Editing Te Kooti (section)

==At war==
{{main article|Te Kooti's War}}
{{unreferenced section|date=November 2013}}
On 10 November 1868, Te Kooti and his followers attacked the township of Matawhero on the outskirts of Gisborne. Some 54 people were slaughtered, including women and children. The dead included 22 local Māori as well as European settlers. This was probably a revenge attack, motivated by Te Kooti's imprisonment as a spy.

Te Kooti was then pursued by colonial and sympathetic Māori forces. His community was surrounded at Ngatapa and [[Siege of Ngatapa|besieged]], but Te Kooti and his warriors managed to escape.

From there, Te Kooti was chased to [[Te Pōrere Redoubts|Te Pōrere]] where he set up a ''pā''. He was defeated at the subsequent [[Battle of Te Pōrere]]. While Te Kooti escaped, he left many dead and wounded. Te Kooti himself was shot in the finger on his escape.

From there, Te Kooti escaped into the [[Te Urewera|Urewera]] and made an alliance with the Tuhoe leadership.

From 1869 to 1872, Te Kooti and his followers raided throughout the central North Island while being pursued by their colonial and Māori enemies. His power was only broken once his Tuhoe allies were systematically conquered by his enemies. But once again Te Kooti managed to escape, this time to the [[King Country]] where he spent the next decade under the protection of the Māori King. Te Kooti used this time to develop his religion.