Māori Defenders Refuse to Surrender at Ōrākau

In late March 1864, Māori combatants constructed a compact fortification at the village of Ōrākau, near Kihikihi. The site measured roughly thirty metres by twelve metres, enclosed within an earthwork parapet and an outer post-and-rail fence. A force of between 200 and 250 warriors, drawn predominantly from the Tūhoe and Ngāti Raukawa tribes alongside Ngāti Maniapoto, garrisoned the redoubt under the leadership of Rewi Maniapoto. About fifty women and children were also inside. Although Rewi had initially opposed making a stand there, citing the vulnerability of the position and its complete lack of an internal water supply, he conceded to the wishes of allied warriors who had traveled across the North Island to oppose the colonial forces.

Colonial authorities quickly discovered the position. On 30 March, surveyors working at Kihikihi spotted the new entrenchments through a telescope and alerted Brigadier General G. J. Carey. Carey promptly dispatched three columns totalling 1,120 imperial soldiers and colonial militia, arriving at the location before sunrise the next morning. Initial frontal assaults against the unfinished parapets were repulsed by controlled volleys from the defenders. Recognizing that direct charges would prove costly, Carey ordered his men to encircle the redoubt and commenced an artillery bombardment from two Armstrong guns, while engineering teams began excavating a zigzagging sap to approach the western defences under cover.