Te Kooti's War - Te Kooti and King Tawhio

Te Kooti and King Tawhio

All the Government forces had withdrawn from the Ureweras by 18 May. Despite this the invasion was partially successful, the Tuhoe having had enough of their troublesome guest. In early June Te Kooti and about 150 of his supporters left the area moving towards Lake Taupo in the center of the North Island.

At Opepe, just short of Taupo, they ran into a small party of Militia, who mistook them for their Māori allies: a costly mistake as nine of them were killed with no loss to Te Kooti. The Ringatu then continued on to Taupo and as far as Te Kuiti, where King Tawhio was based.

For various reasons there was very little military activity between June and September 1869. The Government was still very keen to capture Te Kooti, but not at the cost of renewing the war with the King Movement and the Waikato tribes and this was where he was heading. Over the next few weeks Te Kooti tried very hard to persuade the King Movement to become involved in his war, but King Tawhio refused to see him. They did not meet at this time and it is not clear what his position was. Some of the Kingite leaders were for involvement, either active or passive. Others were strongly against it, feeling that the tribes had already suffered enough. Te Kooti still had a small following with a core group of about 40 men and his record for violence was appalling having already been invoved in the murder of some sixty people. Rewi Maniapoto, the warlike leader of Orakau, was in favour of supporting Te Kooti, but even he stopped short of becoming involved in any actual hostilities,realising the days of hoping to beat the New Zealand army in open rebellion were over.