Taoyateduta Mdewakanton Dakota (abt. 1810 - 1863)

Born about 1810 in Kaposia

Descendants

Died 3 Jul 1863 at about age 53 in Meeker County, Minnesota

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Biography

Taoyateduta was a Mdewakanton chief and led his people in the most consequential event in Minnesota history - the U.S.-Dakota War of 1862.

Note: Taoyateduta does not have a surname, and Mdewakanton Dakota in the LNAB field should not be confused with an actual surname; Taoyateduta's band was placed in the LNAB field to comply with the NAP standards. Please do not remove this note.

Note: This biography is in progress and will be expanded.^[1]

From the Minnesota Historical Society:

Taoyateduta (which translates as "His Scarlet Nation," though he was more often known as Little Crow, after his father) was born into the Mdewakanton village of Kaposia about 1810. He succeeded his father as leader in 1846. During the 1850s, he was widely recognized as a spokesperson for all the Lower bands of Dakota. He was a negotiator and signer of the Treaty of Mendota in 1851 and the Treaty of 1858. By the 1860s, Little Crow had adopted some European customs — he owned some European-styled clothing, for example, and he lived in a wood-frame house. But like most Dakota farmers on the Lower reservation, he staunchly refused to compromise his Dakota religious beliefs.^[2]

The U.S Dakota War of 1862

"We have waited a long time. The money is ours but we cannot get it. We have no food but here these stores are filled with food. We ask that you, the agent, make some arrangement so we can get food from the stores, or else we may take our own way to keep ourselves from starving. When men are hungry, they help themselves."

Little Crow (Taoyateduta), Mdewakanton Dakota, to agent Thomas Galbraith in 1862[3]

The First Day

A narrative of the first day of the U.S. Dakota War of 1862 was transcribed and assembled by this writer from what appears to be several slightly varying drafts of an unfinished memoir (or narrative) written by Mary Robinette Rose. The drafts are found in the manuscript collections of the Minnesota Historical Society.^[3] Notes added are in brackets. Mary Robinette Rose was the daughter of Joseph Robinette and Cecilia Turpin Kilcool Robinette.

It was on the 18th of August 1862 that two Indian women rushed into our home and told Mother their people/the Sioux were on the warpath and were killing all the white people. They urged her to go to our sister Jane who was expecting her first [at least third] child and was alone. They promised to take care of my sister Harriet and me and that my little sister Emma and brother Louis had been picked up outside by friendly squaws who would hide them. They had been out playing, and we didn't know they were gone.

Taoyateduta

Mother had been gone but a few minutes when Chief Little Crow came in. Harriet and I were glad/overjoyed to see him for he was Father's friend and we were sure he wouldn't let any harm come to us. The table was set and breakfast was on the stove in readiness for Father and the two men who boarded with us. Father was an early riser and always went to the blacksmith shop while Mother was preparing breakfast. Little Crow had often been a dinner guest in our home so I asked him if he would like something to eat. He shook his head and asked for a tomahawk Father had made/promised him. Father was a blacksmith but could make hunting knives and tomahawks which the Indians used for dressing big game. I went to the chest where these things were kept and handed him the tomahawk. Placing the hand that held the tomahawk over his heart, he bowed his head and said in English, "My heart is sad." He then spoke rapidly in Sioux to the Indian women. Harriet could understand some, so I went over to her and asked her what he said. She said she thought we were to be taken care of/to their village. I turned back to Little Crow to ask him if he had seen Father and was astonished for like a phantom he had vanished. We never saw him again.

One of the women looked out the door/window and then motioned us to go upstairs where one of the boarders had taken refuge. He was terrified with no chance of escape. It seemed a couple of minutes had passed when we heard the scuffing of moccasined feet and knew that Indians had entered the house. The Indian women were talking and we heard Chief Little Crow's name mentioned. We thought they were giving them Little Crow's message. I was anxious to know if we knew any of them so I crawled on hands and knees to an opening in the floor which was used in winter for a pipe and drum to to heat the upstairs. I peered into the room below, and I gave a gasp of horror. Four pairs of eyes in hideously painted face stared upward, and for the moment, I was paralyzed with fear and would only stare back. We were told to come down. Harriet was never strong and halfway down the stairs she sat down, and I sat on the step before. They were sitting at the table now and were going eat. One of the squaws told me to help serve them. Harriet kept her place on the stairs while I poured coffee. They ate ravenously. As soon as they were [. . . There is a gap in the narrative.]

The one went over to the trap door that led to the cellar and pulled it up. Two went down to see if anyone was hidden there. They soon came up and the four went outside. No sooner had left when one of the squaws pulled open the cellar door again and motioned Harriet to get our boarder. ?It didn't? take him a minute to ?get to the? cellar. The trap door shut, and Harriet was told to resume her place on the stairs. Then the most repulsive one came in. His face was so painted that his eyes looked like a snake's. He walked over to Harriet and said in broken English, "Who hide," and pointed up. She shook her head and made no offer to get up. He seized her roughly by the arm and pulled her down and dashed up the steps.

Death of Taoyateduta

From The Herald Journal:^[4]

The death of Little Crow [Taoyateduta], July 3, 1863

Monday, July 15, 2013

By Jennifer Kotila

Staff Writer

MEEKER COUNTY, MN – Descendants of Chief Little Crow and others gathered July 6 near the place he was killed July 3, 1863, to honor and remember him, as well as heal the wounds that still run deep between the Dakota and those of European descent.

Little Crow’s death

Chief Little Crow was picking berries with his son, Wowinape, south of Dassel, when a settler and his son came across them.

The settler, Nathan Lamson, and his son, Chauncey, had left the safety of Hutchinson to hunt and check on their livestock.

Both parties opened fire on each other, with Nathan delivering the fatal shot to Little Crow. Nathan was also wounded in the shoulder during the exchange of shots.

Wowinape stayed with his father until he died, then fled.

Although there was a bounty of $500 for the death and scalp of Little Crow, the Lamsons were unaware who they had shot.

When they returned to Hutchinson, the Lamsons informed other settlers they had killed an Indian northwest of town.

The following day, during an Independence Day celebration, a group of settlers brought Little Crow’s body, which was scalped, into Hutchinson.

Debate ensued about whether or not it was Little Crow, during which time the body was mutilated.

Accounts of Little Crow’s death tell of his body being dragged through the streets of Hutchinson, and eventually being thrown into a the pit for a slaughterhouse.

Later, his head was removed from his body and tossed into a field to decompose in the hot, summer sun.

Wowinape was eventually captured July 28 near Devil’s Lake, and positively identified his father as being the man who had been killed by the Lamsons.

The scalp was turned over to the State of Minnesota, and Nathan collected his $500 check, with Chauncey also collecting a bounty for his role in the death of Little Crow.

Wowinape would be tried for his alleged participation in the US-Dakota War of 1862, was found guilty, and sentenced to be executed.

However, Wowinape was pardoned, after which he converted to Christianity, changing his name to Thomas Wakeman.

Little Crow’s skull and some of his bones were donated to the Minnesota Historical Society.

State keeps remains for more than 100 years

Little Crow’s scalp, skull, and other bones went on display at the state capital in 1879, and stayed there until 1915, when they were removed at the request of Little Crow’s grandson, Jesse Wakeman.

Wakeman began his attempt to have the remains returned to the family in the 1960s, and was finally granted the request in 1971. The remains were interred in a family plot near Flandreau, SD.

“I’ll never forget the day they brought him back,” commented Billy Gilbert, one of Little Crow’s descendants, as he recalled the day the remains were interred in the family plot. “It was this beautiful September day. They brought him back in this little copper box and that was how he was buried. Right at the end of the service, this flock of little blackbirds – this whole flock – came flying up the hill and all around us. I think that was to let us know he was happy with the way things were, to be out of that museum and back here, where he belongs.”

A biography from FindAGrave: Dakota Chief and spokesman for the Mdewkanton band of Dakota. He descended from several generations of chieftains and was the principle Chief who led the hostile Dakota in the US-Dakota War of 1862. His Dakota name was Taoyateduta, which translates to "His Red Nation" or "His Red People". He was the eldest son of Chief Big Thunder (Wakinyantanka) and a Mdewakanton woman named Woman Planting in Water (Minio Kadawin). His grandfather was Cetanwakuwa, which translates to "Charging Hawk". A mis-translation of his grandfather's name to "Crow" led to white settlers referring to him as "Little Crow". As a young man, he was exiled from his father's band for illicit affairs. During the 1830s, he served on the side of the Americans during the Black Hawk War. He married several daughters of a Wahpekute chief. In about 1836, he left his Wahpekute wives and lived among the Wahpetons of Lac Qui Parle. Eventually, he married four daughters of Chief Running Walker. He had 22 children. In 1846, his father was mortally wounded when he accidentally shot himself. His father had wanted another son to succeed him as chief, but he had been killed during a battle with the Chippewas.

When the Dakota were defeated by US soldiers, he became a fugitive and fled to Canada. He was not allowed to continue living there, so he returned to Minnesota. He was spotted picking berries with his son near Hutchinson on July 3, 1863. He was shot and killed by Nathan and Chauncey Lamson, a local farmer and his son.

Sources

1. ↑ Biography in progress (Jul 2021). Feel free to contact SD if you have questions, to collaborate, or as a courtesy before making changes.
2. ↑ The-U.S. Dakota War of 1862 Taoyateduta (Little Crow) [1]
3. ↑ Manuscript Collections of the Minnesota Historical Society (catalog no. P1957, Rose and Borden Family Papers).
4. ↑ The Herald Journal, 15 July 2013 [2]

From the gedcom-imported profile which was merged with this one:

• Due to birth dates of parents, this child cannot possibly be Big Thunder's and Wife three
  • WikiTree profile Nation-39 created through the import of Behan Family Tree.ged on Aug 6, 2011 by Chad Behan. See the Changes page for the details of edits by Chad and others.
• Source: S2395125019 Repository: #R2395123340 Title: Ancestry Family Trees Publication: Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com. Original data: Family Tree files submitted by Ancestry members. Note: This information comes from 1 or more individual Ancestry Family Tree files. This source citation points you to a current version of those files. Note: The owners of these tree files may have removed or changed information since this source citation was created. Page: Ancestry Family Trees Note: Data: Text: https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/tree/27515540/family
• Repository: R2395123340 Name: Ancestry.com Address: http://www.Ancestry.com Note:
• Find A Grave: Memorial #37484214
• Wikipedia, Little Crow
• The US Dakota War of 1862 Little Crow
• Akta Lakota Museum & Culture Center Little Crow