Invasion
Maniapoto was decisively beaten in every battle by General Cameron during the Land Wars. He made a final stand at Orakau in 1864. Rewi and the Kingitanga (Maori King Movement) rebels were surrounded by the government forces, with limited supplies of food and water. The government forces built a sap (trench) up to within 20m of the pā (earth fort) and threw in hand grenades. Gilbert Mair, an officer who spoke Maori fluently, invited them to surrender or at least let out the woman and children. The Kingites refused, saying they would fight on forever, but at 3:30pm the same day a gun was bought to the head of the sap and shelled the pā at point-blank range. At this the defenders panicked and, leaving 50 toa (warriors) in the pā, the rest made a sudden break through the government lines and into adjacent swamps. All 50 in the pā were killed or taken prisoner. 160 Kingitanga rebels died. Half of the escapees were wounded. Seventeen of the government forces died and 52 were wounded.
Maniapoto stayed in the King Country south of the Punui River with the surviving rebels. He constructed two more pā but the government forces did not follow him into the hills. Maniapoto played host to the rebel Waikato iwi (tribe) but relationships soured when the king tried to exert his authority (mana) over Maniapoto's land. This, together with Maniapoto's refusal to stand and fight at the battle of Rangiriri in 1863, left a bitter note between the two rebel groups. Rewi became concerned at the outbreaks of drunkenness among his people and the murdering of isolated Pakeha (Europeans) travelling in the area. Rewi sheltered the rebel Te Kooti, who had escaped from the Chatham Ialands and then attacked and killed various Maori and European settlers. The king was hostile to Rewi's actions as he did not want the Kingitanga associated with Te Kooti's extreme violence and anti government activity. Eventually he agreed to sell land to the government for the main trunk railway line on the understanding that his men would be paid to cut the bush for the surveyors and no alcohol was to be sold in the King Country. Maniapoto was returned his tribal land at Kihikihi and given a house and a government pension. He became a great friend of Governor Grey and wished to be buried with him.
Rewi Maniapoto used his connections with the government to help the renegade Te Kooti after he left his King Country sanctuary and was arrested at Waioeka Pa near Opotiki.Te Kooti had been pardoned but had broken the conditions of his pardon and was trying to return to his East Coast home where he was highly unpopular with Maori and Pakeha alike. Te Kooti was jailed in Auckland but Rewi used his influence to persuade the authorities, not only to release Te Kooti, but to give him some land in Wanganui.
Read more about this topic: Rewi Maniapoto
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