In July 1863 a notice appeared throughout towns in the North Island inviting young men of good character to join a corps of Forest Volunteers to strike terror into the marauding natives by operations not in the power of ordinary troops. Captain von Tempsky was to be in command of the second company of Forest Rangers, as the force was called. Born at Konigsberg, East Prussia, Tempsky came from a military family whose traditions he followed by attending cadet schools in Potsdam and Berlin. He also received a thorough grounding in classics, modern languages, history, geography, music and drawing. In 1846 he left Prussia for the state's colony on the Mosquito Coast ( now Nicaragua ), moving on to California by 1850 where he failed to make a fortune as a goldminer. In 1858 he published in London an account illustrated with his own watercolours of his travels through Mexico, Guatemala and San Salvador. By 1857 he was living in Scotland, his wife's birthplace, and in 1858 he travelled to Australia in search of gold. News of gold mining prospects on the Coromandel Peninsula brought Tempsky, his wife and three children to Auckland on 10 March 1862. On 24 August 1863, having impressed the authorities with his grasp of guerrilla tactics, Tempsky took out British citizenship to allow him to take up a commission with the Forest Rangers. He saw action at Hairini, Waiari, Rangiaowhia, Kihikihi and Orakau establishing a reputation as an intrepid leader. Although ruthless in pursuit of fighting Maori, he disapproved of the killing of wounded, women and children. However, his account of the campaign in 1863-64 which followed wholesale land confiscations showed little understanding of Maori grievances. Encampment of the Forest Rangers recalls his involvement in Major General Trevor Chute's march to New Plymouth in late 1865 and early 1866. This resulted in the devastation by Imperial troops of the South Taranaki territory belonging to tribes which had given their allegiance to the prophet Te Ua Huamene's Pai Marire faith opposed to the alienation of Maori land by confiscation. Tempsky's watercolour records a sixty mile march from South Taranaki back to New Plymouth. Designed as a four day victory march in celebration of a successful campaign it was in fact a nine day disaster, despite Grey's praise of it. According to James Cowan's account in The New Zealand Wars and more recent research by historian James Belich, the force of Forest Rangers, mixed colonial and Imperial troops and kupapa (pro-government Maori) got seriously lost. It was hampered by ceaseless rain and ran out of supplies. Chute's force had to eat its pack horses and was saved from starvation only by the arrival of a supply party from North Taranaki. By August 1866 Tempsky's military career was in temporary recess. Living in Auckland he spent his time writing Memoranda of the New Zealand Campaign , painting watercolours and for a time working in Governor George Grey's office. It was not until January 1868 that he received another military appointment. Tempsky experienced considerable financial difficulties in the period 1866-87 and the sale of watercolours was a way of remaining solvent. He also used his paintings as gifts to curry favour with public figures such as Sir William Fox, Judge Gillies and Governor Sir George Bowen. To some extent Encampment of the Forest Rangers is a propaganda painting. What was actually a nightmare experience has been transformed into a picturesque, decorative stage set designed to be saleable at art exhibitions visited by a public eager for romantic representations of recent history. The artist has included himself ( far left ) in conversation with Assistant Surgeon William G. Manley. It is most likely that other foreground figures include General Chute, Dr Isaac Featherston, Colonels Carey and Gamble and possibly Colonel McDonnell. Tempsky gifted this painting to Surgeon Manley. In 1976 it was sold by his family at auction where it was acquired by the collector Dr Neville Hogg. In August 1993 it was purchased, again at auction, for the Fletcher Challenge Art Collection.