Ngati Haua played an active, though small part in the Taranaki Wars. King Potatau had forbidden Waikato and Ngati Haua iwi to take part in the war in Taranaki against the Pakeha but when he died Ngati Haua decide to join a second expedition to Taranaki despite their chief Wiremu Tamihana being against it. Ngati Haua provided 80 warriors led by Wetini Taiparutu. They were armed with shotguns and tomahawks. In the first battle of this campaign at an old pa on a small hillock at Mahoetahi near New Plymouth on 6 November 1860, Wetini was killed along with about a quarter of the Ngati Haua with many wounded. Total Maori casualties were 50 and 4 British died. Some authorities have put the defeat down to a combination of naivety on the part of Ngati Haua and treachery on the part of Taranaki leaders Hapurona and Wiremu Kīngi who had once been Waikato slaves. The Ngati Awa, instead of descending on the British flank, as had been agreed, merely fired their guns in the air from a safe distance and retreated. A second attack at Huirangi was made in an effort to gain revenge but this also ended in a defeat. Many Ngati Haua returned with serious wounds including Te Whitu who had his jaw shot away. These events underpinned the decision by Ngati Haua to join the Kingitanga forces during the Invasion of the Waikato in 1863.