Musket Wars - The Account of A Musket War Expedition By Henry Williams

The Account of A Musket War Expedition By Henry Williams

The most comprehensive written account of a war expedition or heke was written by missionary Henry Williams. This heke was a consequence of the so-called Girls' War, which was a fight that occurred on the beach at Kororareka, Bay of Islands in March 1830 between northern and southern hapū within the Ngāpuhi iwi. Hengi, a chief of Whangaroa, was shot and killed while he attempted to stop the fighting. The duty of seeking revenge had passed to Mango and Kakaha, the sons of Hengi; they took the view that the death of their father should be acknowledged through a muru (war expedition to honour the death of an important chief), against tribes to the south. It was within Māori traditions to conduct a muru against tribes who had no involvement in the events that caused the death of the chief.

Mango and Kakaha did not commence the muru until January 1832. Henry Willams accompanied the first expedition, without necessarily believing that he could end the fighting, but with the intention of continuing to persuade the combatants as to Christian teaching of peace and goodwill. The journal of Henry Williams provides an extensive account of this expedition, In this expedition Mango and Kakaha were successful in fights on the Mercury Islands and Tauranga, with the muru continuing until late July 1832.

When the heke set out it had no leader and each group of toa set out with its own chief at its own pace and acted independently with no common leader or plan. Henry Williams accompanied the heke with the idea of preventing bloodshed, and so was able to document the haphazard and leisurely progress of the warriors going south. Much time was spent fishing and collecting fern root and by various hapū going off by themselves to carry out minor attacks. Although the first group had set off on 10 Dec, by March 1 the following year the heke had only reached Tairua. Henry Williams estimated there were 600 fighting men plus a small number of women and children. Many of the waka carried cannon. On March 7 the 80 waka strong fleet went to attack a pā at Otumoetai and exchanged long range fire with the pā. Henry Williams noted the casualness of the women and children in particular who paid little heed to the flying lead. Children dug up spent lead bullets as they fell. Traders in the cutter Fairey sold cannons, shot and powder to the Māori on credit.

On 3 April 1832 there was more fighting on a beach at Otumoetai and Ngāpuhi were victorious. After this the heke spluttered to a close with the majority groups returning to the north by the end of July though Titore did not return until 27 November 1832. Henry Williams noted that he returned with the heads of 14 enemy and three of his own kin. Henry Williams also noted that the Ngāpuhi had stopped fighting on Sunday, even though none of those taking part were Christian. Henry Williams wrote that the number of dead of attackers and defenders was about equal and that no people of rank had been killed. Ballara points out that most of the traditional rituals used in pre-musket days were in everyday use.