British and colonial forces discover at Gate…

British and colonial forces discover at Gate Pā, during the 1864 Tauranga Campaign. that frontal attacks on a defended pā are extremely costly.

Gate Pā is the name of a Māori Pā or fortress built in 1864 only five kilometers (three point one miles) from the main British base of Camp Te Papa at Tauranga, during the Tauranga Campaign of the New Zealand Land Wars.

The name pā comes from its appearance; the palisade looks like a picket fence while a higher part in the middle resembles a gate.

Māori withstand a day-long bombardment in their bomb shelters.

The palisade destroyed, the British troops rush the pā whereupon Māori fire on them from hidden trenches, killing thirty-eight and injuring many more in the most costly battle for the Pākehā of the New Zealand Wars.

Maori losses are said to be twenty-five dead.

Many of the British casualties are thought to have been friendly fire incidents as the long shots by artillery landed on British troops on the other side.

This may have been due to the muddy conditions which effected the stability of the artillery guns.

The troops retire and Māori abandon the pā.

After the battle, the British soldiers follow the survivors to Te Ranga, where their continuous fire preventsthe rebels building a strong pā.

When reinforcement arrive from Waikato, the Ngaiterangi are again attacked and easily defeated - the Maori defenders suffering one hundred and seven dead and two soldiers winning VCs.

To contemporaries, Gate Pā is seen as the shattering defeat it in fact has been.

The perception is that seventeen hundred elite British troops had been defeated by two hundred and thirty half naked savages.

The arrogance of the settlers and the hubris of the British Empire have taken a serious blow.

Governor George Grey comes down to Tauranga and began peace negotiations.

Cameron returns to Auckland, leaving Colonel Greer in command, with orders to patrol aggressively and, if he finds Maori digging in or attempting to create a pa, to attack immediately and disrupt the work.