HOW A SCOUT WON THE NEW ZEALAND CROSS
Up to the year 1879 the Victoria Cross was not to be won by any
officer or man of H.M. Colonial Forces, although one civilian
(Cavanagh) had received it during the Indian Mutiny, yet in New
Zealand the greatest honour to be won by a Britisher was denied to all
but those actually serving in H.M. regular army or navy. This being
so, the New Zealand Government obtained royal sanction to issue a
similar cross, only manufactured out of gold and silver instead of
bronze, to be won by the Colonial troops, and this decoration is
designated the New Zealand Cross.
The yarn I am now going to spin you is how Trooper George Hill won his
while employed as a scout on the east coast.
In March 1869 the great hardships, the bitter weather, the large
number of wounded and, above all, the cowardice of our allies, the
Arawa tribe, by far the most pampered by Government, and the only New
Zealand tribe that can be called cowards, necessitated the Colonial
Field Force falling back from the high plateau of Taupo to Fort
Galatea to recuperate and refit. This gave Te Kooti leisure to look
around for more devilments, and he determined to strike another blow
at the settlements on the east coast. Calling a meeting of the Hau Hau
tribes at Ruatahuna, he proposed to attack the friendly natives and
the white settlers at Mohaka or Te Wairoa. The former place was chosen
and Te Kooti, with 100 bloodthirsty fiends, started to carry out the
raid. Crossing the Huiarau ranges they came to the Waikare Moana lake.
Here one of those chance occurrences happened that enabled the astute
Te Kooti to keep his hold over the superstitious natives. On reaching
the lake he issued orders that no man was to cross over before he did
so himself. This order was disobeyed, for a canoe full of warriors at
once started. The lake, a very large one and, like all others,
surrounded by high mountains, is subject to being swept by sudden and
heavy squalls. One of these overtook the disobedient warriors,
capsized their canoe and although all managed to get ashore, yet one
died from exhaustion, the remainder losing all their arms, food, etc.
Te Kooti took advantage of this disaster and made capital out of it.
He informed his men that the order he had promulgated had been issued
direct from God, and that the disobedient warriors had been punished
for non-compliance with it. Then, seeing the weather was propitious,
he entered a canoe and crossed in safety, his men following without
further misadventure. Te Kooti by doing so gained much credit in the
prophet line and stricter obedience from his superstitious followers.
The lake being crossed, they pushed on without delay to the Upper
Mohaka, surprised before daylight the Arakaihi village, and butchered
every soul in it, man, woman and child, with the tomahawk, so as not
to alarm some settlers on the other side of the river. When daylight
came they crossed the river and murdered with the greatest brutality
two white men with their wives and three little children, as also
they did another white settler who was unfortunate enough to fall into
their hands alive.
Not satisfied with his morning's successful battue, Te Kooti and his
gang, now increased to 200 men, hurried on to the Lower Mohaka, which
consisted of two friendly pahs, with a sprinkling of white settlers, a
public-house, store, etc. They arrived there early in the day and at
once attacked the smallest pah, known as the Huke Pah. The Mohaka
friendlies had received news of Te Kooti's rapid approach and had sent
messengers to warn the troops stationed at Te Wairoa, only nineteen
miles away, and the authorities at Napier fifty miles distant (of this
more anon).
Nearly all the Mohaka warriors were absent, and the garrison of the
Huke Pah consisted of six men and a large number of women and
children. One of the defenders, however, named Heta, was a grand
specimen of a Maori warrior, and under his influence they kept the Hau
Haus at bay all that day and night, and might have held out, had not
Te Kooti resorted to stratagem and by a foul piece of treachery
succeeded in entering the works early the following morning, when he
caused every living being, regardless of sex and age, to be massacred
in cold blood.
He then turned his attention to the other pah, Hiruharama, which was
garrisoned by only ten men, but also contained many women and
children. Here he again tried treachery, but this time failed, as the
defenders had seen what had happened at Huke and were determined to
die fighting. He therefore had to commence to sap up to the
palisades, which were old and rotten, but the nature of the ground,
very hard limestone, delayed him.
It was now that Trooper George Hill chipped in and took a hand.
Te Kooti's lightning raid had been well conceived and brilliantly
carried out, but luck was decidedly in his favour, as unfortunately it
so chanced that the officers in charge of the safety of Hawke's Bay
district were on the whole a very poor lot, as far as efficiency went.
Many of the regular Colonial officers had been killed or rendered
_hors de combat_ during the previous twelve months, the remainder were
with the Field Forces at the front, so that the duty of guarding the
settlements was left in the hands of the militia or volunteer
officers, and these were quite unfit to cope with Te Kooti.
They had plenty of good men, both friendly natives and volunteers,
with a sufficiency of Armed Constabulary (the Colonial Regulars) to
give them backbone, but the officers (unfortunately) considered
discretion to be the better part of valour and mistook timidity for
prudence, so much so that they missed their chance and covered
themselves with something like disgrace. At Te Wairoa the O.C. had at
his disposal 50 mounted men, 25 of whom were Armed Constabulary,
splendidly trained and mounted, the other 25 armed settlers, all good
men. He also had 200 friendly natives, and the whole of these men were
simply spoiling for a fight.
With one half of them he could have saved the Huke Pah, and cut up the
Hau Haus, very many of whom had sacked the public-house and were lying
about dead drunk; but he did nothing, for on receipt of the news,
which was quickly confirmed, and although he was quite aware of the
weakness of the pah's garrison, he asserted he still had doubts as to
the truth of his information and only despatched Trooper George Hill,
of the Armed Constabulary, to see if Te Kooti was really playing high
jinks at the Mohaka.
Trooper Hill left Te Wairoa, on horseback, and rode in the direction
of the Mohaka. About half-way he met two mounted settlers, Lamplough
and Burton, who, having heard of Te Kooti's advent, were doing a scout
on their own; these men at once offered to accompany him, and did so.
On reaching the vicinity of the Mohaka they dismounted, tied up their
horses and crept up a ridge from which they could observe the place.
From this point of vantage they could see the Huke Pah, with the flag
still flying, and also the puffs of smoke from the rifle pits of the
enemy, so that they were fairly able to judge the number of the
attackers and locate the positions they occupied.
As there could now be no longer any doubt that Te Kooti and his gang
were on the warpath, Trooper Hill, leaving the two settlers, both of
them good men, on the ridge to observe the enemy, mounted his horse
and returned towards the camp as fast as he could get his horse to go.
Unfortunately his horse knocked up, but just then he met three of his
comrades, who had been sent out to look for him. Despatching one of
them to Te Wairoa with his report, Hill and the other two men, Tew and
Mitchell, returned to Mohaka. Here they tied up their horses and
joined the settlers on the ridge, so as to keep the enemy under
observation and be able to supply the O.C. of the relieving force with
information.
Of course the A.C. troopers never doubted that a relieving force would
be sent at once, probably wondered why there was not one on the job
already; but they were not accustomed to militia officers. Their own
officers had no use for timidity, and regarded prudence and discretion
as very good horses only to be trotted out at long intervals; anyhow,
not one of the men on the ridge would have believed an angel, had he
informed them that no relieving party would be sent at all.
The five men remained on the ridge till after dark, and then descended
to the flat where they had tied up their horses. They had, however,
been guilty of an act of folly, insomuch that they had not left one of
their number in charge of their mounts, for on reaching the place
where they had left them tied up they found one of them had broken his
tether rope and had levanted. As it was necessary to find the brute,
Hill and Tew started away on foot to do so, each man taking his own
line of search. The other men, instead of remaining quiet, waited a
few minutes, then mounted their horses and rode over the flat to
assist in the hunt. While doing so, in the pitch darkness, they
stumbled over Tew and foolishly challenged him in Maori. He promptly
answered with a carbine shot that killed Lamplough's horse. Burton,
fancying Tew to be a Hau Hau, returned the fire, his horse at once
bucking him off and galloping away. The third man, Trooper Mitchell,
hearing the firing and the galloping of the horses, thought they were
attacked by the enemy, so, shouting to Hill to run, he rode as hard as
he could in the direction he fancied his comrade had taken, in order
to assist him. He had not gone far when his horse turned turtle over
a flax bush, fell with him, getting away and galloping off. All of the
five men were now dismounted, each man thinking he was surrounded by
Hau Haus, so they all bolted for an adjacent flax swamp and hid in the
water all the remainder of the night--a just punishment for their
carelessness and folly. Daylight revealed the fiasco, and as they were
dismounted they took cover and waited for the relief party that did
not come.
Towards midday 100 Maoris turned up under the command of a grand old
fighting chief, Ihaka Whanga, but less than 30 of them were to be
relied on, the rest semi Hau Haus, as much to be feared as trusted.
At once the ridge was lined and Hill saw that the Huke Pah had fallen,
but that the Hiruharama Pah still held out though closely invested.
The garrison, seeing friends on the ridge, shouted to them for
assistance, as there were not enough men to hold the place should it
be rushed. Among Ihaka Whanga's party were twenty-five Mohaka men, and
these were the boys ready and willing to grasp at any plan, no matter
how desperate, to relieve their relations and save the honour of their
pah. George Hill was the man for the emergency. He explained the only
plan was to cut their way through the besiegers. He was game to lead,
were the twenty-five game to follow? Of course they were. So, without
any thought of prudence, discretion, or even modesty, Hill whipped off
his boots, tunic, and riding breeches, so as to be able to run the
better, and the gallant twenty-six, shouting their war-cry, charged
the Hau Hau rifle pits.
Yes, they charged and charged home, for they broke their way, by sheer
pluck and hard hitting, right through the ranks of the enemy (Hill
killing his man _en route_) and reached the gate of the pah, which
they entered, only two of them being wounded during the rush.
The men left on the ridge opened fire on the Hau Hau rifle pits, until
Te Kooti sent a party to take them in the rear, when the untrustworthy
natives all bolted, the four white men retired, and only old Ihaka
with two of his men were left. These three splendid warriors held the
position to the last gasp, then Ihaka gave the word to scatter and try
to get away. The two men were caught and killed, but the old veteran
managed to elude his pursuers and reach Te Wairoa in safety, where he
gave the O.C. his opinion of his conduct.
On Hill entering the pah he found it to be manned by small boys and
girls, standing on mounds of earth and stones to enable them to fire
over the parapet, and that even with his twenty-five men he had not
nearly enough hands to man the works. He at once went to the point of
the greatest danger, a bastion, and could hear the Hau Haus sapping
through the hard ground. He quickly noticed that the palisades were
rotten, so much so that if the enemy could sap near enough to throw a
pole, attached to a long rope, over the fence, a strong pull on the
rope would cause such a breach that a storming party could at once
enter, when numbers must gain the day. Fortunately there was in the
pah a number of oxen chains; the ends of these he made fast to the big
corner posts of the work, and passed the chains outside the weak
palisades, so rendering that style of attack abortive.
[Illustration: A MAORI GIRL.]
In the bastion with him he had only two men, two small boys and three
little girls, supplemented occasionally by the Maori clergyman, who,
between long prayers for the safety of his flock, hurled all the
vituperations and cuss words to be found in the sacred writings at the
heads of Te Kooti and his followers.
Hill, when he entered the pah, was famished for want of food; he
naturally asked for some, and was furnished with a cup of tea, one
biscuit and one apple. Surprised at such meagre fare, tendered by the
most hospitable people on earth, he asked for more and then
ascertained that the food he had just eaten was the very last
particles of provisions the place contained. But the garrison swore
that before they surrendered they would eat their own children rather
than let them fall into the hands of Te Kooti.
All the remainder of that day and the ensuing night heavy firing was
kept up, the Hau Haus attempting to tear down the palisades; but they
were, thanks to Hill's dodge with the oxen chains, unable to gain an
entrance, although the defenders had frequently to rush from side to
side of the works to oppose them. At daylight next morning it was
discovered the enemy had constructed a line of rifle pits, close to
the front face of the pah, on which were hoisted flags, and at
sunrise, with much bugling, volley after volley was poured into the
defenders' works.
Hill mustered his scanty and tired garrison to repel the expected
rush, and lay quiet, having directed his men to reserve their fire
till the rush was made.
After some considerable time had passed the flags were suddenly
withdrawn, the bugling and volleys ceased, and a dead silence ensued.
The defenders, on the qui vive for some fresh devilry, sat tight,
until one of them, unable to stand the suspense any longer, crept out
and crawled to the edge of the cliff to reconnoitre. He reached the
edge, took one glance, and was on his feet in a second, letting out a
wild whoop of triumph. Out tumbled man, woman and child; they lined
the edge of the cliff, and with one accord broke into a wild war-dance
(the parson leading), for still close, but in full retreat, they saw
Te Kooti and his baffled gang of murderers. Oh, but it was a glorious
triumph, and must be celebrated with befitting honours, that the great
false prophet with his much-feared, blood-smeared warriors had to turn
their backs on a nearly defenceless pah, whose garrison consisted
chiefly of women and children.
Trooper George Hill, however, had his duty to perform; he had no time
for feasts nor triumphs, for although the Maoris begged him to remain,
assuring him the roads would be ambuscaded, he caught one of Te
Kooti's knocked-up horses and started along the Napier Road, so as to
convey the intelligence that the Hau Haus had retreated. Twelve miles
along the track he met with the advance guard of the relieving column,
who had taken three days to do a journey that should have been
completed in eight hours. The men, mad with the procrastination and
incompetency of their officers, were nearly in a state of mutiny, but
it was of no avail; for although Trooper Hill reported Te Kooti had
retreated, and offered to guide the mounted men on his track, and at
all events regain the plunder, nothing was done, and the Hau Haus were
allowed to retire in peace.
There is no need for me to say any more about the officers, plenty was
said about them at the time they were incapable; let them rip.
Trooper Hill, however, did not think he had yet finished his work, for
as soon as he had snatched a bite of food he volunteered to go out and
scout for some of the unfortunate white women and children who were
known to be fugitives or hidden in the wild bush and fern ranges. This
he did, and succeeded in finding, relieving and bringing into safety
several of the wretched, starving creatures, who otherwise must have
died from privations.
Trooper George Hill received the New Zealand Cross, and I for one say
he richly deserved it, not only for the courage he displayed in
action, but also his gallant conduct saved the honour and repute of
the white man amongst the friendly Maoris who were disgusted by the
unfortunate behaviour of the officers.