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By 1845 tensions were mounting in the Wellington region as Ngāti Toa chief Te Rangihaeata backed local Māori opposed to European settlement in Hutt Valley. Many settlers felt that Te Rangihaeata should have been punished for his involvement in the death of 22 settlers in a dispute with Ngāti Toa over land at Wairau in 1843. They were looking for signs that he would not be permitted to continue to disrupt settlement.
Following several skirmishes in the region in early 1846, Governor George Grey moved troops from Auckland to Wellington. In July Grey arrested Te Rauparaha. By mid-August, after fighting at ‘Battle Hill’, Ngāti Toa resistance in the region was effectively ended. Te Rangihaeata retreated north into Horowhenua.
This campaign claimed few lives. Its real significance was the reassurance it gave Pākehā settlers that their needs were now being met by the Crown. Coming so quickly after the conclusion of the fighting in the Bay of Islands, the pacification of Te Rauparaha and Te Rangihaeata enhanced Grey’s reputation with the settler population. Conflict in two key areas of European settlement had now been resolved.