Battle of Rangiriri
- When
- 20 November 1863
- Where
- Rangiriri
- Reach
- Local
The bloodiest single engagement of the Waikato campaign, ending when a white flag raised to parley was treated as surrender.
Repeated assaults on the central redoubt failed at heavy cost — around 47 British and 50 Māori dead. Next morning defenders raised a flag seeking to negotiate; troops entered the pā and took 183 prisoners. Whether it was a misunderstanding or a deception is still argued. The prisoners were held on a hulk in Auckland Harbour and later exiled to the Chathams, from where Te Kooti would escape in 1868.
Regions affected
Sources
Written for this project from these references rather than copied from them. Follow a link to check the account against the original.
Related
Invasion of the Waikato
Te riri ki Waikato
Around 12,000 imperial and colonial troops crossed the Mangatāwhiri to break the Kīngitanga — the largest military campaign ever fought in New Zealand.
MangatāwhiriBattle of Ōrākau
About 300 defenders held an unfinished pā against 1,400 troops for three days, then broke out through the British lines in daylight.
ŌrākauTe Rauparaha’s migration to Kapiti
Ngāti Toa left Kāwhia and fought their way south, seizing Kapiti Island as a base that controlled Cook Strait and the trade passing through it.
Kapiti IslandThe Musket Wars
Musket-armed war parties reshaped the map of Māori New Zealand. Perhaps 20,000 died and whole districts changed hands before the fighting burned out around 1840.