One of the greatest men of the Sioux nation ever known to the whites was Wa-na-ta, a chief of the Yankton branch of that nation, who flourished during the first half of the 19TH Century. He distinguished himself as a warrior at the age of eighteen, when he fought under his father against the Americans. He was one of a band of savages collected from the Northwest by Colonel Dixon during the War of 1812, and was wounded in an engagement at Sandusky. After that war he professed friendship toward the United States. He devoted himself to the business of uniting and more thoroughly organizing the several tribes or bands of his nation, and in maintaining both aggressive and defensive warfare against the neighboring tribes, and especially the Chippewas and Iowas. From the position of chief of the Yanktons he rose to be recognized as the grand chief of the Sioux nation.