Māori chivalry during a British defeat: 150 years of remembering Gate Pā

Abstract

Battles are remembered and commemorated for different reasons; some, like Gettysburg and the Somme, are noted for casualty figures and others, like Waterloo and D-Day, as turning points while a few are remembered for bravery against impossible odds like Bannockburn, Rorke's Drift and the Kokoda Trail. Popular imagination celebrated foolhardy bravery, like the Light Brigade's charge at Balaklava and Custer's last stand at Little Big Horn, but one unique battle at Gate Pā on 29 April 1864 stands out for the chivalric code of conduct under which it was fought.