Two years later, he suppressed a further outbreak of fighting in the area and then led the invasion of the Waikato to deal with the King Movement, a Māori resistance that threatened British sovereignty in the country.

He remained in this post until 1875, at which time he retired from military service with the rank of general and as a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath.

[1] On the entry of the United Kingdom into the Crimean War in 1854, the 42nd Regiment was transferred to Turkey as part of the Highland Brigade, 1st Division, with Cameron still a battalion commander.

[1] In 1859, he served on the Royal Commission on the Defence of the United Kingdom, whose recommendations prompted a huge programme of fortification for British naval dockyards.

[12] Cameron's appointment was at the behest of the War Office which was dissatisfied with the performance of the incumbent, Major-General Thomas Pratt,[1] whose conduct of the fighting in the Taranaki had been the subject of much criticism.

[13] Receiving a temporary promotion to lieutenant-general, Cameron arrived in New Zealand in March 1861 and proceeded to the town of New Plymouth where he informed Pratt that he was being replaced.

Although Cameron was keen to deal with the Māori threat in Taranaki, the Governor of New Zealand, Sir Thomas Gore Browne, had negotiated a truce to end the war.

[1] North Island Māori were now becoming increasingly reluctant to sell land and the rise of the King Movement in the Waikato was considered to be a challenge to British sovereignty and the Colonial Government.

Not knowing of Grey's plans, the following month local Māori ambushed British troops at nearby Ōakura, killing nine soldiers.

In retaliation, on 4 June 1863, Cameron led a force of 870 troops on a successful assault on a party of about 50 Māori still occupying the contested Tataraimaka block beside the Katikara River, killing 24.

[16] Cameron and his forces quickly returned to Auckland where, despite his attack on the Tataraimaka block being a minor action, it was portrayed as a major success.

The invasion began on 12 July 1863 when the British forces, numbering 380 men, crossed the Mangatāwhiri Stream and established a redoubt on the opposite bank.

The defensive position included not only the pā forming the central redoubt, but also trenches and ramparts extending to the river and 1,000 yards (0.91 km) to nearby Lake Waikare.

[21] It was later claimed that the white flag hoisted to mark the surrender of the garrison was in fact intended to simply open negotiations but the British soldiers moved into the pā and demanded the weapons of the Māori.

[27] Realising that these would be difficult to seize without significant risk to his force, he decided to bypass the fortifications and draw out its garrison into more favourable terrain for the British.

[28] He mounted a nighttime march with 1,200 soldiers on 20 February, getting past the Paterangi defences undetected and moving into a largely unoccupied Te Awamutu at 7:00 am the next day.

[32] The following day, Cameron led his troops in the sacking of the nearby village of Kihikihi, the home of Rewi Maniapoto, a prominent Māori chief in the King Movement.

[30] In early March, Cameron went to Auckland to consult with Grey and the government for the next steps in the campaign and it was decided to continue with the strategy of depriving the Kingites of supplies.

To this end, Cameron, moved most of his army towards Maungatautari leaving a garrison for redoubts being built at Kihikihi, Rangiaowhia, and Te Awamutu, where a strike force of 900 men under Colonel Robert Carey was also based.

[34] The pā, with its garrison of around 300 Māori, including around 250 warriors, had yet to be completed when British forces attacked on 31 March,[34] having detected its presence the previous day.

[35] Carey, realising an opportunity to inflict a serious blow to the Kingites was possible, requested reinforcements from Cameron, who dispatched 370 soldiers to Ōrākau, now under bombardment while a sap was dug by engineers in order to breach the pā defences.

[41] A local tribe, Ngai-te-Rangi, had begun construction of Gate Pā, close to Camp Te Papa, set up by the British at Tauranga.

The camp was established earlier in the year as a means of preventing reinforcements travelling from the East Cape to join up with Waikato Māori and had already been subject to raids by the tribe.

Cameron, now back in Auckland with the bulk of his army, realised that with Te Papa being close to a harbour, he was readily able to transport enough manpower and artillery to allow a sufficient concentration for a decisive battle.

[45] He then ordered 300 men of the 43rd Regiment of Foot and marines of the Royal Navy to exploit the breach but the attempt to do so was beaten back with the attacking soldiers engaged in a full scale retreat.

He struggled to explain the poor performance of the troops making the attack, but noted the losses among the officers may have affected the rank and file.

He left the local commander, Lieutenant-Colonel H. Greer, with instructions to maintain a defensive posture while Grey, stunned at the outcome of the battle, negotiated terms with Ngai-te-Rangi for an end to hostilities in the area.

This prompted the Colonial Government to urge Cameron to resume his offensive operations but he declined to do so, disillusioned about the prospects of a successful outcome to a military campaign.

[50] Although the British did not destroy the King Movement, the defeats at Te Ranga and Orakau effectively ended the fighting in the Waikato[51] and the tribes there would eventually cede their land to the colonial government.

[57] Cameron's campaign was heavily criticised by colonists as being slow, but this opinion lacked awareness of the need to ensure the security of his lines of communication along his advance.