Mazomani, Granite Falls, MN - Minnesota Historical Markers on Waymarking.com

The Mazomani historical marker is located in Upper Agency State Park. The text reads as follows:

On this ridge is located the grave of Mazomani, a leader of the Wahpetonwan (Dwellers in the Leaves) Dakota, who died of injuries he received on September 23, 1862, at the battle of Wood Lake during the Dakota (Sioux) War.

Mazomani (Iron Walker) was among the Dakota leaders who went to Washington, DC., in 1858 to negotiate a treaty selling half of the Minnesota River Valley reservation. Throughout the course of the tragic 1862 war, he tried repeatedly to make peace between Dakotas and whites and to protect those Dakota who had chosen to remain at peace from those who tried to force them to fight. According to Dakota oral traditions, he was wounded by white soldiers while carrying a flag of truce as he tried to enter their camp to arrange for the release of captives. His friends and followers carried him from the battlefield to a camp near here, where he died early the following morning after embracing his wife and daughter and telling them, “I love you very much, but I am going to leave you now.”

Mazomani’s daughter, Mazaokiyewin (Woman who Talks to Iron), was among the many Dakota forced into exile at Crow Creek on the Missouri River following the 1862 war. She eventually returned to this region when she was known as Isabel Roberts and was a leading member of the Dakota community. Many of her descendants still live in the area today.

Erected by the Minnesota Historical Society with the co-operation of the Upper Sioux Dakota Community. 1984.

Marker Type:: Other

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