(Chapter 8): THE FIGHTING AT TE TAPIRI (1865)

A correction is necessary in the narrative of the fighting between the friendlies and Kereopa's Hauhaus at Te Tapiri on the western border of the Urewera Country, 1865 (Chapter 8, pages 84–95). Later information from survivors shows that all the casualties among the Maoris on the Government side during the expedition were sustained in the attack on Te Tuahu-a-te-Atua hill-fort (Te Taumata) and the fighting which followed that morning, as described in the narrative. None of the friendlies was killed in the previous fighting at the stream between Te Tapiri and Hinamoki. The three men decapitated by Kereopa's warriors (page 89) fell in the Tuahu-a-te-Atua battle. The list of those killed is: Eru te Urutaia, Tamehana te Wiremu, Hohepa Matataia, Rorerika, Katu Ririapu Poia, and Hemi Tamehana Anaru. The first four belonged to the Ngati-Manawa Tribe, the other two to the Ngati-Rangitihi clan of the Arawa. The eye-eating by Kereopa at the niu and the attacks on the friendlies’ redoubts followed this battle.