The Dictionary of Australasian Biography/Maniapoto, Rewi
Maniapoto, Rewi, latterly known as Manga, a chief of the Ngatimaniapoto tribe, acquired a high reputation as a fighting general during the Waikato campaign in 1863. He was nominally the Maori leader during the attack upon and investment of the Orakau Pa by the British forces under Sir Duncan Cameron, but the gallant escape of the beleaguered garrison was planned and carried into execution by the young chief Hitiri Paerata. Rewi was, however, a prominent figure during the whole of the troublous times, and his influence with a large section of the insurgent tribes was paramount. At the conclusion of the war the Government marked their sense of this chief's adherence to the rules of civilised warfare by giving him a section of land in the Kihikihi township and building upon it, at the public cost, a comfortable residence. Most of the lands of his tribe were included within the confiscated boundary, but some provision was made for them by the powerful Waikato tribe.