| caption: |
Formation of the Naga Hills district |
| text: |
100. Raids continued to be numerous between 1853 and 1865 during which time 19 occurred in which 232 British subjects were killed, wounded or carried off. In 1864 and 1865 the policy to be followed towards the Angami Nagas again came under review and the concurrent opinion of the local officers, of the Commissioner, Colonel Hopkinson and of the Lieutenant-Governor, Sir Cecil Beadon was that it was necessary for the credit of our administration to advance into the hills "to re-assert our authority over the Nagas and bring them under a system of administration suited to their circumstances, and gradually to reclaim them from habits of lawlessness to those of order and civilisation." |
| text: |
The Government of India in 1866 agreed to the proposal that a new district should be formed with its headquarters at Samaguting, Asalu being abolished as a subdivision, and North Cachar being divided between the Khasi and Jaintia Hills, South Cachar and Nowgong, that portion lying to the west of the Dhansiri, and the country on both banks of the Doyong forming with the Angami Naga Hills the new district. But they desired that the main object to be kept in view should be not to extend our rule into the interior but to protect the lowlands from the incursion of the Nagas. |
| text: |
Captain Gregory, the first officer in charge of the new district, was succeeded in 1869 by Captain J. Butler whose energetic administration did much to consolidate our power in the hills. Acting in the spirit of his instructions, he received the allegiance of those villages which freely tendered it, but made no effort to include those who were not willing to become British subjects. Much of his time was given to exploration with survey parties and in 1876 he met his death in a fight with the Lhota Nagas of Pangti, a village in the hills east of the Doyong river. |
