War in Taranaki 1860-63

Page 6 – A change in tactics

The arrival in August 1860 of Major-General Thomas Pratt heralded the development of a new strategy to break the cordon that encircled New Plymouth.

The town was crowded with thousands of terrified settlers and ‘embarrassed soldiers’. Living conditions deteriorated to the point that disease posed a greater threat than warfare. As many as 121 people died from diseases such as scarlet fever during this period. Farms continued to burn and a number of outlying settlers, including children, were killed. Many civilians were evacuated to Nelson or Auckland.

Governor under pressure

Governor Gore Browne came under pressure as matters went from bad to worse in Taranaki. In July he invited 200 chiefs (Wiremu Kīngi and the new Māori King, later known as Tāwhiao, were not among them) to Kohimarama near Auckland for what was presented as a discussion on the Treaty of Waitangi. Gore Browne sought to gauge tribal opinion on Taranaki in a bid to isolate Kīngi and his allies. Many of those present criticised him for waging war, especially on the implausible grounds that Kīngi had no customary rights at Waitara. The Crown was also rebuked for its ‘indifferent regard for the Treaty of Waitangi’.

Some of the pressure was eased during the spring. Pratt, with 1400 troops now at his disposal, set about destroying pā north and south of New Plymouth. These were usually empty, but action did help create an illusion of progress. Te Ātiawa’s part-time fighters returned home to plant crops.

Māhoetahi

In early November, 150 Ngāti Hauā reinforcements led by Wetini Taiporutu arrived in Taranaki to ‘kill soldiers’. On the night of 5 November they camped on the old pā site of Māhoetahi, a ‘small volcanic hump’ between New Plymouth and Waitara. Next morning they were caught unawares by Pratt and a force of 1000 who by pure coincidence were planning to occupy the site. With their defences incomplete, Ngāti Hauā were quickly routed and nearly a third of them were killed.

Māhoetahi was not the decisive victory Pratt craved. More importantly, this was a Ngāti Hauā defeat – the Te Ātiawa force remained largely intact. One newspaper summed up the significance of the battle by acknowledging that while there was ‘nothing connected with the engagement of which we can boast … we have, during the course of this war become so accustomed to ignominious defeats that even this small victory is welcome’.

Māhoetahi was of little strategic value. Pratt now decided that instead of sporadic assaults on Māori positions he would seek to bring continuous pressure to bear on the Māori cordon by embarking on siege warfare. A sap – a long covered trench – would be dug along the rising ground west of the Waitara River, allowing men to advance without being exposed to direct fire. The construction of a series of redoubts covering the sap would either force the Māori back or tempt them into a risky attack.

Sapping was hard work. It was also too slow for the liking of many settlers. A sap might move forward at only 60 m a day – and in the meantime, attacks against settler property and lives continued unabated. Little was achieved in lifting the siege of New Plymouth and 51 settlers died of disease in the opening months of 1861.

How to cite this page

'A change in tactics', URL: https://nzhistory.govt.nz/war/taranaki-wars/change-in-tactics, (Ministry for Culture and Heritage), updated 21-Oct-2021