Little Crow III, ca. 1810-1863

Little Crow III; Dakota: Thaóyate Dúta; c. 1810 – July 3, 1863; was a Mdewakanton Dakota chief who led a faction of the Dakota in a five-week war against the United States in 1862.

In 1846, after surviving a violent leadership contest with his half-brothers, Taoyateduta became chief of his band and assumed the name Little Crow.[1] He played a pivotal role in signing the 1851 Treaty of Mendota which ceded most of their lands in present-day Minnesota and Iowa to the United States. In 1858, Little Crow led a delegation of Dakota leaders to Washington, D.C., where they were pressured by the U.S. government to give up their remaining holdings north of the upper Minnesota River.[2] Faced with anger and mistrust at home, Little Crow lost an election for tribal spokesman in 1862, after which he tried to change his traditionalist ways ...