INCIDENT OF 1863.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20668, 13 September 1930, Page 11

INCIDENT OF 1863.

EAST PUKEKOHE CHURCH.

ATTACKED BY MAORIS

NARRATIVE OF A SURVIVOR

To-morrow will bo tlio sixty-eighth anniversary of the attack on tlio East Pukekoho Church at an early stage of the Waikato War. The engagement, though not on a large scale, has always attracted a good deal of attention, because it was the only occasion during the campaign on which untrained soldier settlers, cntiicly unsupported by regular troops, had to defend themselves against an overwhelming number of assailants and bear foi hours tlio heat and burden of tlio day before anl reached them.

Last year the then Governor-General, Sir Charles Fergusson, unveiled a memorial tablet to tlio garrison of the little building, which yet stands in good repair, still showing tlio bullet wounds of nearly 70 years ago, and at the same timo unveiled a monument marking the site where a number of the natives who fell in the assault lio buried.

There is still living at Epsom a veteran who took a prominent part in the defence of tlio little redoubt, Captain Joseph Scott, of Corbett-Scott Avenue. He is now in his ninety-third year. His story of the day's events is now published for the first time.

The Little Garrison

Captain Scott arrived with liis father at East. Pukckohe in 1859. Ho states that by 1863 there were 25 men, 16 women and nine or ten children in the little community. On July 12, 1863, a party of soldiers passed through the settlement to turn the natives out of their village at Tuakau, where the Ngatipous had extensive cultivations. This was promptly followed by a, reprisal, a man named Michael Meredith and his young son being tomahawked while at work on their farm at Rama-

rama. The outlying settlers were promptly ordered in "from their foldings to where they would be under military protection. But to abandon their farms and stock in this way was not palatable to some of the set tiers. Nine of them applied to be sworn in as rillc volunteers, undertaking to go back to Pukckohe to defend the district, and their offer was accepted. They were duly equipped, and an Imperial sergeant, Lancelot Perry, was placed in command. It was promised that they should be supported by a further detachment, but when this arrived it proved to consist only of nine men of the Auckland Labour Battalion, sworn in as special constables. The names of the settlers enrolled were Alexander McDonald, James McDonald, his son, George Easton, James Easton, John Bodcn Boose, Elijah Roose, James Comrie, William Hodge and Joseph Scott. These men, with the exception of Comrie and J. B. Roose. who were absent on leave, the nine special constables, Sergeant Perry, and a boy, James McDonald, aged about 13, formed the garrison on the eventful day, 18 in all. Preparing lor Attack.

As a means of defence the church was surrounded by a low breastwork of' horizontal logs, outside of which a ditch was dug later. Tho building was 30ft. by 15ft., and the surrounding enclosures 53ft. by 35ft. Toward the end of August an Imperial officer came and directed the garflson to split heavy slabs and erect them to increase the height of tho defences. Ibis work was only partially finished by the time the attack was made, but one good work had been done, the erection of a flanking angle at tho south-east comer, enabling the garrison's rifles to enfilade tho southern and eastern sides of the stockado.

The weeks preceding the attack were not without their exciting episodes. Toward the end of August Captain Scott's father was fired upon and mortally wounded. He was conveyed to Auckland, and died of his wounds a week later.

On Sunday, September 13, Captain Scott and three other members of the garrison who had gone out to see how their homes were faring bad a close call, but all of them returned to the stockade safely. Assault on the Church.

Next morning the sentry called their attention to the horses in the clearing across the road, which were staring intently toward the bush there. A man got on a slump to obtain a bettor view and a shot was fired at him. making the hole which is still visible in the east gable of the church. The men outside the stockade and in the cookhouse in front of it made a rush for the shelter of their defences, Scott and James Easton being the last in. These two look possession of the flanking anglo at the entrance, and defended it through the day, the boy James McDonald bringing them supplies of ammunition.

The assault was not delivered from where the shot had come, but from the other side, where the brow of tlio gully afforded perfect shelter except for tho last 40 yards. They came up the hill and charged in close formation right up to the ditch. They were so massed, together, said Captain Scott, that it was not possible to miss them. They charged several times, but fell back each time with considerable loss. They removed their dead by crawling up behind tho logs and slumps and tying long supplejacks to their limbs and then dragging them down after retiring over the brink of tho hill. Sergeant Perry's first orders had been to fix bayonets, and on no account to fire a volley lest the attack should be pressed home while all the rilles were empty, and Captain Scott believes it. was the sight of the bayonets sticking through tlio port-holes that saved tlio lives of the garrison. Had the natives got into the stockado 17 men would have had little chance against 300.

After the first few rushes the natives did not make any concerted charge, hut sniped at tho stockade from behind logs and stumps, and from the branches of the puriri trees and (he roof of Easton's whare, and the garrison sniped back at them. Relief at Last.

In this way two or three hours passed. Then, about 1 p.m. 32 men of the 70th Regiment arrived. Tho natives did not seo them till they were near tho gate, and they were then sheltered by the stockade, and got in without a casualty. About four o'clock a detachment of Hie Ist Wnikato Militia arrived. The natives did not appear to seo them till the bugle sounded the charge, and then there was a commotion. The troops charged down the hill at the enemy, but their pursuit did not last, long as the natives crossed the small clearing and took to the standing bush, in which it was useless to attempt to follow them. In the meantime, the garrison unloaded tho three carts the Wuikatos had brought with them, tho bullets from the natives on the roof of Easton's whare buzzing over their heads liko bees, but neither man nor horse was hit. Seven Maoiis were killed in the charge, but thoso killed before bad been carried away. A prominent W'aikat# chief told the lato Mr. fJeorge Graham (hat tho attack had cost (hem 40 killed and 75 wounded. Of (he militia there were, Captain Scott thinks, three killed and eight wounded. Of tho men inside the stockade not a single one was hit, inn did a bullet find its way between the logs of tho breastwork, but a number went through (lie roof of the church.

The following morning the volunteers handed over the charge of the stockade to the militia.