During the First New Zealand (or Flagstaff) War, which broke out after Hone Heke Pokai thrice cut down a flagstaff displaying the Union Flag on Maiki Hill in the far north of North Island.

The governor, Captain George Grey, led an attack on the Pa (a Maori fortification) at Ruapekapeka after attempts at reconciliation had failed. The Royal Navy landed some heavy artillery to assist in the breach of the stockade, but the assault itself proved something of an anticlimax, since the Pa proved empty - Hone Heke and his men had gone to church, never believing that the British would be so un-Christian as to attack on a Sunday. Grey took no reprisals, the Maoris dispersed their men, and peace returned to that part of the island.