Te Kooti's War - Flight

Flight

Te Kooti and his men fled west and north into the King Country where the Armed Constabulary could not follow them - this would have been seen as a declaration of war. However, Kepa and the Wanganui Māori could do so and were just acceptable to the King and his advisors. They continued the pursuit, officially sanctioned by the Government to do so. Gradually Te Kooti was forced north, reaching Taumarunui on 7 January 1870. At some stage he was joined by Kereopa Te Rau, the infamous eyeball-eater from the Volkner Incident, and between them they mustered about 110 supporters.

North was the only direction open to them: they crossed the Waikato River and reached the vicinity of Matamata by 15 January. Here a wealthy settler, Josiah Firth, attempted to negotiate with the Government on Te Kooti's behalf, but they demanded his unconditional surrender and this was not acceptable to him. From here the refugees moved south and east, back towards the Rotorua area. His enemies were close behind and occasionally he turned and snapped at his pursuers, causing a few deaths, but always he kept retreating.

On 7 February he approached Ohinemutu, now a part of Rotorua but then a major Arawa settlement. Based at Ohinemutu there was normally a force of about 200 Arawa fighters commanded by Gilbert Mair. But they had been posted many kilometres away to the west to assist in the search for the men now approaching their home. In fact they had been very unhappy about this and once it became obvious that Te Kooti had slipped through the net they had insisted on returning to their home base. They traveled in haste through most of the night of 6 February. As dawn rose over the Rotorua area they encountered the trail of Te Kooti and his band. Their forced march then became a desperate race.

Meanwhile Te Kooti was approaching Ohinemutu. It is unclear what his intentions were - despite the white flag they were assumed to be hostile as he had previously used the same flag to approach settlers,soldiers and loyal Maori before suddenly attacking them. Thirdly, the Arawa were the main government Maori troops being used to hunt down Te Kooti and it had been Te Kooti's common pattern to extract utu from those who opposed his cult. Fourthly, Te Kooti claimed he had one of his followers had written a letter asking for permission to pass through Arawa land but as he had been in Arawa land for some time already without permission, this was seen by Mair as a ruse. Mair also had several original letters written by Te Kooti with him, so he knew the letter to the Arawa was from Te Kooti himself. Mair and about 30 of his warriors arrived at a run at the last and most dramatic moment. They discarded the white flag being held by an Arawa elder and began shooting at the approaching Ringatu. This was the beginning of a running battle that lasted 24 hours and ended only when Te Kooti fled the area, retreating once again into the Urewera Mountains. He had lost many, including two of his senior lieutenants and quantities of supplies, food, bedding and ammunition.

Te Kooti was now quite definitely a refugee. In reality he had been a hunted man since Te Porere four months previously, but following Ohinemutu his movements were dictated far more by his pursuing enemies than by his own wishes or plans.