Bounties

Sakpe and Medicine Bottle at Fort Snelling, 1864After the war, bounties were offered for Dakota scalps.

On July 4, 1863, in response to raids by Dakota in southern Minnesota, the state’s Adjutant-General, Oscar Malmros, issued a general order for the establishment of a mounted corps of “volunteer scouts” to patrol from Sauk Centre to the northern edge of Sibley County. The scouts provided their own arms, equipment, and provisions, were each paid two dollars a day, and were offered an additional $25 for Dakota scalps. A reward of $75 a scalp was offered to people not in military service; that amount was raised to $200 on September 22. Period newspapers described the taking of many scalps.

Taoyateduta (Little Crow)

In September 1862, Little Crow and his small band of followers fled to Canada. In June of 1863, short on food, horses, and provisions, Little Crow and a small party of family and close friends returned to Minnesota.

Late in the afternoon of July 3, 1863, while Little Crow gathered berries in a thicket northwest of Hutchinson with his son Wowinape, Nathan Lamson and his son, Chauncey, saw them and opened fire. The Lamsons were unaware of their victim’s identity until Wowinape, who had fled the scene, was captured by soldiers near Devil's Lake some weeks later. Nathan Lamson later received a $500 check from the State of Minnesota; his son, Chauncey, also collected a bounty.

On July 4, 1863, a group of settlers returned to the site of Little Crow’s death. They scalped the body, then took it to Hutchinson, where an Independence Day celebration was in progress. Debate ensued over whether the body was indeed Little Crow’s; during the debate, it was further mutilated.

The scalp was turned over to the authorities as proof that Indians were still in the area.  After the body's identity was confirmed, the scalp was tanned and displayed in the adjutant-general's office.  In 1868 it was donated to the Minnesota Historical Society, which had already received Little Crow's skull and some of his bones.  The scalp, skull, and bones were exhibited at the Historical Society until 1915.  Little Crow's remains were finally interred in 1971 in a family plot near Flandreau, South Dakota.

Contemporary Comment:

"I’ll never forget the day they brought him back. 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."

Billy Gilbert, a descendant of Little Crow, 1993

Medicine Bottle and Sakpe

In January, 1864, Dakota leaders Medicine Bottle and Sakpe (Shakopee) were drugged and kidnapped near the Canadian border. They were brought to Fort Snelling, where they waited to be tried for war crimes. Witnesses called by the U.S. government provided only hearsay evidence; the Dakota men were not allowed to call witnesses on their behalf, nor to cross-examine the government’s witnesses. Sentenced to death, Medicine Bottle and Sakpe were hanged at the fort on November 11, 1865.

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1862
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Bibliography

David L. Beaulieu, The Fate of Little Crow, 1863-70. St. Paul: Beaulieu, 1970

Resources for Further Research

David L. Beaulieu, The Fate of Little Crow, 1863-70. St. Paul: Beaulieu, 1970

Key People

Sakpedan (Shakopee, Little Six)

Sakpedan (Shakopee, Little Six)

"As the white man comes in the Indian goes out."

Sakpe [also known as Sakpedan, Shakopee, Little Six], photo taken at Ft. Snellng, 1864

Sakpe was the leader of a village located near the mouth of the Redwood River. After the Acton incident on August 17, the men who had killed the settlers went to several elders, including Sakpe, for counsel. After the war, Sakpe fled to Canada, but in January 1864, he was captured by British agents, turned over to U.S. authorities and imprisoned at Fort Snelling. In August, a military tribunal convicted him of killing civilians and sentenced him to death. He was executed at the fort on Nov. 11, 1865, in the presence of the fort's garrison and numerous civilians. It is said that as they climbed the scaffold, a steam train whistle blew in the distance, prompting Sakpe to say: "As the white man comes in, the Indian goes out." A sign at Historic Fort Snelling marks the execution site.

View full article: Sakpedan (Shakopee, Little Six)

Taoyateduta (Little Crow)

Taoyateduta (Little Crow)

"We have waited a long time. The money is ours, but we cannot get it. We have no food, but here are these stores, filled with food. We ask that you, the agent, make some arrangement by which 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"

Taoyateduta, 1862

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.

Little Crow tried to use his knowledge of white culture to guide the course of the war. On August 19, with hundreds of settlers already dead in Brown and Renville counties, and with attacks on white settlements continuing, he is reported to have said, "Soldiers and young men, you ought not to kill women and children. . . . You should have killed only those who have been robbing us so long. Hereafter make war after the manner of white men."

On September 7, 1862 — three weeks into the fighting — Little Crow sent a letter to Henry Sibley pinpointing the reasons Lower soldiers went to war. Little Crow’s letter condenses decades of frustration over misuse of government funds, late annuity payments, and poor relations between government officials and Dakota leaders into a few terse sentences.

"Dear Sir – For what reason we have commenced this war I will tell you. it is on account of Maj. Galbrait [sic] we made a treaty with the Government a big for what little we do get and then cant get it till our children was dieing with hunger – it is with the traders that commence Mr A[ndrew] J Myrick told the Indians that they would eat grass or their own dung. Then Mr [William] Forbes told the lower Sioux that [they] were not men [,] then [Louis] Robert he was working with his friends how to defraud us of our money, if the young braves have push the white men I have done this myself."

Letter to Col. Sibley, Sept. 12, 1862:

"Red Iron Village or Mazawakan

To Hon H. H. Sibley

We have in Mdewakanton band one hundred & fifty five prisoners. not including the Sisiton [sic] & Warpeton [sic] prisoners. then we are waiting for the Sisiton what we are going to do with the prisoners they are coming down. they are at Lake qui Parl now. the words that I have sent to the governed I want to here [sic.] from him also. and I want to know from you as a friend what way that I can make peace for my people. in regard to prisoners they fair [sic.] with our children or our self just as well as us

your truly friend

Little Crow

per Scott Campbell"

After the Battle of Wood Lake, he left Minnesota and attempted to gather support for a continued war in the west and Canada. He was killed on July 3, 1863 after returning to Minnesota. For many years some of his remains were put on display by the Minnesota Historical Society before being returned to his descendants for burial.

View full article: Taoyateduta (Little Crow)

Related Images

BountyCheck-2

Little Crow1

The bounty check for $500 dollars from the state of Minnesota to Nathan Lamson for killing Little Crow.

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In September, 1862, Little Crow and his small band of followers fled to Canada.
In June of 1863, short on food, horses, and provisions, Little Crow and a small party
of family and close friends returned to Minnesota.
 
Late in the afternoon of July 3, 1863, while Little Crow gathered berries in a thicket
northwest of Hutchinson with his son Wowinape, Nathan Lamson and his son, Chauncey,
saw them and opened fire. The Lamsons were unaware of their victim’s identity until
Wowinape, who had fled the scene, was captured by soldiers near Devils Lake some
weeks later. Nathan Lamson later received a $500 check from the State of Minnesota;
his son, Chauncey, also collected a bounty.