On this day in 1863, Little Crow, (right) chief of the Mdewakanton Dakota, hero, villain and victim, died at the hands of a Minnesota settler and his son.
Born Theoyate Duta some time between 1810 and 1818 at Kaposia, near present-day Saint Paul, Minnesota, Little Crow rose to power following a near lethal struggle with his half-brother. He was a hero to many for his enlightened leadership as a peacemaker. Speaking for the Mdewakanton at the Treaty of Travers des Sioux in 1851, he agreed to cede the tribe’s traditonal territory and move to a prescribed area along the Minnesota River. Congress reneged on the treaty, A second agreement signed by Little Crow, the Treaty of Mendota, cut in half the land granted the Mdewakanton, limiting them to just that on the west side of the Minnesota.
Following the signings, he traveled to Washington, D.C., met with President James Buchanan, abandoned native dress, (left) took up farming and joined the Episcopal Church. But Congress again failed to keep the bargain, failing to pay the annuities promised for the ceded territory. With too little land for their numbers and unable to leave the reservation to hunt, the Dakota were dying of starvation. Meanwhile, a network of corrupt traders with a long history of cheating the Native Americans, had full warehouses but were unwilling to distribute the food without the overdue money from Washington.
On August 4, 1862, several hundred Dakota broke into the stores at the Lower Agency near present-day Morton. The agent in charge, Thomas Galbrith, forbid agency troops to fire on the marauders, calling for a “council” instead.
Reminding the government that people seldom starve quietly, Little Crow warned that hungry men “will help themselves.” Representing the traders, Andrew Myrick, (left) could not have been less helpful. Myrick replied that if the Dakota were hungry “let them eat grass.” An unlucky number 13 days later, there was a chance meeting between a group of white settlers and a band of Dakota. It did not end well. Dakota anger spilled over and five settlers were killed, their bodies mutilated.
The hero of Mendota quickly became a villain in the eyes of the white population. He reluctantly agreed to lead his people in what Little Crow considered a futile conflict. The unhelpful trader Myrick was the first to fall. He was killed, scalped and had his mouth stuffed with grass.
The regional conflict soon boiled over into a wider war. White settlements across southwest Minnesota and beyond were attacked.(Below, settlers fleeing the violence)
Following a summer of terror, however, the Dakota were decisively defeated at the Battle of Wood Lake on September 23, 1862. Little Crow and the survivors fled west, taking three young hostages with them. The three were released nine months later near the Canadian border in exchange for blankets and horses. Among them, was 9-year-old George Washington Ingalls, cousin to Laura Ingalls Wilder of Little House on the Prairie fame,
Fearing his band would be fugitives forever, Little Crow returned to Minnesota from Canada to steal horses. He and his son, Wowinapa, were foraging raspberries when confronted by farmer Nathan Lamson and his son, Cauncey. After a brief exchange of gunfire, telling Wowinapa to run, Little Crow was fatally wounded. The Lamsons scurried 12 miles into Hutchinson, Minnesota. The next day a search party from town recovered the body. As yet unidentified, the Dakota man was wearing a coat belonging to farmer James McGannon, who had been killed two days earlier.
Finally in death Little Crow became another victim. His scalp was taken triumphantly to Hutchinson, his body dragged down the town’s main street with firecrackers placed in his ears and nose. The decapitated remains were then thrown into a pit at the local slaughter house.
Wawinapa was captured by the U.S. Army near Devil’s Lake several days later, He reported his father’s death and the brutalized remains were identified.
The Lamson’s received a $500 reward for killing Little Crow. The Minnesota Historical Society received his scalp in 1868, his skull in 1896 and a number of bones several years after. Nearly three quarters of a century later, in 1971 Little Crow’s grandson, Jessie Wakeman, received the remains of his ancestor for Christian burial at First Presbyterian Cemetery, Flandreau, South Dakota.
Following what became known as the Great Sioux Uprising, 1,600 native women, children and elderly men from across Minnesota were confined at Pike Island near Fort Snelling in Minneapolis and eventually “relocated.” 
It is estimated some 500 settlers died, 300 native men were tried for murder and 38 were hanged at Mankato the day after Christmas, 1862, in the largest mass execution in the nation’s history. (Illustration above) The war had indeed been futile. In the end there were few heroes, many villains, countless victims and absolutely no winners.
The Minnesota Scenic Byway Mobile Tour includes important sites of the Dakota War. A 125-mile portion of the Minnesota River Valley Byway from Camp Release in Montevideo to the Travers des Sioux Monument in St Peter tells the story of one of the darkest chapters in the state’s history and chronicles the suffering created on both sides of the conflict. Go to www.mnhs.org/tours/mnrivervalley to hear narratives about the sites or call (888) 601-3010 along the way or from your armchair.
(Left, the Lower Sioux Agency) For a complete map and more information about the Byway route go to mnvalleyriver.com.
© Text Only – 2017 – Headin’ West LLC – All photos – public domain.