Little Crow’s War (1862)

• Little Crow was a chief of a band of the Dakota Sioux tribe in Minnesota.
• The Dakota Sioux bands had agreed to move to two small reservations in 1851. They had given up 24m acres of land in return for $1.4m, plus a payment of $80,000 every year.
• However, the small reservations didn’t have enough food to survive and the government stalled its payments and food supplies. This was because the Dakota Sioux had $200,000 of debts with traders that it refused to pay – in 1858 they were made to sign away half of their reservation to settle the debts.
• Event 1

  In August 1862 the starving Dakota Sioux raided Agency buildings for food and supplies, then burned them down.
• Event 2

  They also attacked settler towns and army forts, killing around 600 white people (including women and children).
• Event 3.

  400 Dakota Sioux warriors were arrested, and 38 hanged. The rest were moved to even poorer reservations.
• Event 4

  Bounties were offered for the scalp of any Dakota Sioux found in Minnesota. Little Crow was shot, scalped and beheaded in 1863.