Red Wing was born about 1750 probably in the vicinity of the present Red Wing, Minnesota. Though the name was hereditary, each of the chiefs who bore it appears to have had also an alternative name.
Pike mentions this chief both as Talangamane (probably a misprint) and Tantangamini, translating the word into Aile Rouge and Red Wing.
In the War of 1812 he aided the British.
He was in the attack on Fort Sandusky in 1813; he was probably in the battle on Mackinac Island, where Major Holmes, the American commander, was killed; and he certainly participated in the capture of Fort Shelby at Prairie du Chien on July 20, 1814. After the last-named engagement he represented himself as having a dream that the British would soon be driven away, leaving his people to the mercy of the Americans. He accordingly returned to the British commander his Royal George medal and announced a policy of peace with both red men and white.
By 1820, according to Kearny who twice met him in that year, he was distinguished for "his friendship & attachment to the Americans". He is mentioned in most of the early travels of the region and almost always in terms of respect. The fame of his military record, which was an exceptional one since he is said never to have suffered a defeat, clung to him long after he had given up the warpath, and he was said by Beltrami who saw him in 1823 to have been regarded by his people with something akin to fear.
The same writer described him as of hideous aspect, old, bent, and covered with scars but yet of a majestic bearing and deportment. Doty, who accompanied Governor Cass's expedition to the upper Mississippi in 1820, told of his pacific policy and related the incident of his asking Cass what he should do in the case of a band of Sauks and Foxes who a short time previously had waylaid a party of Sioux and killed them. After listening to Cass's advice he promised that the matter would be settled without further bloodshed.
The place and date of his death are unknown.
