With the Lost Legion in New Zealand

The War against the Maoris of New Zealand

The author of this book, sometimes known as ‘Maori Browne,’ had a long career as a colonial soldier. He left posterity with three books based either on his career or the experiences of men he knew. They focus on warfare as experienced by men like himself—tough, resourceful individuals who enjoyed fighting and were expert marksmen, horsemen and seasoned campaigners. Irrespective of who they were and where they fought Browne affectionately refers to them as the ‘Lost Legion’—those upon whose blood and toil the British Empire (in his opinion) was built but who received scant recognition, praise or reward for their sacrifices. Browne writes in the thoroughly entertaining and often amusing ‘gung-ho’ style of the Victorian Imperialist. He intends to ‘spin a good yarn’ and in that he succeeds magnificently, possibly ‘with advantages.’ Some doubt has been cast on Browne’s veracity since his own Maori War experiences as a despatch rider took place after the end of hostilities, however, to be fair to him, the principal figure in With the Lost Legion in New Zealand bears a fictional name though the contents are undoubtedly mostly factual. The anecdotal ‘yarns’ in Camp Fire Yarns of the Lost Legion are also attributed to others. There can be no doubt about Browne’s Zulu War experiences however. He writes in the first person and was present as the British invaded Zululand. As an officer of the N. N. C. Browne was present at Isandlwhana camp both before and after the battle and took an active role in the campaign making his a genuine ‘first hand’ voice of the period. For those interested in the wars of the Queen Empress all three of Browne’s books are available from Leonaur in a complementary set.
Leonaur editions are newly typeset and are not facsimiles; each title is available in softcover and hardback with dustjacket.

It was now high time to put a limit to Titokowaru’s capers, so the colonel therefore ordered a field force to pay him a visit on the 6th November, the said force to consist of Nos. 1, 2, 3 and 6 Divisions of the Armed Constabulary, two small parties of the Patea volunteers, together with the Kupapas, a nice, handy taua (war party), being about two hundred and fifty white men and four hundred natives.<br>
At six a.m. on the morning of the 7th we found ourselves outside the bush within which at a distance of about four hundred yards we expected to find the stronghold of the Hau Haus, and we had been informed that it only consisted of a simple stockade. This was false, as we afterwards discovered it to be one of the strongest and most cunningly constructed works ever built by Maoris.<br>
The O.C. orders were that Te Kepa with twenty-five men of No. 1 Division and one hundred Kupapas should work his way through the bush to the right rear of the pah; an hour being allowed him to carry out this movement.<br>
The order was successfully obeyed, Te Kepa penetrating to the point assigned him, and lying down within forty yards of the pah itself.<br>
It was now a regrettable incident happened through Colonel Whit more ‘s ignorance of Maori customs, for he involuntarily or otherwise insulted an important Maori chief, upon which the remaining Kupapas refused to enter the bush or fight, thereby preventing the surrounding of the pahs, and the shutting up of Titokowaru inside it, which, had it been done, would have forced him to surrender notwithstanding the defeat of our storming party, as we afterwards ascertained the Hau Haus had neglected to provision their stronghold and must have been starved out in three days. But then Colonel Whitmore, notwithstanding the fact that he was a brilliant soldier, greatly lacked tact, and seemed to take a delight in, or at all events to be utterly callous about, injuring the feelings of his subordinates, a failing that more than once cost us dearly, anyhow it was to do so on this occasion.<br>
As soon as the allotted time had expired Major Hunter was ordered, with fifty of No. 3 Division and some other details, to advance as a storming party, myself and Tim being in the crowd, and attack the front of the pah, which we believed to be a simple stockade, and quite four hundred yards if not farther in the bush.<br>
A well-defined dray road led straight into the forest, along which we marched in close order, and before we had proceeded two hundred yards we came to a clearing. This clearing was only a narrow one, perhaps sixty yards across, but what made it look ominous was that all the tree stumps had been extracted, leaving no cover for a rabbit, while the undergrowth on the far side seemed unnaturally dense. However Major Hunter, who led in person, gave the order to double and we dashed across it.<br>
The morning was a damp and slightly foggy one in early summer, a light mist rising from the ground in spiral wreaths and curling away among the trees looked very beautiful in the rising sun.<br>
We could see nothing of a stockade, in fact I do not think Major Hunter realised we had reached the pah, and it was afterwards ascertained that on this side of the pah there was no palisading at all, but that the Hau Haus had made a breastwork by rolling the logs of huge trees into a line, over which they fired, while in front they had made with the branches interwoven with undergrowth and ground vines an impenetrable abatis. They had also masked the work most cleverly, and as a dead silence brooded over their position there was nothing to show that the scrub was occupied.<br>
At a steady double we crossed the clearing, reaching within fifteen yards of the far side, when a single shot rang out, followed quickly by two more.<br>
“Charge,” shouted Hunter, but before we could quicken our pace up went a terrific war yell, a sheet of flame and smoke met us full in the face, a sheet of lead tore through our ranks and the roar of over two hundred rifles and guns went echoing among the trees.<br>
Down in a heap fell a third of our number, but the groans and cries of the wounded were smothered by the frantic cheer of us men left on our feet as we made a wild rush at the undergrowth, so as to get to hand-grip with our enemies. It was in vain, the network of well-woven vines and creepers was impervious, while their elasticity simply bounced us back, when in desperation we hurled our bodies against them.<br>
“Out tomahawk,” I howled. “Here, Tim, you and half-a-dozen men cover us,” and my subdivision sprang at the entanglement, trying to chop our way through the tough lianas so as to open a path for the rest.<br>
The distance between ourselves and the yelling Hau Haus was not great, not more than twelve feet, but we could not win through, for resting their gun barrels on the boles of the fallen trees they discharged them right in our faces, mine being severely scorched by the flash from one of them.<br>
In a moment the four men who had followed me with their tomahawks were shot dead, and Major Hunter ordered me back, directing me to retire my men a few yards, lie down and open fire.<br>
This we did, and although much hampered by dead and wounded comrades, for more than half of our men were by this time hors de combat, we lay down ten yards from the bush in extended order and opened a well-directed fire, aiming at the line of the enemy’s flashes.<br>
It was now the saddest event of the day happened. We had been firing for some minutes, and had already caused the enemy’s fire to slacken and grow wilder, when Major Hunter walked up and down our line, an action quite unnecessary, as our men were behaving, if not talking, like angels.<br>
“Lie down, sir, for God’s sake, lie down,” shouted some of the men, who all loved him dearly. “There is no need to expose yourself, sir; we’ll stand by you, sir, to the last grip.”<br>
But he refused to do so, saying: “No, no, boys; I must show the world today I am no coward.”