After Heke and Kawiti's sacking of the Bay of Islands town of Kororāreka in March 1845, the opening act of the Flagstaff War, the British retaliated with a punitive expedition to the area.

After destroying the pā (hillfort) of a local chief at nearby Otuihu on 30 April, the British moved inland, led by a Māori ally, Tāmati Wāka Nene.

[1] In the Bay of Islands, dissatisfaction and resentment at the Crown's interference in local matters soon arose, with many Māori believing that its actions, such as introducing custom fees and the relocation of the colony's capital from Okiato south to the new settlement of Auckland, were contrary to their understanding of the Treaty of Waitangi.

As a protest, between July 1844 and January 1845, Heke chopped down the flagstaff, which was a symbol of British control, at the town of Kororāreka on three separate occasions.

[5] Following the last felling of the flagstaff, Governor Robert FitzRoy significantly increased the military presence in Kororāreka, sending 140 men of the 96th Regiment from Auckland to reinforce the existing garrison of 30 soldiers.

Heke, who had achieved his objective, called a truce at midday; it was never his intention to threaten the residents of Kororāreka but to force redress from the Crown colony government for his grievances.

[10][11] On hearing news of Kororāreka, receiving its refugees and fearing a Ngāpuhi attack on Auckland, a number of that town's settlers sold their property and sailed for Australia.

[12] Lacking resources for an immediate response to the Ngāpuhi threat, FitzRoy asked for reinforcements from Sir George Gipps, the Governor of New South Wales.

[10][11] FitzRoy found a Māori ally in the Bay of Islands in the form of Tāmati Wāka Nene, another rangatira of the Ngāpuhi iwi but one aligned with the Crown.

Nene's proposed route, to which Hulme agreed, was advantageous in that it offered a better opportunity to surprise Heke, required fewer river crossings, and would also mean any attacks on the British as they marched to Puketutu would occur over open ground.

Nene, out of respect for the missionaries' desire to not have soldiers on their property, also bypassed the mission station at Waimate which lay on the route of the march.

[33][34] There was high ground to both the northwest and eastern sides, the latter backing onto dense bush in the direction of the extinct volcano Te Ahuahu.

The innermost palisade of close set posts had a large stone breastwork on the inside, and trench firing positions, wide enough for a person, dug all round the outside.

The outermost palisade, of smaller 255-millimetre (10.0 in) diameter posts, supported the pekerangi or ball-proof screen of flax, set above the ground to enable a view of the enemy at that level.

[15][16] In terms of weaponry, in the 1840s, Māori warriors had a variety of traditional close combat weapons available to them: taiaha (striking staffs) and mere or patu (war clubs).

[30] Despite this, Hulme was confident of success, as were his men, one going as far as to later claim to historian James Cowan that they "expected to make short work of Johnny Heke".

[19][39] Hulme initially envisaged making a frontal assault, physically pulling down the palisades to gain access but Nene talked him out of this, considering that there would be heavy losses.

[30] At 10:00 am, the British parties began to move, bayonets fixed, to their starting positions for the attack which involved traversing the ground between the south side of the pā and Lake Ōmāpere.

[20][30] According to Frederick Maning, a notable settler who was well connected to the Ngāpuhi, the failure of the rockets may have provided Heke's men with a morale boost, as they were convinced that this was as a result of protective rituals performed during the construction of the pā.

[22][35][43] Nene's taua of 300 warriors was not actively involved in the attack on the pā but provided cover fire as the British forces withdrew from the field.

Crosby notes that this was likely to have been important in deterring Heke's men from sallying from the pā and attacking the soldiers as they cleared the battlefield of the British wounded during their withdrawal.

[47] After spending a damp night at Ōkaihau with minimal food and cover, Hulme withdrew his demoralised force to Kerikeri, abandoning the prospect of any further attacks at Puketutu.

In the meantime, Kawiti and his taua withdrew from Puketutu, carrying their dead and wounded, moving to Pakaraka on the way to Waiōmio, their home region.

[43][46][48] Hulme had estimated that around 200 of Heke and Kawiti's warriors had been killed or wounded at Puketutu;[49] however his official report did not state this number, only that their losses "must have been great".

[50] FitzRoy, on receiving Hulme's report of the engagement, declared that the battle was a major victory for the British, and that Heke and Kawiti had taken 200 casualties and were "beaten and dispersed".

[41][46][51] The mutual cooperation between the respective forces of Kawiti and Heke was important to their success in the battle, an aspect not given much credit by contemporary reports at the time.

[32][46][51] With the British temporarily leaving the field, Nene and Heke's forces fought an engagement at nearby Te Ahuahu on 12 June; the latter was defeated and seriously wounded in the battle.

By this time, Nene wanted an end to the fighting in the Bay of Islands while Heke and Kawiti lacked the necessary supplies and manpower for an extended campaign.

The three Māori rangatira agreed to lower arms and in return, Nene obtained a pardon for Heke and Kawiti from Grey thus ending the Flagstaff War.

[57] As of 2010, the site of the Battle of Puketutu[Note 4] is privately owned farmland, used for grazing livestock, about 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) from present day Ōkaihau.