Service memories / by Sir A.D. Home ; edited by Charles H. Melville.
- Home, A. D. (Anthony Dickson), Sir, 1826-1914.
- Date:
- 1912
Licence: In copyright
Credit: Service memories / by Sir A.D. Home ; edited by Charles H. Melville. Source: Wellcome Collection.
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![AN EPISODE IN THE NEW ZEALAND WAR (1864) [Surgeon Home returned home in April, 1862, and re- mained there till January, 1863, when he sailed for India, serving in Bengal till October, when he was sent to the scene of active operations in New Zealand.] In the latter stage of the Maori War of 1863-64 I was attached to the force under Lieutenant-General Cameron, operating in the country east of what was then called Nara- wahia. The district reached was not only possessed and lived in by the natives, but no European had settled there. It was even said, probably incorrectly, that no white man had ever been in this part of New Zealand before the troops arrived in the fine, open, well-watered, fertile country through which the Hora Tien River ran to join the Waikato. The Maori did not oppose the invaders at this point; but, driving away his horses and cattle, left the little settlements, taking every soul with him, westward to Te Awamutu, where he concentrated and constructed a “ Pah,” awaiting our attack in it. The attack was promptly made, but unsuccess- fully, by the troops already at Te Awamutu, who were repelled with a relatively considerable loss. This was not the first similar repulse we had met with in the war when attacking the native fortified post, nor was it to be the last. The Maori was, however, as it was thought, blocked in his Pah, and hunger would do the rest. But, to the astonish- ment of all, after a time, and in broad daylight, these in- trepid men, accompanied by their women and children, suddenly left the Pah and broke away into the Bush, sus- taining some loss.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b28994760_0341.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
