The Musket Wars were a series of as many as 3,000 battles and raids Attack fought Hostile_encounter throughout New Zealand ( including the Chatham Islands ) among Māori between 1807 and 1837 , after Māori first obtained Getting muskets and then engaged Participation in an intertribal arms race in order to gain Getting territory or seek revenge for past defeats .

The increased use Using of muskets in intertribal warfare Hostile_encounter led to Causation changes Change in the design Being_in_operation of pā fortifications , which later benefited Earnings_and_losses Māori when engaged Participation in battles with colonial forces during the New Zealand Wars .

Ngāpuhi chief Hongi Hika in 1818 used Using newly acquired muskets to launch devastating Destroying raids Attack from his Northland base into the Bay of Plenty , where local Māori were still relying Supply on traditional weapons of wood and stone .

In the following years he launched Military_operation equally successful raids Attack on `` iwi '' in Auckland , Thames , Waikato and Lake Rotorua , taking Conquering large numbers of his enemies as slaves , who were put Placing to work Being_in_operation cultivating Cause_to_make_progress and dressing Wearing flax to trade Exchange with Europeans for more muskets .

The defenders threw Body_movement rocks and even trees , and fired Use_firearm muskets from the castle .

A shipment of 3rd pattern Brown Bess sea service muskets was found Know aboard `` Alert '' , which went towards arming the American Marines at the Washington and Boston Navy Yards .

The British lost Earnings_and_losses 80,000 muskets , equipment Supply for 40,000 troops , 294 cannons ( the normal British troop size during the American Independence War was 40,000 troops ) , and 3,144 men .