The battle cost both sides more than any other engagement of the land wars and also resulted in the capture of 180 Māori prisoners, further reducing the Kingitanga ability to oppose the far larger British force.

[3] On October 31 the British commander, Lieutenant-General Duncan Cameron, landed troops on the banks of the Waikato River 15 km south of Meremere, ready to make an assault on the main fortification from the rear with a total force of 1200 men.

Work on the Rangiriri line had begun before the fall of Meremere with a 500 m[4] long double ditch dug between the Waikato River and Lake Kopuera.

The defences consisted solely of earthworks, with no palisading, while the redoubt, whose low profile meant it escaped detection by Cameron on river-borne reconnaissance missions on 30 October and 18 November, was deceptively strong.

A second division, consisting of 320 men of the 40th Regiment under Lieut-Colonel Arthur Leslie with another 200 seamen and marines as a backup, were transported by barge further south with the aim of gaining possession of a ridge 500 metres behind the main entrenchment and cutting off any escape.

At 4.45pm, Leslie's division had still not landed because of strong flood currents and adverse winds but Cameron—concerned about the onset of darkness and the risk that his enemy would again escape—decided to launch his southward frontal attack.

They reached the trenches at the river side of the fortification, bridged them with planks and managed to penetrate the Māori line, possibly because much of the garrison had moved to the central redoubt to fend off the attack.

Cameron ordered a detachment of 36 Royal Artillery, armed with revolvers and swords, to storm the central redoubt, resulting in more deaths, including Captain Mercer.

A second wave, this time of Royal Navy men armed with rifle and cutlass, was also cut down, and further assaults were made with hand-grenades thrown into the redoubt by seamen.

[1] After being subject to intermittent grenade attacks during the night by soldiers who had stayed in the wet trenches, Māori raised a white flag over the parapet around 5 am, expecting to talk terms with Cameron.

[5] Although historian James Cowan claimed the garrison unconditionally surrendered because they had run out of ammunition, Belich says this is false; the bulk of evidence shows they still had a plentiful supply in the morning.

"Cameron had had eight assaults on the central redoubt bloodily repulsed, and it was not surprising that he should seize his chance rather than risk more of his men, particularly in the case of what he perceived as a 'savage' enemy.

They were initially held on the Marion, an old coal hulk in Waitematā Harbour before being moved to the disused copper mine smelter on Kawau Island, north of Auckland.

[13] Dr Arini Loader, a lecturer at Victoria University of Wellington, has stated that there was a rumour at the time the ship was going to be towed out to the ocean and sunk.

[15] Two Victoria Crosses were awarded after the battle: one to Assistant Surgeon William Temple for disregarding his own welfare in attending to the wounded during the assaults at the end of the day and another to Lieutenant Arthur Pickard for showing courage in running through enemy fire to reach Cameron and seek help.

Several Waikato chiefs including Te Wharepu expressed a willingness to negotiate and on 8 December the Kingite capital at Ngāruawāhia was abandoned and then taken by Cameron's troops.

But Māori were still opposed to the British demands of submitting to the Queen and surrendering all arms and lands and began building further defences south of Ngāruawāhia.

Te Wheoro, who served as a magistrate in the Native Land Court—and about 30 of his men manned the wooden redoubt until 1868 to prevent any disruption by Kingites to the British supply line.

The site was returned to Waikato-Tainui by the Minister of Conservation Hon Maggie Barry on 19 August 2016 at a ceremony at Tūrangawaewae Marae during the Māori King Tuheitia 10th Coronation anniversary.