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Red Thunder

The date of the birth of Red Thunder is unknown, but in the early part of the 19th century, he was Chief of Pabaksa, or Cut Head band of the Yankotonai Dakota. He was also known as 'Shappa,' the Beaver. At the great council of Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, in April 1805, he was proncounced the most gorgeously dressed chief in the entire assembly. In the war of 1812, Red Thunder and his famous son, Waneta, enlisted with the British and fought at Fort Meigs and Sandusky, Ohio. He was killed by the Chippewa on the Red Reservation of the North, in 1823. Colonel Robert Dickson, British agent of the war during 1812, married a sister of Red Thunder.