3-016-980 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Fight at Waiari, on the Mangapiko River, New Zealand, on the 11th of February, 1864. 'It seems that...some of our soldiers went into the river to bathe, and were suddenly fired upon by the Maoris, who lay in ambush on the opposite bank. The covering party...immediately replied to the enemy's fire, while the bathers got out and dressed themselves as quickly as they could. The Maoris now slowly retired towards the old fortifications on the neck of the peninsula...Captain Fisher discovered a bridge over the river...[and crossing it,] came full upon the retiring ambuscade party of the enemy...[who] had no way of escape; some hid themselves in the scrub...others attempted to swim the river, but were shot down...The enemy were chiefly of the Ngatimaniapoto tribe...the most awful yells and Maori imprecations were heard, mingled with discharges of muskets and the quick popping of revolvers. In ten minutes, the Rangers appeared on the parapet carrying up five Maori bodies, and two Maoris wounded...Night fell; the wounded and dead, six of the former and five of the latter, were carried into camp, with ten Maori corpses and three wounded; six more Maori bodies were left on the path and seven in the river...forty eight were killed or mortally wounded'. From "Illustrated London News", 1864.