d them, while they lay hid among the
brushwood. Not till he had breathed his last, and they had covered up
his body with branches, did they think of seeking their own safety by
making their way towards the redoubt.
In the same truly devoted manner Privates Thomas and Cole had remained
all the night with Lieutenant Butler. The dying officer complained
bitterly of the cold, and not only did the two brave fellows cover him
up with their own greatcoats, but one of them, Thomas, took off his own
serge shirt and put it on him. They knew full well that their suffering
superior would not live to report their conduct, or to reward them, and
that very probably they would themselves be slaughtered by the savages.
In the above narrative, we find an exhibition of courage, judgment,
discipline, coolness, devotion, and affection rarely surpassed.
Sergeant McKenna obtained the Victoria Cross and his commission.
INCIDENTS OF A SKIRMISH IN NEW ZEALAND, IN THE WAR OF 1865,
LIEUTENANT-COLONEL HAVELOCK COMMANDING.
GALLANTRY OF CAPTAIN HEAPHY, A.R.V.
That British militia and volunteers, when opportunity offers, possess no
lack of gallantry, they have often given proof, especially in the Cape
Colony and New Zealand.
In the last war in New Zealand, Colonel Waddy, C.B., was in command of
the advance force of the British, composed of regulars, militia, and
volunteers, at Paterangi near a native pah or fort.
Under him was serving Lieutenant-Colonel Havelock.
To the right, facing the pah, at some distance from the camp, the river
Mangapiko forms a complete bow or loop. At the narrow end or knot there
is an old native pah, with the river flowing on either side of it.
Inside the loop at the broad end is a thick scrub, and here 100 Maories
from the Paterangi pah had formed an ambush.
A number of soldiers from the camp, unsuspicious of danger, had gone to
the river to bathe directly opposite this scrub, there being a ford at
the spot across the river.
Immediately the natives began to fire on the bathers, the inlying
pickets of the 40th and 50th Regiments turned out, a party under Major
Bowdler going to the right to attack the natives retreating up that part
of the river, while Lieutenant-Colonel Havelock, with the men he could
collect, accompanied by Captain Fisher, Captain Heaphy, and Captain
Jackson, marched rapidly on the left a considerable distance towards the
old pah, to cut off the retreat of the natives who had formed th
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