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Paul Mazakutemani (Little Paul)

Paul Mazakutemani (Little Paul)

Paul Mazakutemani, 1858.Thomas Gilcrease Museum of History and Art, Tulsa, OKMazakutemani, who was also known as He Who Shoots as He Walks or as Little Paul, was educated at Rev. Williamson’s mission school in 1835, where he learned to read and write the Dakota language. He converted to Christianity, practiced European-American-style farming, and helped organize the Hazelwood Republic, a self-governing body of Dakota farmers at Rev. Stephen Rigg’s mission on the Yellow Medicine (Upper Sioux) Reservation. During the 1862 war, Mazakutemani helped organize the "Peace Party" and served as a spokesman for Dakota who opposed the war. After the war he served as a scout during the Punitive Expeditions into the Dakota Territory.

Around 1880, Mazakutemani wrote a reminiscence about his experiences during the war:
 
"Sissetons, the Mdawakontons [sic] have made war upon the white people, and have now fled up here. I have asked them why they did this, but I do not yet understand it. I have asked them to do me a favor, but they have refused. Now I will ask them again in your hearing. Mdawakontons [sic] , why have you made war on the white people? The Americans have given us money, food, clothing, ploughs, powder, tobacco, guns, knives, and all things by which we might live well: and they have nourished us even like a father his children. Why then have you made war upon them? You did not tell me you were going to fight with the white people; and how then should I approve it? No, I will go over to the white people. If they wish it they may kill me. If they don’t wish to kill me, I shall live. So, all of you who do not want to fight with the white people, come over to me. I have not one hundred men. We are going over to the white people. Deliver up to me the captives. And as many of you as don’t wish to fight with the whites, gather yourselves together to-day and come to me--all of you who are willing."
 

Theme:

1862
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Bibliography

Anderson, Gary Clayton and Alan R. Woolworth, eds., Through Dakota Eyes: Narrative Accounts of the Minnesota Indian War of 1862. Saint Paul, MN: Minnesota Historical Society Press (1988), 197.

Mazakutemani, Paul. "Narrative of Paul Mazakootemane," Minnesota Historical Collections 3 (1880), 82-90.

Resources for Further Research

Primary

Anderson, Gary Clayton and Alan R. Woolworth, eds., Through Dakota Eyes: Narrative Accounts of the Minnesota Indian War of 1862. Saint Paul, MN: Minnesota Historical Society Press (1988), 197.

Mazakutemani, Paul. "Narrative of Paul Mazakootemane," Minnesota Historical Collections 3 (1880), 82-90.