1 For a dead guy, Captain Hamilton has caused a lot of trouble. Lately protests have forced the removal of his statue from the city named after him. Back in 1864 a report on Hamilton's death prompted 80 angry sailors to attack central Auckland. (short thread) 
2 Captain Hamilton perished during the rout of British forces at Gate Pa, just south of Tauranga. The British charged straight at Maori defences; 31 of them died & 80 were injured. An anti-war Auckland newspaper added insult to defeat.
3 The New Zealander was a paper established in 1845 by John Williamson. Williamson became an MP in 1853. He supported the Maori King movement & in 1863 opposed the invasion of the Waikato. His newspaper's anti-war stance caused its co-owner to split & establish the NZ Herald.
4 The New Zealander's Tauranga correspondent reported that Captain Hamilton's body was abandoned at Gate Pa, as British troops retreated in a panic. The sailors of HMS Esk were enraged, & decided to get revenge when their ship returned from the war zone to Auckland.
5 At 9 o'clock on the morning of June the 6th 1864 men from the Esk began to land in small boats. About 80 of them soon arrived at Williamson's office. They dragged a hawser, or thick tow rope, into the building, threaded it thru two windows, & began to pull the office down.
6 Williamson arrived after the sailors. They demanded he run an apology for his paper's article, & give up the name of his Tauranga correspondent. Williamson contacted the commodore of the Esk, who told him the sailors were beyond control, & advised him to meet their demands.
7 The hurriedly prepared afternoon edition of the New Zealander featured this statement, which was dictated by the sailors besieging the newspaper's office. Williamson & his office survived that day, but the New Zealander died in 1866. Its pro-war rival the NZ Herald continues.
