognized and appreciated by those near whom he had lived only a few days.

Camp Alexander.—The pomp and circumstance if war have now left this place, which is at present field by Major Hassard with 200 men of the 57th, ind 90 of the Royal Artillery. The five 24-pounder Howitzers have not been sent on, and still stand in their position overlooking the sea. The men have been engaged in constructing a strong redoubt, capable ol holding 250 men, in which we believe 100 men will be left when the others advance to the front. The howitzers have not been sent on, as there is as yet no use for them,' and the deep sand over which they would require to bedragged makes their advance at present a rather difficult matter. Four canteens are in the camp, which are still doing a respectable trade. Previous to the advance of the expeditionary force, they must have been doing a very large stroke

of business. The expense of carriage is, in the meanwhile, against their moving much further on. There is a large store about 50 feet long erected for the ust of the Commissariat.

Another Account.—The following is frootthe pen of a correspondent of the Wellington Independent, Feb. 4:~On Tuesday, the 24th January, a small party of rebel natives, warned by the General to leave their location at" Kaiwiki, on the Wanganui river, are travelling with their women, babies, and double-barrelled guns, to join'the rebels collecting at Waitotara. Their path lewis them, unexpectedly perhaps, right upon the tent aof a-purty of men tmgfiged in forming the Waitotara road—digger* they arc—strong, stalwart Britons—who, a week or two before, had been armed by tho Government, and who felt, or ought to have felt, the necessity of guarding against a sudden surprise. These travelling Maoris see tents, and guessing that they will cover something worth having in the shape of plunder, concert a little scheme for securing all that may be useful to themselves. It is early dawn, and the weary roadmen are fast asleep—and no sign of life is to be seen outside the tents. The Maoris have no particular thirst for blood, though a great liking for sugar, and soon firea volley over the tents, with a result which they probably contemplated—the valiant diggers scuttle heudlong from, their beds under the tents, scampering like so many frightened rats into the fern beyond, nothing on but their night-shirts, and some of these as scanty as they well can be. How the Maoris must have laughed at the success of the stratagem—but they are too wary, or have too high an opinion of British pluck, to trust themselves in the tents, without further proof of their entire evacuation—and to guard against surprise, they fire a volley right into the tents, which are riddled through and through so low, that no one inside would have a chance of escape. The men then take up their position on a hill close by, while the women and children go inside, and freely help themeelves to the best of liquor and not the worst of clothes, and the female garments left behind as mementoes of the call, imply that the valorous ladies clothed themselves in the breeches of the ■men who had crawled or mirabile-dictu, ridden barebacked away without them. The Road Surveyor, as in duty bounds looked after tbe road party from a distance, and kept up at a " little interval" a heavy fire, but without effect, on a party carousing in the tents. Having eaten- and drank their fill, clothed, armed, and amply supplied themselves with the necessaries of life and the munitions of war, the Maoris went on their, way rejoicing ; not in a hurry by any means, but rather the worse for rum, and not a little elated. Why should they hurry ? The roadmen had nothing but night shirts, no means of resistance or attack—the British lion, they probably guessed, was not to be hurried in his pursuit. The Surveyor trembled for hi& safety, and perhaps blushing for the state of his hopeless dependants, rode over to the camp, hot foot, to where horses and men and arms were ready to be used, to seek immediate aid. After the due formalities of minute enquiry had been gone through, the cavalry are ordered in pursuit. They breakfast, groom their horses, and after a quiet ride in the cool of the morning, arrive at the scene of action—a little too late. Such were the events of the morning of the 24th, and during the day an advance was made by the main body of the troops from the camp at the outskirt of the settlement at Kai-iwi. 800 men, with the General at their head, moved on, not by the level Waitotara road, but by the sea coast, down a steep cliff, along the beach, up a steep cliff ; again the baggage carts and the soldiers toiled, and then through seven miles of deep hot sand and dust. Late in the afternoon, the day's march ended, and the camp is about to be pitched, when, from an old, irregular Maori plantation, the first deadly shots of the Waitotara campaign are fired, from an unseen enemy, on an advance guard of the ISth Regt. Seven of our men fall, three killed, one a gallant and much esteemed officer, D.A.A. General Johnston. The firing continues through the night to the early morning, but, as we subsequently learn, not a Maori is touched, and our men fall unavenged. The Maoris have too good cover, and too accurate a knowledge of the ground to expose themselves, and their faith in the power of their new divinity to shelter them from harm is strengthened, and leads the intoxicated fanatics on to hazard the daring enterprize which forms the subject of the third picture of this series. It is mid-day of the 25th Jan., the troops, some 1100, are encamped on a very pleasant site, their left resting on the extremity of a long narrow lake. Stretching along behind is a* riiige of hills, separating the firm good country from the broken sandhills of the sea coast; on the right and in the front is a wide space of open fern ground, but the fern is high and the flax and tutu, very thick. From the hilly range behind, the General is looking, wistfully perhaps, at the position which the Maoris are fortifying now, and more strongly every day—about three miles off. It is a beautiful, well chosen and commanding site—there is a broad open tract of low fern land in front, gradually rising and gradually narrowing till it comes to an apex, on which the pah is built. The Waitotara river runs on the north side, at the foot of the cliff, sixty feet at least below the pah, at the back and on the south side are wooded gullies leading into a dense and immense forest. The General can see the flagstaff standing erect in the pah, boldly coming out above the horizon, and here and there may be distinguished some of the rebels labouring at the works. But to resume. To clear the ground in front of the camp, the fern is lighted to the left, and a dense smoke rises and passes across the front of the position—of course the outlying sentries are not meant to be burnt, and they have to fall back upon the camp, and for a time the dense body of smoke hides everything immediately in front. Under cover of this smoke, through the thick fern and flax, some hundred of Maoris now creep up and a volley is fired at the left of the camp. The attack is sudden and unexpected, but the soldiers soon muster to resist the enemy, and in mustering received a deadly volley across the clear space the fire has made. Shortly after the attack on the left, the Maoris made a desperate rush on the centre and right, a fearful struggle ensues, almost at the very tent doors, and the Maoris are again driven under cover. The military train, some 30 in number, ride off to cut off their retreat, but there is little chance of any great success for the troopers on horses plunging among the high fern and tutu against the active, nimble Maori; and, though they do good service, the result is not so disastrous to the Maoris as those ignorant of the nature of the ground might imagine it should have been. When the fight was over, and we counted our own and the enemy's loss, we were found to have 25 men placed hors d' combat, 10 killed, and 15 wounded, against a known Maori loss in killed of 12, and 10 wounded. What will next be placed on record we anxiously wait to see. The pah i sgrowing stronger, the enemy bolder. In the course of time the place will fall into our hands no doubt, but too slowly, and too late, we fear, to enable us to grasp the slippery defenders, and much too late to strike the terror which a sudden heavy Wow might do.