(1846 - 1886)

Near this spot lie the remains of Wowinape (Place of Refuge), a survivor of the Dakota War of 1862. Wowinape was the son of Taoyateduta (His Red Nation), known to whites as Little Crow, spokesman and leader of the Dakota in that tragic war. In July, 1863 Wowinape was with his father when he was killed. He fled to Dakota Territory but was captured, tried and sentenced to hang. Reprieved and in a prison camp, he became literate in the Dakota language, a Christian convert, and took the name Thomas Wakeman.

Pardoned in 1866, he went to the Santee Reservation and later homesteaded with other Dakota at the bend of the Big Sioux River in Dakota Territory. Thomas Wakeman married Judith Minnetonka in January, 1874. He farmed and carried the U.S. mail. Impressed by the Y.M.C.A., he worked with friends to found the first Indian chapter at Flandreau, Dakota Territory, on April 27, 1879.

Ill with tuberculosis, he returned to boyhood scenes and died at Redwood Falls, Minnesota on January 13, 1886. In his lifetime, he made a path between the Dakota Indian and Euroamerican worlds.

seal of The Minnesota Historical Society, Instituted 1849
Erected by the Minnesota Historical Society
1992

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Show me all markers in:  Redwood Falls, MN  |  Redwood County  |  56283  |  Minnesota  |  United States of America

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