The Taranaki Herald.

Taranaki Herald, Volume XII, Issue 610, 9 April 1864, Page 2

The Taranaki Herald.

NEW PLYMOUTH, APRIL 9, 1864.

/ DEFEAT AT AHUAHU.

It is this week our painful duty to record the first real defeat which our forces have suffered at the hands of the natives during the present war, and which has cost us the lives of at least six of our fellow countrymen, including, we deeply regret to say, Captain Lloyd of the 57th Regt ; beside twelve others wounded and one missing. The accounts we have been able to gather of how it happened are vague, and in many parts conflicting, .but the result is indeed only too clear. The following we believe to be substantially correct as far as it goes : — On Tuesday night Capt. Lloyd received orders to take a hundred men and to proceed on the following morning to reconnoitre in the neighbourhood of Ahuahu. Accord- , ingly, at an early hour on Wednesday morning, he started from- Kaitake, his force consisting of 40 rank and file of his own company of the 57th with Lieut. Cox, aud 50 of No. 12 Victorians, under Captain Page and Lieut. Jackson, making about 100 of all ranks. -They went bj the path over .the. hills, found and destroyed some crops of maize, and got to the spur on which Ahuahu stands at B*3o or 9 a.m. They went up this and examined the ground about where the pa stood (as Hemi, a native who was acting as guide, had reported to Capt. Lloyd that he heard a call and thought they were discovered), but no fresh tracks were seen, and after this it seems as if caution had been laid aside just when it was most wanted. For when they' turned 1o come back the natives suddenly appeared about 100 yards off and opened a heavy fire on them, advancing at the same time. But to make the account at all intelligible, a brief description of the ground is necessary. Ahuahu is situated on a spur running out nearly at right angles to the main range, and this spur in coming, down to the plain is divided into two or three ridges, one of -which (the nearest this way) ends in a sort of natural plateau raised " ten or twenty feet above the land in front and to the south-west of it. On the edge of this plateau there is a line of deep rifle pits commanding the road from Hauranga which runs close up to it and then turns off to the right to get round the end of the spur. Capt. Lloyd was intending to retire down the road to Hauranga, and so by the beach to Oakura : the 57th, who had been in advance throughout, were some little distance (estimated at 200 yards) down this road — a party of the Victorians were on the plateau, and a rear guard, also of Victorians, but under Lieut. Cox, were a little way up the ridge : the whole were waiting while a party' of ten destroyed some corn which had been overlooked when the pa was taken. Just as they had finished and were about to come away the natives appeared in considerable numbers at the end of the bend in the road we spoke of and in the fern beside it, fired a volley or two and advanced. As an open advance :upon an armed force is not at all in accordance with the ordinary habit of Maoris, it can only be accounted for in the present case by supposing either — Ist, that they thought they had only a few men to deal with — the greater part being hidden by the high fern and the form of the ground.; or, 2nd, they must -have seen after their first vollies such unmistakeable signs of confusion and disorganisation ,as made them certain they had no serious opposition to fear. They closed in upon the .few resolute men who were still making a stand upon the plateau, and of these some were killed, others wounded, and the rest driven away. Captain Lloyd, ' ■when the first shot was fired, was with the rear guard a little way up the ridge.; lie immediately ran down aud did what he could to rally the men, but he soon fell, wounded in two or three places ; others fell with him, as we have said, and the natives having possession of the plateau cut our force in two,

and it became completely scattered. / The main party of the 57th, who from the time the attack began were separated from their only two officers and sergeant, retired down the road to Hauranga. Capt. Page and fourteen men from the party who were on the plateau bringing two wounded men with them, made a detour in the fern, and then followed to the same place ; whilst the rear guard, under Lieut. Cox and guided by Hemi, (without whom their chance of escape would have been small,) made their way along the gullies and through the fern to Wairau. Many others were scattered singly through the fern, and came out in ones and twos: some even lay concealed till relief came out. When it was known in town (which was not till past noon) that some disaster had befallen Capt. Lloyd's party, Colonel Warre immediately despatched a force consisting of the Bushrangers and a large parly of the 57th under Major Butler. The Bushrangers had fallen in to attend the fuueral of the late Sergt. Appleby (of No. 5 -Otago Volunteers, who, we regret to say, died of the wound he received at the taking of Kaitake), but before they had got to the hospital they were told to fall out and get their guns, which they speedily did, and after a quick march to Oakura they went on, turning inland at Wairau and making for Ahuahu through the fern by the same way that the rear guard had retreated. Colonel Warre and the 57th with an Armstrong gun went on to Hauranga and up the road, and when pretty near to the foot of the spur two shells were fired. This had the effect of rousing the men who were still hiding in the fern, as it assured them that help was near ; two' were picked up by the Bushrangers, and one (who was wounded in the shoulder) by the force in front. An advance was then made to the little plateau, and a fearful scene presented itself. Six bodies were found lying one in and the others close by the rifle pits, stripped nearly naked, and from five of which the heads had been cut off and taken away. Another man whose body could not be found appears to have been otherwise mutilated, as some intestines were found upon the ground ; but it is possible that this may have been caused by a bullet wound. A rewarewa axe-handle Was found, which seemed to have been broken in the work. The bodies were carefully put into two carts which had been brought for the purpose, decently covered with fern, and the force returned as it was already getting dark. As to the loss of the Maoris, it is of course impossible to say what it has been ; but that they suffered there is no doubt. Private Milne of No. 12, who was by the rifle pits, says that he shot a native who rushed up to him with a tomahawk whilst he was fixing his bayonet and before he could lock it. What makes this sound probable is that he describes the Maori as; having sandy or reddish hair, a feature which a new-comer would not be likely to invent. He states also tliat he saw Sergt. Bentley shoot one who was running at him armed only with ' sort of stick,' — no doubt a taiaha. The " sort of stick " does not sound like an invention either. One of the wounded men in hospital (Tomlins, of No."12) says he lulled four natives himself while remaining with Bentley after he was wounded. He shot two, and finding that his rifle on being loaded would not go off, seized- a sword belonging to one of the officers in Bentley's possession (with which' he had been cutting down the standing maize when the first volley was fired), and seeing two natives creeping up to him through the fern split open the head of one when he was in the act of emerging from the scrub on his haads and knees, and nearly severed the head off the other immediately after while he was in the act of tomahawking him from behind. If he killed as many as this he did' his work well. He is convinced that several natives fell, as a hot fire was kept up upon the rebels far sometime by about a dozen of his comrades of the militia and the 5 7th, who were in the road further down. He says that oae of the natives he shot was yelling and jumping with a .double-barrelled gun without a stock. The natives kept up a very sharp fire ftoin their double-barrelled guns, and fired about three times to once of our men. , Private Chamberlain, of the 57th, states he shot a native who was attacking Captain Lloyd. The latter had given his sword to Sergt. Anderson (?) to cut down the maize and had taken his rifle. He either fired and missed or the -gun missed fire, when the Maori who was closing on him was shot by Chamberlain. We give these stories for what they are worth. It is not likely that all the natives ' shot ' were killed, but there is little doubt that several must have been hit. The last man .who came in was of No. 12 company militia, who arrived at camp about , 4 a.m. on Thursday morning. The man had .been hidden in the fern, and escaped the search of the party who went to bring in the bodies and .pick up the missing. He says that while he was hiding he saw the natives several times near him, and that they came clown again after the troops returned, seemingly to look about. They then returned to Ahuahu and set up a general howling (tangi), which is pretty certain proof that their victory was not a bloodless one. The men present variously .estimate the number of the natives at 150, 200, 300 and 500. We should incline to believe the first number as nearest reality, until we get further information. The decapitation of the bodies is a new feature in .the war, and we have yet to learn the motive which induced the Maoris to resort to a practice which can only find its parallel in the deeds committed by them in their cannibal state. The bullet extracted by Dr. Spence, T.R.V. on Thursday from McKeuna weighed over an

ounce, and was spherical. The following is a list of our loss on this occasion:-— 57th EEGIMENT. KIIXED Captain Lloyd — gunshot wounds penetrating — one through 1 eft chest, one through abdomen, two through pelvis, also two through right shoulder and one through right thigh fracturing femor ; a tomahawk wound of right calf, and body decapitated. Private Jeremiah Dooley — gunshot wound of right shoulder and body decapitated. Private Geo. Sadler — gunshot wound of right shoulder and two tomahawk wounds of lei't arm and body decapitated. WOUNDED. Private Andrew Collins — gunshot wound of abdomen, slight " Laurence Cronin — gnnsb.pt wound of left thumb, slight " John Kirby — gunshot wound of groin, slight " P. Murray — gunshot wound of neck, slight " Isaac Smith — gunshot wound of chin, slight MILITIA (Victokians). KIILED. ' Corporal 11. Banks — gunshot wound through abdomen and body decapitated. Private James Neagles — gunshot wound through abdomen, and three through head. " H. Hartley — gunshot wound through pelvis and body decapitated. MISSING. " John Gallagher. Wounded: Color-Sergeant George Bentley, gunshot wound in arm, bone fracturod, severe (No. 12 company). Corporal Eobert Stokes, gunshot wound right shoulder, slight (No. 12). Private Francis Thomas Tomlins, gunshot wound upper part thigh, severe (No. 12). Private Edward Whatmore, gunshot wound calf of leg, slight (No. 12). Private James McKenna, gunshot wound through leftside (ball since extracted), dangerous" (No. 7). J. E. Young, M.D., Staff Snrgeon. We hear it rumoured that an expedition is meditated to the southward, and we trust it may be true, as it is of first-rate importance that something should be clone at once to remove the unfavourable and false impression which this lamentable affair is likely to create among a part of our men, and to lessen at the same time the confidence of the natives who will soon draw up a troublesome number of allies if allowed to go longer unchecked. The great mistake, as it seems to us, was in not following up the victory at Kaitake. If, as is hinted, Mokotunu is to be visited it will we believe be most beneficial. This place, which is said to be the centre of the Taranaki cultivations, is on this side of Warea, and therefore within a good day's march of Oakura. If the crops are destroyed, or better still taken away, a great good will be gained, and if, as will no doubt be the case, the natives interfere, they may be dealt with too. But there is no time to be lost, as the fine weather cannot last much longer. - The remains of Captain Lloyd were buried .yesterday with military honors. A large part of the 57th, the mounted corps, bushrangers, and Victorians attending the funeral. The remains of the other unfortunate men who fell with him were buried at the same time. Captain Lloyd had not been long here, having only lately joined the head-quarters of his regiment, but he bore the character of being a brave and excellent officer. He leaves a widow and two children to lament his loss.