Amazon.com: Customer reviews: Little Crow: Spokesman for the Sioux

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and finally how they were manifest in the great Sioux uprising of 1862

Reviewed in the United States on September 23, 2016

Anderson explores in depth the social and cultural changes that the Minnesota Dakota were going through during the life time of Taoyateduta (Little Crow), how these changes shaped his early biography, and finally how they were manifest in the great Sioux uprising of 1862. He presents the conflict, the largest uprising and war between the United States and Native Americans in our history, from the perspective of a Native American leader attempting to navigate the impossible changes forced on his people by destructive forces from the outside. His work brings to life the various leaders of the Santee Dakota as they struggled to find a way to survive the wave of European settlement in the American century of "Manifest Destiny" while retaining their own culture and identity.

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Amytao

From a conquerer's perspective/ INACCURATE

Reviewed in the United States on May 22, 2008

This book had a lot of research done to complete it. However it is subjective from a white man's point of view. There were many inaccuracies in the author's personal opinions which show in the writing. It would have been nice if he had shown the curtesy to consult Taoyataduta's blood relatives.A peace chief keeps peace.He was a medicine man.He was at the front of every battle and never fired. Other than a mate,"wives were women of braves who lost their mates and were provided for.The children who came with them were adopted. Blood had nothing to do with it.Read Honoring the Medicine for a factual concept

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From the United States

tgh

and finally how they were manifest in the great Sioux uprising of 1862

Reviewed in the United States on September 23, 2016

Reviewed in the United States on July 28, 2021

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Great book. Bought it for my family genealogy being some were attacked during the indian uprising and had passed along their experiences to us. Little Crow was involved

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Leo Arredondo

It is an awesome book and he is my great great great grandfather

Reviewed in the United States on March 3, 2022

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I want the whole world to read this book

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Amytao

From a conquerer's perspective/ INACCURATE

Reviewed in the United States on May 22, 2008

Verified Purchase

2 people found this helpful

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David Belfry

Interesting bio

Reviewed in the United States on February 14, 2014

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This book will provide an understanding of the eastern Dakota nation during a time of insertion of settlers into their homelands. I would recommend this for any historian interested in the American frontier and how difficult this must have been for the Native Americans to give up there land for promises that were never kept.

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Kindle Customer

interesting

Reviewed in the United States on March 31, 2013

Verified Purchase

My interest in this book has to do with the fact that Little Crow and my great-great grandfather were closely related. I appreciated the family tree that was included in this book.

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Amazon Customer

Four Stars

Reviewed in the United States on May 25, 2016

Verified Purchase

Great research. Written with care and honesty.

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Julie

exactly the book I need

Reviewed in the United States on July 16, 2013

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The book is exactly the one I needed for my college course, and at a good price, which was great.

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Kat

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United States on August 19, 2015

Verified Purchase

Son really liked reading this!!

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Seminal Work on Little Crow

Reviewed in the United States on December 3, 2002

Gary C. Anderson is an expert on Dakota/Sioux history. His doctoral dissertation, published under the title "Kinsmen of Another Kind," discussed Dakota/White relations from the 17th to the 19th century. In "Through Dakota Eyes," Anderson collected dozens of Indian narratives concerning the 1862 Dakota uprising in Southeastern Minnesota. This book, "Little Crow: Spokesman for the Sioux," finds Anderson delving deep into the archives in order to present a better picture of that enigmatic Dakota chief Taoyateduta, known to history as Little Crow.
The main thesis of Anderson's "Kinsmen of Another Kind" was the importance of kinship ties within the Dakota tribes as well as with outsiders. Traders formed kinship ties with the Dakota because the ties allowed the traders to use the Dakotas to gather furs for them. Dakotas benefited from kinship ties because the ties involved gift giving. Whites had to give gifts to the Dakotas if they wanted to maintain trade and relations. As more and more whites moved into the region, kinship ties slowly disintegrated because whites no longer needed to deal with the Dakotas on an equal basis. It is important to understand these kinship ties when reading "Little Crow," as Anderson again makes these relationships central to his study.
Anderson begins his biographical analysis of Little Crow with an overview of Dakota culture. According to Anderson, it is impossible to understand anything about Little Crow's life and actions unless we understand his cultural underpinnings. Anderson discusses hunting, gift giving, medicine sacks and medicine societies, Dakota religion, and the role of a chief in Dakota society (chiefs, according to Anderson, held little actual power over the warriors; it was the position of speaker that held greater power, something Little Crow found out when he led the Dakota warriors during the 1862 uprising).
Little Crow's life is truly fascinating. Anderson discusses in great depth the role of Little Crow's grandfather and father in their relations with the Americans at Fort Snelling. Little Crow's grandfather and father took an accommodationist stance towards white encroachment on Dakota lands, trying to toe the fine line between keeping the Dakota people happy while dealing with the whites. Anderson argues that Little Crow, despite the bad reputation he earned due to the uprising, was an accommodationist just like his father and grandfather. Time and time again, Little Crow worked with the white Indian agents and soldiers to try and benefit his people. Little Crow was intimately involved in signing several treaties with the government, worked hard to placate the government after the Inkpaduta affair of 1857, and tried to prevent war in 1862. That Little Crow failed in his dealings with the government and failed to stop the uprising is certainly a tragedy, but should not overshadow his attempts to do the right thing for his people. Ultimately, no Dakota leader could have prevented the coming doom.
Little Crow is best known for the destructive war against whites in 1862. Anderson covers the war and its aftermath in succinct detail. Actually, this may be the best account of the war I have read. Anderson discusses Little Crow's failure to successfully organize his warriors, his failure to gain support with mixed-blood and Upper Agency Indians, and his failure to form an Indian alliance during his exile in North Dakota and Canada. When Little Crow returned to Minnesota in 1863, he knew his time was short. Little Crow died from a gunshot wound while picking berries with his son. Little Crow's remains, horribly mutilated by angry whites, ended up on display at the Minnesota Historical Society until the 1970's, when they were finally given a proper burial.
Anderson claims that Little Crow was an opportunist, a scheming sort of politician who always helped out because he wanted to elevate his own position within Dakota society. Anderson cites as evidence newspaper interviews with Little Crow which revealed Little Crow's propensity for pithy statements and his need for constant attention. That Little Crow had a knack for oratory should come as no surprise; he was a chief, and chiefs constantly debated issues with other leaders in the tribe. But is Little Crow a politician? I don't think so, at least not in the way we perceive the term. Is it possible that newspaper and other white accounts of the time framed Little Crow in terms whites understood? After all, documents show that many whites had no real conception about the true nature of Indians in the 19th century. White relations with Indians were based on a fundamental set of assumptions, most of them racist and false. To paint Little Crow as a sort of Huey Long type teeters dangerously close to error. After all, Dakota culture emphasized communitarian values, not the sort of individualistic elevation Anderson says Little Crow sought.
Anderson ends the book with an appendix discussing Little Crow's genealogy. This section is the most difficult part of the book due to the intricate relationships within Indian families and tribes. Terms like "father" and "cousin" do not carry the same connotation in Indian culture as they do in ours. A father's brothers can all be "fathers" to an Indian, and "cousins" are even more convoluted. A genealogical chart of Little Crow's family at the back of the book makes a medieval royal house look like a nuclear family. These genealogies are necessary to back up Anderson's claim that kinship is central to tribal life.
This is a scholarly book that manages to entertain while it teaches. It is definitely a must have for those seeking a deeper understanding of the Dakota tribes, or for those interested in the Minnesota uprising of 1862. If you don't come away with some sense of admiration for Little Crow, despite his failures, you did not read the same book I did.

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