One major engagement stands out in the advance on Huirangi and Te Arei. Early in the morning of Wednesday 23 January, 140 Maori under the Te Atiawa chief Hapurona, and Rewi Maniapoto and Epiha Tokohihi of Ngati Maniapoto, attacked No 3 Redoubt (Fig. 11), held by nearly 400 British troops (Taranaki Herald 26 January 1861; GBPP 1862). The storming party is said to have been made up of ‘…volunteers from Ngatimaniapoto, Ngatihaua, Waikato proper, and Ngatiawa; “rangatira kau,” (all chiefs) is the expression of the wounded prisoner’ (Taranaki Herald 26 January 1861). Three hundred others were held in support, with more reserves said to number close to 1000 nearby (Taranaki Herald 26 January 1861; Grayling 1862: 93). During the engagement which lasted one and a half hours, 250 troops came up from Kairau Redoubt. The bloodiest fighting took place in the redoubt ditch, where the garrison threw live shells over the parapet among the close-packed Maori, and troops from rear positions drove out the attacking force.

The Taranaki Herald 26 Jan 1861. Great Britain Parliamentary Papers (GBPP) 1862 [2835] Vol. XXXVII, pp. 10–12. Grayling, W.I. 1862. The war in Taranaki, during the years 1860-61. New Plymouth, G.W. Woon. Belich, J. 1986. The New Zealand Wars: and the Victorian interpretation of racial conflict. Auckland, Auckland University Press AWMM