The Cyclopedia of New Zealand [Auckland Provincial District]
The Stand At Orakau
The Stand At Orakau.
Rewi.
Our troops now got desperate. Through a breach made by our guns, a private threw his cap, and rushed after it; he was immediately followed by about twenty colonial troops. The Maoris retreated to the inner works, and ten of the assaulters were shot down. The Maoris, who had been fighting for three days, almost without food or water, at this stage evacuated their pa in a body, with the chiefs in the centre, and made towards the neighbouring swamp and scrub. The troops started in pursuit with the Colonial Cavalry, a corps of Mounted Artillery, and Colonial Forest Rangers, under Captains Jackson and Von Tempsky. Subsequently the Maoris acknowledged to a loss of 200, while our casualties amounted to sixteen killed and fifty-two wounded. Rewi got away unscathed, and ultimately reached Hangatikei. Virtually this ended the Waikato campaign, and the whole district from Auckland was now held by the British and colonial troops.
Up to the month of April, 1864, the Imperial troops had been assisted in the campaign by the Europeans only, but then the Arawa tribe of friendly Maoris came upon the scene, influenced probably by various motives—including tribal jealousy and hatred engendered generations before, and unabated by lapse of years, the intense desire of all Maoris to possess guns and ammunition, and their still greater love of war.