Little Crow

• Little Crow

  Chief of a band of the Dakota Sioux Tribe
• Little Crow's band agreed to move to a reservation in southern Minnesota

  1851
• Tribe agreeing to move to reservation

  1. Gave up 24 million acres of their land

  2. In return for promise of protection and supplies from US government
• Life was hard on the reservation for the Dakota Sioux
• Much of the land was unsuitable for farming
• US government failed to pay some of the annuities
• Dakota Sioux's annuity did not arrive

  1862
• This put the Dakota Sioux in a desperate situation - they were unable to buy or grow food and they began to starve
• Reservation agent refused to hand over any food despite having a storehouse full of supplies
• Four Sioux men killed five white settlers

  17 August 1862
• Attack on Indian Agency

  1. Tribe stole food from the agency's storehouses

  2. Attacked white settlers
• Over 700 white settlers and US soldiers were killed
• US government responded by sending in huge army reinforcements
• Little Crow realised his tribe could not defeat the US army and the Dakota Sioux surrendered

  September
• Over 400 Dakota Sioux Warriors were initially sentenced to death
• President Lincoln insisted that only those who had evidence against them proving they had murdered or raped should be killed
• In total, 38 warriors received the death sentence
• Remainder of the tribe were forced to move to a new reservation called Crow Creek


  1863
• The Crow Creek reservation was completely unsuitable to live on - the land was barren, there was little food, and hardly any drinking water
• Nearly 400 Dakota Sioux died during their first winter on the Crow Creek reservation